OEuropean attempts to put up a united front in the face of Brexit on Friday, after a crisis informal meeting in Bratislava, ended with EU leaders refusing to share a stage together and in open disagreement over immigration and austerity.
Echoing Juncker’s State of the Union speech the German chancellor has stressed that the European Union is in a “critical situation”, as leaders meet in Slovakia to discuss ways to regain trust after the UK’s vote to leave the bloc.
Angela Merkel said they needed to show they could improve on security, defence co-operation and the economy.
But EU countries are deeply divided over how to bolster growth and respond to the influx of migrants.
The continent’s deep political divisions were laid bare in spectacular fashion within minutes of EU leaders breaking up from a day of talks that had been designed to confront the “existential crisis” facing the EU with a new spirit of “loyal co-operation and communication”.
“We need solutions for Europe and we are in a critical situation,” Mrs Merkel said as she arrived at the gathering.
“You can’t solve all Europe’s problems in one summit. What we have to do is show in our deeds we can do things better in the realms of security and fighting terrorism, and in the field of defence.”
East -West, North -South and Britain
French President Francois Hollande said: “Either we move in the direction of disintegration, of dilution, or we work together to inject new momentum, we relaunch the European project.”
The one-day Bratislava meeting was the first of several confidence-building meetings, where a new EU “roadmap” should be worked out. They will culminate in a Rome summit in March, when the 60th anniversary of the EU’s founding Treaty of Rome will be celebrated.
But all talk of unity evaporated when Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, refused to stage a press conference with his German and French counterparts because of the failure to do more to help the continent’s ailing southern economies.“I cannot hold a press conference with [Angela] Merkel and [Francois] Hollande if I don’t agree with their positions on immigration and the economy,” he said.
Mr Renzi, who is fighting for his political life after promising he would resign if he failed to win a referendum on Italian governance reforms later this year, is angry with Germany’s refusal to cut him more slack on his domestic budgets ahead of elections in 2018.
Disagreements were not confined to Europe’s north-south divide over austerity, but also erupted over the east-west split on immigration, with Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, condemning the EU’s migration policy as “self-destructive and naïve”.
Mr Orban, the nationalist leader who this month promised to mount a “counter-revolution” to take power back to the EU capitals, made his attack in direct defiance of warnings from senior EU leaders to stop bashing Brussels.
European Council President Donald Tusk said the first session of talks had been “honest” and “frank”. “But there were no attacks, so it was not about recriminating,” he added.
Mr Tusk wants to restore EU stability and credibility with the bloc in the face of a migrant crisis and issues with the euro currency. But European leaders are divided, their voters sceptical.
Mr Tusk called on EU leaders to assure citizens they “had learned lessons from Brexit” and were able to “bring back stability and a sense of security”.
France and Germany have outlined plans to deepen European military co-operation, which were reinforced in the State of the Union address by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday, in which he called for a European military headquarters.
The UK’s departure from the EU removes one of the biggest obstacles to stronger EU defence in tandem with Nato.
“I think, that the leaders of 27 countries have come to think that we are in a deep crisis and if we do not change, this crisis could lead to more withdrawals from the European Union. I think, this is a common stance, the public is not inspired by the modern image of Europe and [Europe] needs to strive for a new dream to inspire citizens,” Greek PM Tsipras said as quoted by the national ERT broadcaster. He also added, that EU citizens note deterioration in living standards in the recent years, as the unemployment was growing and a social protection was lacking. Tsipras called for effective measures to tackle such issues as migration and security, the main problems Europe is struggling with.
The meeting produced pledges on migration and security that Europeans are not likely to believe and that their governments will struggle to honour.
The leaders of many of EU’s member states fear for their political lives – and EU projects and visions and the commitment to more extensive discussions and policy documents on economic growth are not exactly vote winners.
So the Bratislava meeting far from being the “turning point” Donald Tusk billed it to be, is more likely to lead to a Brussels style muddle, with an eye on important national elections in Germany and France.
Read “The Bratislava Declaration and Road Map”
Source: The Guardian, FT, Reuters, BBC, europa.eu
The Bratislava Declaration
Today we meet in Bratislava at a critical time for our European project. The Bratislava Summit of 27 Member States has been devoted to diagnose together the present state of the European Union and discuss our common future. We all agreed on the following general principles. Although one country has decided to leave, the EU remains indispensable for the rest of us.
In the aftermath of the wars and deep divisions on our continent, the EU secured peace, democracy and enabled our countries to prosper. Many countries and regions outside still only strive for such achievements. We are determined to make a success of the EU with 27 Member States, building on this joint history.
The EU is not perfect but it is the best instrument we have for addressing the new challenges we are facing. We need the EU not only to guarantee peace and democracy but also the security of our people. We need the EU to serve better their needs and wishes to live, study, work, move and prosper freely across our continent and benefit from the rich European cultural heritage.
We need to improve the communication with each other – among Member States, with EU institutions, but most importantly with our citizens. We should inject more clarity into our decisions. Use clear and honest language. Focus on citizens’ expectations, with strong courage to challenge simplistic solutions of extreme or populist political forces.
We committed in Bratislava to offer to our citizens in the upcoming months a vision of an attractive EU they can trust and support. We are confident that we have the will and the capacity to achieve it. We welcomed the State of the Union speech of the President of the Commission. We held a broad debate on the key priorities for the coming months. On this basis, the President of the European Council, the Presidency of the Council and the Commission proposed the following work programme (the “Bratislava roadmap”)
…..
IV. Economic and social development, youth Objective: Create a promising economic future for all, safeguard our way of life and provide better opportunities for youth
Concrete measures
a) in December: decision on extension of the European Fund for Strategic Investment in light of evaluation
b) Spring 2017 European Council: review progress as regards delivering on the different Single Market strategies (including Digital Single Market, Capital Markets Union, Energy Union)
c) October European Council to address how to ensure a robust trade policy that reaps the benefits of open markets while taking into account concerns of citizens
d) in December – decisions on EU support for Member States in fighting youth unemployment and on enhanced EU programmes dedicated to youth
