Strasbourg/Brussels, 02/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - Instead of reading out his to-do list, President of the Italian Council Matteo Renzi referred to the founding values of Europe to kick off the Italian Presidency of the Council of the EU of the second half of 2014, in Strasbourg on Wednesday 2 July.
“Our six months will be a semester in which we will not be afraid to say that politics has its dignity and in the dignity of politics, we will rediscover the profound meaning of our presence here”, he said. In the view of the young prime minister, who was not even 18 years old when the Maastricht treaty was signed, “it is the duty of our generation to earn the heritage” of the founding fathers. “We owe it to our children, to those who died to allow Europe to become a geographical expression, but also an expression of the spirit”, he said, voicing his desire to make the Italian Presidency “a unique opportunity” to “rediscover the soul of Europe, the profound sense of our 'communal life'”. He added, in response to the ambient scepticism towards European action, “if we continue to sequester ourselves off within our own borders, we will never get anywhere and we will lose the dignity of European politics”.
Renzi referred to the debate on the mobilisation of the tools available to stimulate growth. “Without growth, Europe has no future”, he stressed, arguing for a genuine balance between budgetary stability and investment conducive to grow. He also raised the migratory problems in Europe, calling for a reinforcement of the Frontex agency, amongst other things.
The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, supported Italy in its efforts. “We need a strong Italy within the EU”. “It is very important for you to be able to carry out your desire for reforms”, he added.
Reactions of the political groups. The presidents of the political groups focused their reactions on the themes of growth, where the Left-Right divide re-emerged, and immigration.
The “difference of opinion” between the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats lies in the fact that the EPP group refuses to “give an inch” in the adherence to the European budgetary rules, said Germany's Manfred Weber, who said that “debts destroy the future”. France has been given extra time to carry out reforms, but the “promises have not been kept”, he said. The Liberals sang a similar tune. Guy Verhofstadt (ALDE, Belgium) sees no contradiction between austerity and growth, which he said are two sides of the same coin. He argued in favour of a new “Delors package” in the digital and energy sectors. Syed Kamall of the UK pledged the support of the Conservative group ECR if Europe's change of course materialises with increasing competitiveness, the liberalisation of the market and the fight against red tape.
Agreeing with Renzi, Gianni Pittella (S&D, Italy) said that European society was “in a coma”. “We want a balance” in the application of the stability and growth pact, he stressed, firmly believing that, by reducing public income, “austerity has also served to increase debt”. On behalf of the radical Left, Germany's Gabriele Zimmer spoke out against a Liberal credo - cutting public spending, work becoming ever more precarious - which is unable to call into question the principles which worsened the recession. However, she sided with Verhofstadt over the need for a “New Deal” to invest in infrastructure and research, to be paid for, amongst other things, out of green taxes and the financial transactions tax. She proposed a conference on debt similar to the one which wiped out Germany's war debts. The president of the Greens/EFA Group, the Belgian Philippe Lamberts, took Renzi at his word: how can we prevent a situation in which the most vulnerable people pick up the tab for the crisis? Are you ready to make the social and environmental objectives of the EUROPE 2020 strategy binding? Do you support a roll-out of the automatic exchange of tax information in all areas? Lamberts went on to criticise France and Italy for their efforts to denude the financial transactions tax of its content.
Speaking on behalf of the Europhobic group EFD, Ignazio Corrao of Italy criticised the free-trade agreement (TTIP) with the United States currently being negotiated. This agreement will allow large groups to impose their views on the governments and will wipe out small businesses and workers, he said.
On immigration, Pittella argued the need to show solidarity wioth countries under the greatest migratory pressure. Going as far as to speak of “humanitarian corridors” in this area, Zimmer pointed out that Italy had not won its fight at the European Council over mutual recognition on asylum matters. Peace at the borders of the EU cannot be decided in the United States, she said. (MB and CG)