Bratislava, 01/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - At the launch of the Slovakian Presidency of the Council of the EU on Friday 1 July, the Slovakian Prime Minister, Robert Fico, ruled out the possibility of treaty change to reform the European Union of 27 member states.
“I fear extremely high expectations”: some may say that everything is fine and that nothing needs to change, but other countries may feel that in-depth reforms are needed, possibly involving a “change of the treaties”, Fico said. As the Slovakian Presidency, “we are not envisaging such radical calls”, he added, calling for better communication on the advantages of EU membership addressed to the European citizens. Germany and Austria in particular take a similar view. However, Poland, a member of the Visegrad group of four countries of Central Europe, which also include Slovakia, is openly calling for institutional reform (see EUROPE 11583).
In the framework of the reflection on the future of the European Union undertaken by the member states with the exception of the United Kingdom, the European leaders will meet in Bratislava on Friday 16 September for an informal meeting, following the speech on the State of the Union to be made by the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, before the European Parliament (see EUROPE 11584).
Stressing that holding this debate outside the Brussels sphere will help to infuse new life into it, Fico said that he had made this proposal to his European counterparts “a few weeks” before the results of the British referendum were announced. He believes that the informal meeting of Bratislava has “no connection” to the internal political upheaval in the United Kingdom.
Juncker pedagogically pointed out that up until 2003, the meetings of the European Council were held in the country of the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU. Since 2003, things changed when the Treaty of Nice entered into force. “Why? Because it's cheaper and Belgium asked for compensation” for its loss of voice within the Council, he said.
The Commission President said that the European Commission's reforms agenda, including a deepening of the single market, must be explained to the citizens. He observed that some 20 sets of European rules have been reassessed with regard to the principle of subsidiarity and that the number of legislative initiatives had fallen greatly compared to the previous Commission.
In the event of Brexit, no leeway over freedom of movement. The former Prime Minister of Luxembourg was also extremely clear about the European position in the framework of the forthcoming negotiations on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU and the new relationship to be entered into by the two entities once it is a European third country. “One major issue is the freedom of movement of workers. We will not be changing this”, he stressed, adding: “if you want access to the internal market, you have to accept all the consequences, of the four freedoms, including the movement of workers”.
In London, Michael Gove, a Leave campaign candidate for the head of the British Conservative party and potential future Prime Minister, said that he would bring about the desire of the majority of the British to put an end to the freedom of movement and the supremacy of European law.
Striking a balance on migration issues. The President of the Commission did not deny that there were a number of “conflicts” between the European level and Slovakia. In particular, this is the case regarding certain legislative texts or proposals to tackle the migration challenge. Slovakia has taken legal proceedings against the quotas allocated to the member states for the relocation of refugees trapped in Greece and Italy (see EUROPE 11400). It also has its doubts about the reform of the Dublin system on granting asylum, which provides the financial sanctions the countries which refuse to show solidarity in hosting refugees (see EUROPE 11546).
Calling for “mutual respect” and efforts to find a “balance” between the positions expressed, Fico said that Slovakia was active in the hosting of migrants. He referred to a cooperation project with Austria, under which Slovakia hosts migrants on its territory who are waiting for a response to their asylum application submitted to the Austrian administration. On the question of relocations, the Secretary of State for Home Affairs, Denisa Sakova, said the previous today that migrants resume their journeys to their final destination, generally Germany, “within 24 hours”.
Fico's Smer party is facing sanctions from the Party of European Socialists, to which it is affiliated, over vitriolic comments made by the country's Prime Minister over the place of Islam in his country (see EUROPE 11575). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)