Strasbourg, 06/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, whose country has just assumed the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, pledged before MEPs in Strasbourg on Wednesday 6 July to defend the European project and to take heed of criticisms from citizens.
Fico opened his speech by stating that the EU is an “amazing and unique” project. However, he made clear from the start that discussion on how to improve the EU and make it more effective are inevitable. “The EU must be built for citizens, as the result of the referendum in the United Kingdom showed”, when those wanting their country to leave the EU won the day. Criticism is the result, in Fico's view, of the EU's failure to communicate all the tangible benefits it brings to its citizens. The EU has to be more flexible, less bureaucratic and elitist and more attentive to criticism, he argued.
He would like the forthcoming negotiations with the UK on its withdrawal from the EU to be “constructive”. There should be no delay as the negotiations will be long, he said.
The Slovak prime minister called on Europe to “overcome fear”, fear of migration, identity, security and employment crises and also the fear that manifests itself in the rise of extremisms and nationalisms. No single member state will be able to solve current or future crises: the migration crisis has made that clear, said Fico, who went to the Court of Justice of the EU to challenge the quota system for allocating refugees.
There is alternative to membership of the EU, he said. He wants, however, to give it fresh impetus. He said he wants the conclusions of the next summit of 27 member states, scheduled to take place in the Slovak capital, Bratislava, on 16 September, to pick up countries' various ideas on how the European Union should function. He argued for a long-term strategy on the migration crisis to be put in place. He spoke of the need to make borders secure and to resolve problems in the countries of origin but, as Gianni Pittella (S&D, Italy) pointed out, made no mention of migrant reception and resettlement policy. MEPs all well remember Fico's insulting comments on migrants, when he said that not a single Muslim would be allowed to enter Slovakia, nor would the country create a Muslim community because they represent a serious threat to security.
Among the other Slovak priorities raised were: - relations with Ukraine (no solution has yet been found to this crisis, noted Fico); - stronger trade relations, including free-trade agreements with Canada and the United States; - the digital market; - the mid-term review of the EU multiannual financial framework; - capital markets and banking union.
Manfred Weber (EPP, Germany) was happy that Fico had, in his speech, opposed populism but he said that this was a combat that had to be engaged at all times and also at national level.
Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans said that he had confidence in the new Presidency, even though this is the first time that Slovakia has occupied this role. He praised Slovakia for adopting a “positive agenda”: the people of Europe want more than just a large market, they want to be part of a social market economy that creates jobs and generates growth, he stated. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)