The situation regarding the economy, the management of migration flows, security and social promotion are areas in which the EU needs to act now to win back the confidence of the European citizens, some 15 leading European Social Democrats, meeting on Thursday 25 August at the Château de la Celle Saint-Cloud (near Paris) by invitation of the French President, François Hollande, argue.
Those who attended firmly believe that it would be unwise to "wait for the general elections" scheduled to take place in 2017 in Germany, France and the Netherlands to adopt "a number of urgent measures", Gianni Pittella, the President of the Social Democrat group at the European Parliament, who attended the meeting, told EUROPE. He went on to add: "either the EU takes certain urgent measures and win back the citizens' confidence, or it dies".
In the economic field, the Italian MEP argued in favour of stimulating the economy in Europe by doubling the 'Juncker' investment plan, a three-year initiative designed to attract more than €300 billion of investments up to 2018. "There must also be an intelligent and flexible application" of the European budgetary rules, whilst not letting up in a "strict" management of the public finances, he added. He believes that investments should be further facilitated in infrastructure, particularly digital infrastructure, and the ecological transition.
Italy, which is struggling under sluggish growth and a mistrust of its banking sector, would like to benefit from more of the flexibility laid down in the Stability Pact in exchange for further reforms (EUROPE 11607).
Pittella went on to stress the need to speed up the process of relocating refugees already present in Greece and Italy in the rest of the EU. However, he did not take position in favour of launching infringement proceedings against countries which are reluctant to comply with European law on this, but instead called for a system to compensate countries which make good on their commitments. As for the fight against terrorism, he called for increased cooperation at European level between intelligence services.
Finally, in the social field, the MEP argued in favour of fighting the race to the bottom by reaffirming the principle of "equal pay for equal work" at European level, which is also central to the controversial proposal for a revision of the rules on posted workers (EUROPE 11598).
Tusk's reappointment will depend on Schulz's
The meeting also discussed the matter of the reappointment of the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, whose mandate runs until May 2017. "The Socialists are in favour of keeping a political balance", Pittella said. Basically, the Social Democrat family will support reappointing Tusk for a term of two and a half years if the Presidency of the European Parliament continues to be held by one of its members, currently Martin Schulz.
The Paris meeting was also attended by the Austrian Chancellor, Christian Kern, the Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, the German Deputy Chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, and Schulz. The President of the Italian Council was unable to leave Italy due to the recent earthquake that devastated the centre of the country.
The Social Democrat family will hold a Convention on the future of Europe on Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 October in Brussels. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)