On Thursday 9 March, Italy's Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said that the concept of a multi-speed Europe "will not be the central element of the Rome Declaration" that the European leaders will adopt at the celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome on Saturday 25 March.
Faced with its current challenges, Europe cannot move forward "at the speed of the slowest wagon", Gentiloni said. On Friday, the member states (without the UK) will work on developing the Rome Declaration on the basis of a working document put together by Italy and the presidencies of the European Council, the Council of the EU and the European Commission. It is nevertheless important, in Gentiloni's view, that this approach should "not be a way of selecting countries between themselves, but rather a way of consenting, to those who so wish, to move forward on a Europeanist path", as the current treaties already permit.
"The main thing is that Europe be able to move forward and integrate further with some. It will be clear in the end that it is always the same ones", France's President François Hollande stated. He admitted that Germany had been "reluctant", fearing giving the impression of recreating walls when walls have come down. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte spoke in favour of a Europe that focuses on the big questions – an approach that closes the door to the federalist dream of an ever closer Union. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with Camille-Cerise Gessant, Sophie Petitjean)