With the European elections of spring 2019 in sight, the European leaders on Friday 20 October agreed to discuss an in-depth reform of the European project - in particular, the deepening of the Eurozone, post-2020 financial prospects and the composition of the Parliament - and to get more involved in moving forward the controversial dossiers currently at deadlock, such as the reform of the asylum system.
This working programme, entitled 'Leaders' Agenda' (see EUROPE 11886), is based on the reflection launched after the British referendum of June 2016. It reflects the call for unity made during the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Treaty of Rome in March and has been fed into by recent speeches on the future of the EU by the President of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, before the European Parliament and by French President Emmanuel Macron, at the Sorbonne University.
“I am happy to have received univocal support of all the EU leaders to go ahead with this plan”, said the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk. He referred to it as a “new work method”, “more direct” but also “more informal”, to allow the European leaders to move their differing opinions closer together in a constructive and respectful spirit. This method may well be put to the test, as the EU leaders considered that Europe has gone through its existential crisis triggered by the Eurozone crisis of 2012 or the mass influx of migrants to Europe in 2015.
Tusk referred to himself as a “guarantor of unity”. “None of the leaders questioned the fact that we must work united, hand-in-hand, with all member states on board”, he observed. The Croatian Prime Minister, Andrej Plenković, is even reported to have referred to him as 'guardian of the unity of the 28', as opposed to the Commission, which is guardian of the Treaties.
The difficulty in the process will lie in dealing with controversial dossiers, to show that Europe is becoming more integrated, is solving the citizens' specific problems, but not leaving the less ambitious member states to one side.
Speaking alongside him, Juncker said that the roadmap agreed upon reflects the concerns of the Commission, even though this institution is disinclined to allow the future of Europe to belong solely to the member states. We agree that the roadmap should be based on the Community method, said Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who argued that the future of the EU is just as important as Brexit.
Macron welcomed the intention expressed by the European Council of moving forward by adopting an agenda that is based on the triptych of sovereignty, unity and democracy. He said that the leaders do not necessarily need to agree on everything, but should “move forward and leave the door open”. If we move forward on migration, defence, energy and the environment, digital, neighbourhood and development, economic and monetary union, we will have a common budget, he said.
On asylum reform, which needs to be wrapped up by summer 2018, a definitive agreement will not, however, be easy. Tusk said that imposing compulsory quotas to relocate asylum seekers is not the answer, largely because Europeans firmly believe that the EU has the ability to stem the flow of migrants. However, Italy warmly welcomed the MEPs' position, which brings in a compulsory relocation mechanism (see EUROPE 11887).
The next step will be the informal summit of Gothenburg on 17 November. “At this summit, I would like us to agree on the social agenda of Europe, the social pillar, minimum social rights”.
The other important event of 2017 is the Eurozone summit, which will take place in mid-December. By the beginning of that month, the Commission will have made specific proposals, including: converting the European Stability Mechanism into a European Monetary Fund, a proposed stabilisation function for Eurozone countries and a proposed pre-accession instrument to the single currency for countries wishing to join the Nineteen. The Europeans' aim will be to launch talks, whilst waiting for the German government to be formed, so that decisions can be made next summer.
The proposed European Leaders' Agenda is available at: http://bit.ly/2zj09QTL . (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with editorial team)