The Secretary General of the European External Action Service, Stefano Sannino, said on Monday 12 April that multilateralism should be one of the topics discussed at the conference on the future of Europe.
“Citizens at all levels must be convinced of the strength of multilateralism. I hope that the issue can be addressed in the framework of the conference on the future of Europe”, he explained during a hearing in the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs on the joint communication on multilateralism, presented on 17 February (see EUROPE 12660/6).
According to Mr Sannino , it must be both a top-down and bottom-up approach. “It is important that there be an understanding among governments of the importance of multilateralism and that society as a whole understands the instrument available to us to deal with crises and challenges that are such that there is a need for a multilateral framework”, he added.
More generally, the Secretary General felt that the EU should strengthen itself in the multilateral system and have a new approach to multilateralism. “The EU should go beyond declarations of support and aim for specific actions and initiatives in line with its values and principles”, he added.
For his part, Koen Doens, Director-General of the European Commission’s DG INTPA (International Partnerships), highlighted a problem of the EU’s visibility in multilateralism, believing that it was necessary to work on this issue. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)