Seen as an opportunity to relaunch the European project after Brexit, the summit in Bratislava has revealed a series of topics European institutions and member states need to concentrate on in the coming period.
Seen as an opportunity to relaunch the European project after Brexit, the summit in Bratislava has revealed a series of topics European institutions and member states need to concentrate on in the coming period. These are mainly linked to internal and external security, from measures to combat terrorism to border security and the relationships with the North African countries.
No sooner did the summit end that critical voices started to be heard, both those of some European leaders and political commentators. The harshest reaction came from the Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi, who said the summit in Bratislava was a failed opportunity to take some concrete measures, in particular with regard to migration. In an interview to the daily Corriere della Sera, Renzi said the summit's final declaration does not contain a single line about the European Union's commitments to help the countries in Africa, about combating migration or about a social Europe.
In Berlin, German chancellor Angela Merkel later admitted to the differences that still persist in Europe over the issue of refugees, as well as the failure of her idea to impose refugee quotas on the other EU member states. Accepting that mistakes were made in how the situation was managed, the German leader defended, however, her decision to open the borders to migrants, saying it was a humanitarian matter, as many of them were coming from Syria.
In his State of the Union address, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said that since 2004, there have been more than 30 terrorist attacks in Europe, 14 in the last year alone. He added that faced with these threats to the European way of life, the European Commission has prioritised security from day one. Jean-Claude Juncker:
"By November, we will propose a new European Travel Information System to determine who will be allowed to travel to Europe. With regard to the security of our borders, we must prioritise information and intelligence exchange. For this, we will reinforce Europol because we will have better access to a larger amount of data and will provide it with more resources to carry out its tasks. This must in agreement with our ambitions, and Europe must also protect itself beyond its borders. The world is getting bigger and Europe is getting smaller, both demographically and economically. If we wish to maintain our influence on an international level, it is clear that we must work together as only together will we be able to tackle the difficulties we face."
Jean-Claude Juncker again spoke about the new European border guard and requested extra border guards to be deployed at the Bulgarian external borders. He also stood for the creation of a European defence fund and a European Union army. In his State of the Union address, Juncker tackled unemployment as well. He recalled that the unemployment rate in Europe is still too high, despite the creation of 8 million new jobs since 2013. Social inequality persists, so we should do more to ensure social rights, one of Europe's main pillars, said Jean-Claude Juncker. The European Commission also proposes a reform of the EU telecommunications markets to deploy 5G across the Union by 2025 and double the European investment fund. Moreover, Europe needs to be better explained, because, in the words of Jean-Claude Juncker:
"Our children deserve better. They deserve a Europe that preserves and defends their way of life. It is time we - the institutions, the governments, the citizens - all took responsibility for building that Europe together. I know there are certain debates about the future of Europe, there are optimists and pessimists who are against everything. I believe, however, that Europe has a mission at home and in the world. Between the pessimists, who only see the mistakes, and the optimists, who only paint a rosy picture, there are those who do not give up and keep working to build something for the future generations. I am calling for a solution to our differences. History will not remember our names, but the strength of our solutions and convictions. History will remember our mistakes and hold us to account for what we do in this generation."
The European leaders do not know how to bring the Union closer to citizens, warns commentator Jan Kovac from the Institute of International Relations in Prague. In his opinion, the Union's only option is to adopt policies in areas that affect as many people as possible.
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