European Policy Centre’s new President Herman Van Rompuy delivered yesterday an inaugural speech on ‘the State of the Union’. He outlined some of the main challenges the EU is facing at the moment as well as the role that EPC can play in helping to shape effective policy solutions. He spoke about the multiple challenges being faced and the need for greater unity in policy making. His address, “The State of the Union”, reflected on the current challenges the EU is facing, including the refugee crisis; the conflict in Ukraine; the upcoming UK referendum on EU membership; and efforts to reform the Economic and Monetary Union.
He started by addressing the Greek crisis which lasted too long. Polarization grew dangerously and both creditors and Greece reached an agreement not perceived as a traditional EU win-win compromise by anybody. The mix of responsibility and solidarity was only obtained at the very last minute. Both ‘virtues’ were accepted reluctantly. And only because of the alternative: the abyss for Greece and its people.
According to President Rompuy a Grexit would have been the worst option for the Eurozone, even though all are convinced that this third bail-out is the last one. The future of Greece depends on the successful implementation of the MOU. ‘Optimism is a moral duty’! Greece is a unique case, very different from all the other countries which were under a ‘programme’ or under pressure, pointed out Herman Van Rompuy.
He premised that Europe has the habit to take action and to make qualitative jumps when with the back against the wall. Hesitating and waiting creates a cost in terms of growth and jobs. We should avoid this. The proposed implementation calendar of the 5-presidents report – as a follow-up to his 4-presidents report – shows no urgency and is, he fears, not being taken seriously enough. We have to take urgent steps towards a Capital Markets Union, a commitment to structural reforms by all Member States and later on, a real fiscal capacity. On top of more responsibility and more solidarity, we will also need more shared sovereignty. Personally, he would not create new institutions and new posts. We already have enough players.
He also concentrated his speech on migration which became the top priority this summer but it has been at the hard core of populism and extremism for more than twenty years. So it’s not a new problem, but there was, until recently, not sufficient ‘sense of urgency’. The massive inflow of refugees over the last months has changed the dimension of the challenge, as well as altering perceptions dramatically. History will judge who is responsible for the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, which could have been avoided. He stressed out the need of a common foreign and defence policy, which is more than providing humanitarian aid to refugees in the camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey where four million people are living. It is in our interest. But the current situation strengthens the feeling of powerlessness of the political world. That’s why it is so important not to mix up problems and solutions and to stay moderate in the political rhetoric. Words can be as important as deeds in these days. We have different phenomena:
- the war refugees, who cannot return to a ‘safe’ country;
- the free movement of EU-citizens (not “migrants”);
- the economic refugees, “Wirtschaftsflüchtlinge” for instance from Balkan countries and some African countries;
- the fight against terrorism.
We also shouldn’t mix up free movement, the Schengen zone and the Dublin Regulation. Some want to get rid of all three of them. They want a return to national borders; not only a ‘fragmentation’ of the Union but a dislocation or a falling apart of the EU. He urged to act to preserve the “acquis”. This can only result in more common policies on asylum and migration, not less.
Even more, we are a Union of values stated President Rompuy. We have open, pluralistic societies, already now culturally heterogeneous. We shouldn’t have any nostalgia to the ‘world of yesterday’. Our values make our Union unique: political democracy, the rule of law, non-discrimination, freedom of speech and freedom of religion. There is no place for doubts on this acquis.
Furthemore, he expressed his hope that migration and the confusion around this theme will not be misused in the campaign on UK membership of the Union. The rational arguments – especially the economic and historical (peace!) ones – are very strong. But the emotional discourse can take the upper hand. Migration would then divide our Union dramatically, even if Britain is not a member of the Eurozone or of Schengen. Keeping the Union together has to be a top priority for the upcoming months. A stand-alone nation is not a solution for any problem. Brexit would threaten the very existence of the UK and encourage separatists elsewhere in Europe.
We shouldn’t forget the economy. “It’s the economy, stupid” is true, but it is not the whole political truth. In the nineties, populist and extremist parties were quite strong in Western Europe in the midst of rather strong economic growth. But the economic agenda remains important. Regaining competitiveness on world markets is still a major challenge. And ‘secular stagnation’ is a critical threat.
Thereafter Van Rompuy addressed climate change. The COP21 Climate Conference in Paris is prepared by the EU, by China and the USA. One can feel that there is a political will to make progress, even if we need a lot more to reach the 2 degree ceiling for global warming.
On the ‘New Pact for Europe’ he flagged the word “fragmentation”. Our societies inside each country are fragmented due to fear, inequalities, unemployment and our Union itself is too fragmented – even our common market – because it takes courage and leadership to go beyond national and corporatist interests. Fragmentation is manageable. Dislocation, the EU falling apart, isn’t.
He concluded with a haiku:
A tank full of thoughts
Always striving for Europe
Worry and hope