News

First dot: last Thursday, the Prime Minister of the UK David Cameron finally delivered his long awaited message on Europe. Out of a 15 page speech, the commentators have retained only one piece of information: between 2015 and 2017 there will be an in-out Europe referendum: to stay in the EU on new terms or leave altogether. I have to say that my drawing started with a rather blurred and indecisive first dot: the Prime Minister proposed to his people to leave the EU (“this will be your decision”) while in not less than 3 pages he presented all the arguments on why he wants the UK to stay in (“I believe that Britain should want to remain in the EU”). So he wants out… but not really: this is a bargaining tool to approach his EU colleagues in order to get a “more flexible, more adaptable and more open” Europe.

Second dot: two days earlier, the French President Hollande and German Chancellor Merkel celebrated in Berlin the 50th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty, a cornerstone in the building the European engine. They said they would bridge differences on the shape of Europe's currency union and present joint proposals for deeper economic and fiscal integration before a summit of EU leaders scheduled for June. So two want more and deeper European integration when the first one wanted less….

Third dot: on Sunday, the Prime minister of Belgium said to the Wall Street Journal that “Europe will need to rethink the austerity-driven approach that it has taken since the start of the crisis if the euro-zone economy doesn’t start picking-up by mid-year”. “If at the summit of June there aren’t any signs of recovery that means that the policy at the European level up until now isn’t bearing fruit.” So one is focused on our priorities but also acknowledges that there is no common solution among heads of state: “we must at the very least ask the question among heads of state … what are the policy tools we can use to regain impetus?” that’s a dot with a question mark.

The fourth dot is concerning: a month before the general elections in Italy in which he is a candidate, and on the day that Europe held the holocaust remembrance, the former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi praised Benito Mussolini for "having done good" despite the Fascist dictator's anti-Jewish laws and support of Hitler. That dot is out of the picture.

It is very difficult to get a clear and hopeful drawing from these different points raised last week by key current or former/future EU leaders. Go figure what the EU looks like in the heads of our leaders.

I would nevertheless agree with Gunther Krichbaum, head of the German Bundestag European affairs committee that “In a changing world, voices from Europe will only be heard if we join forces. As the African saying goes: if you want to travel fast, go alone. If you want to travel far, go together”.

Let’s engage and propose a better drawing to our leaders!

Pierre Baussand – Director