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How can common decisions be taken at EU level when there are more and more calls from national leaders to take them at national level? How do we strike a balance between national interests and shared European values? UK Member of Parliament and former Mayor of London Boris Johnson controversially touched upon this topic last week, stating, “Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically. The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods.”

The resistance against EU-level decisions based on common values is becoming stronger and has an impact on the EU’s capacity to take common decisions. Last week, eleven national parliaments sent a “yellow card” to the European Commission requesting the withdrawal of the proposal for an EU law that would ensure that all workers get the same wage for the same job in the same place. The proposal was based on the European principle of equal treatment yet, only two months after its proposal, a third of EU countries want to nip it in the bud. And this is not the only attempt. On the mandatory relocation of refugees, the proposal from the Commission is being taken to the European Court of Justice by some Member States. While some countries perceive the Commission’s actions in response to the migration crisis as infringing national sovereignty, the Commission sees it as promoting another European shared value: solidarity.

The impact of this trend is now visible in the EU decisions themselves. The European Commission and the European Council are making concessions for Europe “à la carte”. On refugee relocation, Member States unwilling to host refugees would have to financially compensate the countries hosting them. To keep the UK in the Union, all Heads of State have agreed to bend the principle of non-discrimination between European workers: European citizens working in the UK will be deprived of their in-work benefits for several years. Is the EU going to abstain more frequently from taking common decision? This is what I feel when I read that the President of the European Commission said, “we are interfering in too many domains where the Member States are better placed to take action and pass legislation.”

Many questions remain unanswered regarding the tension between national and European interests. Can an “a la carte” approach works? Can we trade off common values for national interests? Can we accept xenophobic rhetoric as a reason to refuse the hosting of refugees and migrants in order to find a common solution for 28 countries? Can we accept that some EU workers will be discriminated against in an EU country in order to ensure that it remains in the EU? Can we accept that a proposal to ensure equal pay for equal work is rejected by national parliaments?

What we have in common are our values enshrined in our treaties – if we continue to challenge them and chip them off, what will we have in common?

Let’s engage!

Pierre Baussand, Director