News

Last Wednesday [7 October] the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande made the trip to Strasbourg to show a common front to the 751 Members of the European Parliament. They both warned against the temptation of EU countries to “retreat into their national shell” and called for “more Europe”. But what are their concrete proposals for more Europe, and how do they translate into reality?

I have the feeling that more and more Member States are calling for less Europe, despite my belief that our common European challenges need common European responses.

For example, the day before the German and French Heads of State addressed the European Parliament 28 ministers of employment and social affairs met in Luxembourg and could not agree on the need for a more social Europe. Despite growing social divergences between and within their countries, they wanted to maintain their national competencies in social matters. This sounds very much like the kind of shell-retreating that Chancellor Merkel warned against.

The United Kingdom is one of the most prominent voices calling for less Europe. The Telegraph has revealed that UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s four key demands for EU renegotiation ahead of a referendum on Brexit include exemption of the UK from the EU’s founding principle of “ever closer union”, and a “red card” system that would give groups of national parliaments the power to stop the adoption of unwanted legislation. All in all, the Franco-German call for more Europe is under severe questioning by many Member States.

As a civil society organisation, our primary aim is to encourage solutions to common challenges faced by people in the EU. The high levels of inequality, poverty and social exclusion people in Europe experience have become the rule rather than the exception. The humanitarian crisis of people fleeing war, persecution and poverty is far from being over and requires a response in solidarity from all of us on the continent. When we face common challenges, should we not come together to find appropriate answers to them? Until our leaders recognise this is the only solution to Europe’s problems, threats to Europe’s union will only increase.

Let’s engage,

Pierre Baussand, Director