OPINION
A
new beginning for Europe
The
crucial task is to strengthen Europeans’ trust in integration
itself.
By TOMÁŠ PROUZA
10/16/16, 6:04 AM CET
As most people know,
this year brought about a major change for the European Union.
Before June 2016,
member states strived to address the challenges they were facing in a
common European framework. Now, for the first time, a member state
has decided to leave the common project.
The British people
will have to deal with both their own initial surprise about the
result and with the fact that they were not prepared for it. The
European Union, on the other hand, will have to cope with the fact
that in the future it may no longer hold true that one does not leave
the same boat whilst it is underway. Furthermore, the European Union
will have to clarify where it wants to sail to in the future.
It is evident that
despite the apparent uniqueness of the island country, Brexit and the
way the British people have reached this point is more a symptom than
a cause of the current condition of the union. A series of crises —
starting with the financial crisis and followed by the eurozone debt
crisis, the war in Syria, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, as well as
terrorist threats, and above all the migration and refugee crises —
have weakened the essential principle of every democratic political
project: the trust of its citizens in its capacity to solve the
fundamental problems they are facing. The crucial task for the
political representation of the EU27 is precisely that — to
strengthen Europeans’ trust in integration itself.
The European summit
which took place in mid-September in Bratislava was the first
important step in this process as political representatives tried to
construct a serious diagnosis of the current state of the union.
Furthermore, they agreed on concrete measures which, if properly
implemented, should bring the union closer to its citizens again,
making it more comprehensible and operational where truly necessary.
The union should be
able to guarantee our safety and economic prosperity
According to this
agreement, in the future, the union should focus on areas where it
can bring added value and where the citizens expect it to play a
strong role. The union should be able to guarantee our safety and
economic prosperity. Hence, it should focus its activities on the
areas of internal and external security and support of economic and
social development.
Based on this
agreement, we should take steps leading to full control of the
external borders, a fully operational European border and coast
guard, better cooperation of intelligence agencies, and deepening of
defense cooperation as well as steps for an active trade policy,
investment support, and the completion of the single market.
Nevertheless, these
specific measures are not the most important result of the summit.
The key conclusion is that the remaining member states, the EU27,
have expressed their will to continue with European integration. This
consensus confirms the fact that the member states regard the current
model of European integration as the best way to further the
cooperation of nations on our continent. At the same time, it is
based on the understanding that national states cannot face today’s
challenges, such as terrorism, illegal migration or the negative
impact of globalization, on their own.
All of the
previously mentioned measures should contribute to maintain and
strengthen the unity of the European Union at a time when one of its
prominent members has decided to leave. For the Czech Republic — a
medium-size and strongly export-oriented state in the center of
Europe — unity, and practical cooperation within the European
Union, is a key interest as a guarantee of stability and prosperity.
On that account, we
keep saying that in the near future we will need to take pragmatic
steps in order to restore trust in the integration process.
Therefore, we should not dream about currently unachievable
aspirations of super-integration nor claim that we can strengthen the
union by returning to its intergovernmental decision-making stage.
The problem we are facing now is not an insufficient legal framework,
but a lack of confidence. Faltering confidence that we are heading in
the right direction is also sometimes accompanied by insufficient
courage to use the legroom that the current integration framework
offers us.
the Commission is
particularly crucial. It must play the role of an independent
mediator between the national interests of member states, not deepen
trenches across Europe and aspire to politically control the union.
In order to be
successful in achieving our plans, we need collaboration between the
member states and EU institutions. It is obvious that the integration
process is not possible without strong institutions. It is equally
clear that EU institutions must act in a way that supports the unity
of the union. This unity will work only if each actor adheres to its
role as defined by the treaties. In this regard, the Commission is
particularly crucial. It must play the role of an independent
mediator between the national interests of member states, not deepen
trenches across Europe and aspire to politically control the union.
It must be an institution that works for all member states, helping
them implement their agreements but also consistently supervising
that they respect the treaties and fulfill their obligations.
Some argue that the
process that we started in Bratislava is not ambitious enough and
includes nothing but small steps. Significantly, the politicians who
share this assessment have strikingly conflicting ideas about the
future of the European Union. The Bratislava declaration is an
evolution rather than a revolution. Yet, under the current
circumstances, this is the best possible approach. We do not need to
completely destroy the European house if only the roof is leaking.
Many aspects of the union work well and casting doubt on them would
have deep economic and political impacts.
The success of the
Bratislava summit will be assessed only in the light of how we
succeed in fulfilling the political agreement which was reached
there. If we implement the specific commitments from Bratislava, we
will make an important step on the path towards a union which
addresses the real problems of its citizens and acts precisely where
the joint forces of the 27 member states can achieve the best results
while not excessively interfering in the lives of Europeans. If this
is the case, the Bratislava summit will go down in history as the
moment when united Europe began to breathe again.
Tomáš Prouza is
Czech State Secretary for European Affairs
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