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Opinion
October 13, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 23
In his keynote address, Romanian Foreign Minis- ter Teodor Melanescu argued that the EU should go beyond the core/periphery framing and other traditional dichotomies. “It is essential to use flex- ible and variable speed scenarios with prudence, keeping them as measures of last resort. The EU should aim for as much unity as possible and as much flexibility as strictly necessary,” he said.
This was echoed by the Minister for the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU Lilyana Pav- lova,, who commented that: “We are not in favour of a multi-speed Europe, obviously. We have been working so far to have unity ... minimising differ- ences.
“Together with Romania, we say we shall not be divided into east and west, rich and poor but we shall be looking for unity. That’s why the message for our presidency is ‘United we stand strong’,” Pavlova added. Not only that, but Sofia plans to fo- cus its presidency on further integration with the aspiring member states of the Western Balkans.
The comments by the ministers appeared to clash with the vision for the future of the EU recently outlined by French President Emmanuel Macron, who envisaged France and Germany leading the overhaul of the union. Macron has long been an advocate of a multi-speed Europe, and some of his proposals — such as that the European Com- mission be limited to 15 members rather than
28, or one commissioner per member state as at present — have unnerved some of the smaller and newer members.
Speaking at the Aspen Forum, Matti Maasikas, deputy minister for foreign affairs from the rela- tively long-established member state Estonia, acknowledged that while “no big decision can be taken in the EU without the active participation of France and Germany, in the union of 28 this is no longer enough. These two major players need to learn some new ways in keeping — and they are learning —others on board as well.”
On the other hand, Angela Cristea, head of the
European Commission representation in Roma- nia, sought to stress the positives from the recent State of the European Union address from Com- mission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
“Romanians are among the most vibrant support- ers of EU integration. What’s new is that in Junck- er’s recent speech this was recognised publicly at the highest level in the European Commission,” Cristea told delegates. “Juncker even pushed a little bit further, a friendly push towards Romania to be even closer to the core, if not in the core group.”
But this is going to be an uphill struggle. However keen Romania and Bulgaria may be to either en- ter the core EU (which inevitably includes euro- zone membership) or to iron out the distinction between core and periphery, some of the ongoing crises besetting the bloc have the potential to grow such divisions.
The migrant crisis, for example, has increasingly pitted the old member states (in particular Germany) against the new. A September European Court of Justice ruling that Hungary and Slovakia, who challenged the measure, must abide by the refugee quotas set by the European Commission provoked Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto to claim the country was the victim of a "rape of European law and values”. A Gallup survey shows that anti-migrant attitudes are much harder in Eastern Europe than they are in Western Europe.
Meanwhile, in addition to its political implica- tions, the departure of the UK from the EU, will leave a multi-billion euro hole in the union’s an- nual budget. The only places this kind of money can be subtracted from are agricultural funding and structural and cohesion funds — the latter in particular have been highly important in boosting the poorest regions of the EU and thereby support- ing convergence.
The draft multi-annual financial framework for the next few years is due to be finalised under the Bulgarian presidency of the EU. “How we can do