Merkel backs idea of 'multi-speed Europe' at Versailles meet

Photo Credit: L. Mariano Rajoy, Angela Merkel,
Francois Hollande, Paolo Gentiloni
Reuters/P. Wojazer

The leaders of France, Germany, Spain, and Italy have urged a reform of the EU to allow member states to choose their degree of integration. The EU is searching for a way forward as the UK prepares to trigger its exit. The concept of "multi-speed Europe" would see some EU countries grow more united on economic and defense matters, while allowing other states to catch up later, the leaders of four of EU's biggest economies said at an informal summit on Monday. The meet was hosted by French President Francois Hollande, who welcomed Germany's Angela Merkel, Italy's Paolo Gentiloni, and Spain's Mariano Rajoy in Versailles. "Unity is not uniformity," Hollande said at a joint press conference, urging "new forms of cooperation." One of the priorities, according to the French president, is creation of a European defense force to cooperate with NATO. Also, some EU states could move faster and further in deepening the eurozone and harmonizing their fiscal and social policy. His comments were echoed by Angela Merkel, the leader of Europe's largest economy. "A multi-speed Europe is necessary: otherwise we are blocked," she said. "We must have the courage to accept that some countries can move forward a little more quickly than others." The four leaders presented no detailed proposal after the Monday summit. However, the EU is expected to weigh its option for the future in the run-up to the Rome conference on March 25. The meet, marking 60 years since the EU was founded, would see the 27 remaining countries discuss reform proposals. The UK expected to launch exit negotiations by the end of the month.
Juncker lists options
The idea of varying degrees of unity between EU nations has been endorsed by Spain and Italy, as well as several other rich EU nations. Newer members, particularly Poland and Hungary, signaled their reservations. Last week, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker set out five possible directions for the EU, ranging from reducing the EU to a single market, maintaining the status quo, reducing Brussels' influence, go down a more federalist path, or creating the multi-speed EU endorsed by the major players of the bloc. At the time, Juncker said that the Brexit would be painful, but would "not stop the EU as it moves to the future." dj/bw (AP, dpa, AFP) DW

Italian conservative Tajani wins race to head European Parliament

Photo Credit: www.euronews.com

Centre-right politician Antonio Tajani was elected the new president of the European Parliament on Tuesday after defeating his socialist rival, a fellow Italian, in a daylong series of votes.

The new speaker, 63, a former EU commissioner and an ally of former premier Silvio Berlusconi, succeeds German Social Democrat Martin Schulz at a time of crisis for the European Union. Britain wants a divorce deal that needs the legislature's blessing while old adversary Russia and old ally the United States both pose new threats to EU survivors holding together. Schulz's tenure saw close cooperation with the centre-right head of the EU executive, Jean-Claude Juncker, but ended with recriminations over the end of a left-right grand coalition. That could spell trouble for the smooth passage of EU laws on a range of issues. And the win for Tajani, who beat centre-left leader and fellow Italian Gianni Pittella by 351 votes to 282 in a fourth-round runoff, gives the right a lock on three pivotal EU political institutions. That has stirred some calls for change from either Juncker at the European Commission or Donald Tusk, who chairs the European Council of national leaders. However, there is no clear consensus for such changes. Tajani, mindful of the scars left by an unusually bruising battle over a post which can be a powerful influence on which EU rules are made, promised to be "a president for all of you". His eventual victory came with backing from pro-EU liberals as well as from the ruling conservative parties of Britain and Poland, both of them sharply critical of the EU's failings. They bristle at the EU impinging on national sovereignty and see it as bureaucratic and wasteful.
Coalition
Tajani began a day of voting with a major advantage by making a coalition with the liberals, whose leader Guy Verhofstadt pulled out to form a common front against anti-EU populists. Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister and leading European federalist who is the parliament's point man on Brexit negotiations, highlighted the challenges the EU faces in dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. The latter predicted this week that more countries would follow Britain's example and leave the bloc. The centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group, the second biggest after the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) group, had previously agreed, when Schulz was re-elected in 2014 with EPP backing, to support an EPP candidate this time round. That rift in the mainstream has been seen as giving a potentially greater voice to eurosceptics who have been bolstered by Britain's referendum vote last year to quit the EU. Verhofstadt said of his party's alliance with the centre-right: "It is a first and important step in the building up of a pro-European coalition ... that is absolutely necessary with Trump, with Putin, with many other challenges Europe faces." Parliament will also have to sign off on the exit deal with Britain, probably by late 2018 or early 2019, just as lawmakers are campaigning for an EU-wide legislative election in May 2019. Reacting to a call from Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday for Britain to keep extensive free access to the EU market while shedding many of its obligations, Verhofstadt said she was offering an "illusion" and dealing in "threats". (REUTERS) France 24 Photo