Ministers
of ‘core’ Europe plan EU’s future
Foreign
ministers from founding EU nations to hold talks in Rome.
Their
“Plan A” is to push Europe forward on the same track, not a
two-track.
By TARA PALMERI
2/8/16, 8:22 PM CET Updated 2/9/16, 7:41 AM CET
The foreign
ministers of the six founding member countries of the European Union
are meeting for a discreet dinner on Tuesday in Rome to discuss
setting up a very informal group of “core” countries prepared to
push the EU forward, POLITICO has learned.
The informal dinner
has been dubbed “Reflection on Europe,” and is symbolic as it’s
being held one year before the 60th anniversary of the signing of the
Treaty of Rome.
Foreign ministers
from the original European Economic Community — Belgium’s Didier
Reynders, France’s Laurent Fabius, Germany’s Frank-Walter
Steinmeier, Italy’s Paolo Gentiloni, Luxembourg’s Jean Asselborn
and the Netherlands’ Bert Koenders — will discuss the state of
Europe in the city where their bloc was established in 1957.
“The Italians want
to already prepare a little bit by just thinking on a political level
what shape the Union is in before we celebrate,” an EU diplomat
said. “Do we still celebrate all of the same values and interests?”
With growing
Euroskepticism across Europe fueled by British demands for reform,
there’s been much discussion of Europe à la carte.
Their
“Plan A” is to push Europe forward on the same track, not a
two-track.
“The aim is to
think about the future of Europe,” another diplomatic source told
POLITICO of the meeting, which has not been promoted in the media,
who added that their “Plan A” is to push Europe forward on the
same track, not a two-track.
In December,
Gentiloni and British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond called for a
“two-speed” Europe in a joint op-ed in the Telegraph.
“Italy and the
United Kingdom have two very different ideas of Europe, but this does
not prevent them from working together for a better EU that can also
be a two-speed one, however avoiding the risk of Brexit,” they
wrote.
All 28 members will
meet at the European Council on February 18 to try to hash out a deal
on the U.K.’s demands for reform.
This article was
corrected to update the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of
Rome.
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