 |
EDITORIAL
A
sobrevivência da União Europeia
Será
a declaração de Roma a abrir finalmente caminho a uma Europa a
várias velocidades, uma caixa de Pandora que anda nas discussões
europeias há vinte anos.
11 de Março de
2017, 2:24
Desta vez,
Jean-Claude Juncker não disse nenhum disparate. Ao desejar o
regresso da Inglaterra, expressou três ideias, todas elas possíveis:
que a União resista e se fortaleça, que a União se torne outra vez
desejável e que a Inglaterra sofra por ficar de fora do grupo
europeu. São possíveis embora, é certo, hoje pareçam altamente
improváveis. A União está mais fraca hoje, enfrenta a maior crise
desde o seu surgimento e pode muito bem não durar. Mas o inverso
também é possível.
Não sei se as casas
de apostas aceitam dinheiro de quem acredita que a União se pode
aguentar mais 60 anos. Mas porque não? Porque não podemos pensar
que o bom senso acabe por imperar e que a União resista, acabando
por ficar mais forte? Não é impossível que aconteça, até porque
é o cenário que dá mais garantias de desenvolvimento sustentado e
de paz para o continente.
É verdade que os
sinais não são encorajadores: o comportamento da Polónia voltou a
envergonhar aqueles que esperam que os países sejam capazes de olhar
para Bruxelas como algo mais do que uma caixa de reclamações onde
colocam os seus desagravos de política interna. E a lentidão na
preparação da Declaração de Roma antecipa um texto genérico, em
que se irá celebrar de forma envergonhada a existência da União
Europeia.
Mas será esta
declaração de Roma a abrir finalmente caminho a uma Europa a várias
velocidades, uma caixa de Pandora que anda nas discussões europeias
há vinte anos e que se estivesse em vigor poderia bem ter impedido a
saída dos britânicos. Parece ser o único rumo que permitirá maior
integração – mesmo que leve vários países para o caminho do
federalismo e permita que outros continuem nas franjas dessa
integração. Não parece a melhor ideia para assegurar uma União
coesa, mas a verdade é que o cenário actual também não.
Será preciso bem
mais do que boa vontade. Será preciso olhar para lá dos resultados
a curto prazo, deixar de usar a União como bode expiatório e criar
uma ideia de Europa que possa estar de acordo com o que os povos
europeus desejam. Terá de democratizar a sua estrutura, ser mais
transparente e flexível. Aí pode até durar mais sessenta anos,
coisa que parece absolutamente impensável em Março de 2017. Mas
antes será preciso sobreviver aos populismos da moda, e vêm aí
eleições holandesas, francesas e alemãs. Lá mais para o final do
ano falamos.
|
Multispeed
Europe: the EU’s ‘Loch Ness monster’
Much
talked about but often described differently, the old idea is back in
vogue.
By MAÏA DE LA
BAUME 3/10/17, 6:41 PM CET Updated 3/10/17, 6:58 PM CET
Just about every
leader in the EU seems to have a different name for it. But it’s
the talk of Brussels once again.
French President
François Hollande calls it “differentiated cooperation,” German
Chancellor Angela Merkel has talked about “a Europe of different
speeds,” while Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni speaks of
“different levels of integration.” But the decades-old idea most
often rendered in English as “multispeed Europe” recently got a
new spin from Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, as one of
five scenarios for the EU ‘s future with the title: “Those who
want to do more.”
When EU leaders —
minus the soon-to-depart Theresa May — met in Brussels on Friday to
map out how the bloc should develop ahead of a grand 60th anniversary
summit in Rome later this month, the concept was on everybody’s
lips once more.
As Juncker’s handy
slogan suggests, the general idea is simple: Individual members of
the EU can group together for specific projects, even if others do
not want to join in. But pinning down how that should work in
practise is much trickier. For many, “multispeed Europe” is one
of these ubiquitous catchall terms with blurry contours.
A senior European
diplomat compared the idea to the Loch Ness monster: “It appears
every once in a while but we have never seen it.”
The
eurozone, which uses the single currency, and the passport-free
Schengen area, are two prominent examplesof a multispeed Europe.
Some see it as a
useless lifebuoy grabbed by a drowning Europe, others see it as a
recycled concept originally invented to please Euroskeptics, while
others say it has never existed concretely.
In reality, the EU
has already set up multiple ways, both within its defining treaties
and outside them, to encourage the emergence of a multispeed Europe.
The eurozone, which uses the single currency, and the passport-free
Schengen area, are two prominent examples.
Enhanced cooperation
The concept of
“enhanced cooperation” features in key EU documents, including
the Treaty of Amsterdam, signed in 1997, and the Treaty of Nice,
signed in 2001. Under current treaty rules, if at least nine member
countries wish to establish enhanced cooperation in an area covered
by the treaties “they shall notify the European Parliament, the
Council and the Commission accordingly.” The Council adopts a
decision to allow enhanced cooperation “as a last resort … when
it has established that the objectives of such cooperation cannot be
attained within a reasonable period by the Union as a whole, and
provided that at least nine Member States participate in it.”
The most recent
example of “enhanced cooperation” came on Thursday evening when
19 leaders agreed to establish a European Public Prosecutor after
almost four years of difficult negotiations, and despite a lack of
support from countries including Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Malta and
the Netherlands.
“This is a good
evolution for member states who want to go further,” Hollande
declared.
The prosecutor would
have powers to investigate and prosecute corruption and tax fraud,
which costs EU governments at least €50 billion a year.
The decision on the
prosecutor was at least the third time EU countries have used the
procedure. In 2010, 14 member countries pushed forward with rules
allowing international couples to select which country’s law would
apply to their divorce. In 2011, all EU states participated in the
creation of a unified patent regime that would apply in every member
country apart from Spain and Italy. In 2013, the European Council
adopted a decision authorizing 11 member countries to proceed with
the introduction of a financial transaction tax (FTT) through
“enhanced cooperation.”
But the idea of a
multispeed Europe becoming central to the EU’s identity brought a
multi-faceted response from national leaders on Friday.
Juncker acknowledged
the notion had sparked fears among some leaders that it could lead to
“a new kind of Iron Curtain between east and west” — with two
classes of membership, one for rich Western EU members and another
for poorer eastern members.
“That’s not the
intention of this,” he said. “We are not trying to change the
treaties.”
Speaking to
reporters on Friday, Hollande urged the EU to “move faster and
stronger with only several countries, without losing overall
solidarity and cohesion among the 27 countries.” He said such a
model had worked well on defense, the eurozone and the transaction
tax.
He added : “It’s
not about having several speeds, it’s not about excluding anyone …
But we can’t allow one country, whoever it may be, to prevent
others from moving faster.”
“What
is essential is for Europe to move on” — François
Hollande
The previous day, he
suggested enhanced cooperation to harmonize fiscal and social
policies and also to transition to low-carbon energy, where he said
“we know that some countries don’t want to go much further” and
suggested Poland was in this category.
“What is essential
is for Europe to move on,” Hollande said.
Germany’s Merkel
acknowledged that some countries feared a “multispeed Europe”
meant there would be different classes of EU membership. She sought
to ease these fears by comparing the EU to a family, in which all
members were free to join any of the family’s projects but some
might choose not to do so.
Romanian President
Klaus Iohannis told reporters a multi-speed Europe was already a
reality, “but we should not make it an objective.”
Polish Prime
Minister Beata Szydłow said bluntly that her country didn’t want a
multispeed Europe. “The only future for it [the EU] is to be a
singular organization, one organization that will respect its
members, paying attention to fundamental questions,” she said.
One European
diplomat said much depended on how the idea was applied.
“It works if it’s
Option B, like now, when there’s no consensus among member states
then there’s the chance of enhanced cooperation,” the diplomat
said. “If it becomes option A — a group starts with enhanced
cooperation and then checks if the others want to join — then it
can become the disintegration of the EU.”
Jacopo Barigazzi and
David M. Herszenhorn contributed reporting.
European
East-West Divide Widens Ahead of Brexit
EU
leaders are debating how to proceed with deeper political and
economic integration
By VALENTINA POP
March 10, 2017 1:30
p.m. ET
BRUSSELS—The
divide between the European Union’s more affluent western nations
and its less well-off members to the east deepened on Friday, as
their leaders wrangled over the future of the bloc after the U.K.
exits.
The last day of the
summit of EU leaders in Brussels was intended primarily to focus on
preparations for celebrations later this month marking the 60th
anniversary of the bloc’s founding Treaty of Rome.
Instead, it became
embroiled in debate over whether the world’s biggest trading bloc
should continue on its path of deep political and economic
integration across the Continent or moderate its ambitions.
Specifically in
dispute are proposals to allow some of the 27 remaining EU countries
to decide how much and how fast they wish to integrate into the bloc.
The so-called
multispeed Europe recommendations call for a bloc hewing less to the
across-the-board political and economic standards than the union’s
champions originally envisioned.
Officials
representing the more economically strapped nations of Central and
Eastern Europe and the Baltic said such proposals would leave them
behind, especially after the U.K. leaves the bloc and EU coffers
shrink.
Abandoning the idea
that poorer and newer member states of the bloc should have the same
level of European integration and prosperity would have profound
consequences, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis told reporters after
the closed-door debate.
It would increase
fears among the people of Western Europe that their jobs would
disappear, replaced by competition from the east. Meanwhile, he said,
worries about being left behind would grow among the people of
Eastern Europe.
“Both are likely
to lead to more divisions among states instead of deeper
cooperation,” Mr. Iohannis warned.
In a separate news
conference, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that allowing for
different degrees of economic and political integration wouldn’t
create “first- and second-class citizens” in Europe. Diversity in
the bloc is already set forth in treaties and is a fact of life, she
said.
Proponents of
multispeed Europe such as Xavier Bettel, prime minister of
Luxembourg, say it is partly aimed at reducing the power of a small
number of member nations to veto measures favored by a majority as
the bloc tries to navigate its future.
“I prefer two
speeds than no speed at all. For the moment we have a Europe where we
are stuck,” Mr. Bettel said.
European Commission
President Jean-Claude Juncker said he was surprised at some leaders
who see multispeed Europe “as introducing a dividing line, a new
kind of Iron Curtain between east and west.”
“That is not the
intention of this. The so-called multispeed Europe [means that] those
who want more, can do more,” he said.
Poland has
vigorously opposed multispeed Europe, but Donald Tusk, a former
Polish premier who is now European Council president, sought to
strike a conciliatory tone.
“Some expect
systemic changes that loosen EU ties. Others look at the opposite, at
deepening integration. I will be urging everyone to strive toward
political unity,” he said.
Some leaders
attending this week’s two-day summit acknowledged that the timing
of Friday’s debate might not be auspicious, with the U.K. about to
start divorce talks with the bloc and populist and nationalist forces
in Europe and abroad are questioning the very rationale of the EU.
“It is true that
it might have been better to do this two years ago or five years ago
perhaps. But the reality is what it is,” said Belgian Prime
Minister Charles Michel.
—Laurence Norman,
Emre Peker and Julian E. Barnes contributed to this article.
Write to Valentina
Pop at valentina.pop@wsj.com
New
Europe, same battles
Social
policy and enlargement, classic sources of disagreement, pose
challenge for leaders drafting Rome declaration.
By DAVID M.
HERSZENHORN 3/10/17, 8:26 PM CET Updated 3/10/17, 8:49 PM CET
No matter how hard
Europe’s leaders look to the future, they can’t seem to shake off
fights of the past.
EU leaders Friday
dove into a debate over the bloc’s future, aiming to use a
celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome later this
month as the pivot to a more dynamic, multispeed alliance.
But leaders were
also on a collision course over two age-old policy fights that must
be resolved before the festivities in Rome: the timeless quarrel
between right and left over social policy, and a classic dispute over
how to calibrate the EU’s current position on new members.
Statements about the
EU’s so-called social pillar and about enlargement of the bloc are
to be included in the formal declaration commemorating the Treaty of
Rome and charting the course ahead, but at the moment there is still
no consensus on those points.
Italy, the host of
the Rome celebration, and other countries with deep socialist
political traditions are pushing for a more robust statement on the
EU’s traditional and future role in social welfare policy, while
conservative-leaning countries are more reticent. And Croatia, in
particular, would like a restatement of the EU’s plan to welcome
new members — an issue of great importance to its Western Balkan
neighbors — while Western European countries see a risk of giving
new ammunition to populists.
“The real threat
for consensus when it comes to the Rome declaration is not the
multispeed issue,” said a senior EU official. “I am relatively
sure we will manage this problem.”
“This is about
delivering more effectively,” a senior EU official said. But
delivering what? That question has yet to be answered.
“The real problem
is the social Europe because here the division is clear, very
traditional and a little bit ideological,” the official said,
speaking on condition of anonymity. “This will be for me the real
challenge to find the common language on the social dimension. And on
enlargement: As you know some countries want to at least to mention
that Europe is still interested in enlargement and some of them are
very, very skeptical to this idea.”
Wrangling over the
language in the Rome declaration underscores the extent to which
leaders have plunged headlong into a discussion about the how members
of the bloc will work with each other going forward, but have yet to
forge agreement on an overall policy vision for the EU in the 21st
Century.
“This is about
delivering more effectively,” another senior EU official said,
noting that average citizens are not interested in wonkish policy
debates. But delivering what? That question has yet to be answered.
It was clear on
Friday that Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and his senior
aides had succeeded in having an impact on the discussion among EU
leaders by pushing out a white paper outlining five scenarios for the
bloc’s future several weeks ahead of schedule.
In a moment of
feigned modesty, Juncker, at a news conference Friday, said he had
not expected the white paper to be a part of the leaders’
conversation but since it had come up it was important to note that
neither he nor the Commission had endorsed any particular path
forward.
“I didn’t expect
us to discuss the white paper, nevertheless some of our colleagues
made a reference,” he said. “The five scenarios the Commission
has proposed in its white paper are not the preferred scenarios by
the Commission but are the ideas which are floating around and which
are debated and discussed in all our member states, in our civil
society, in the press rooms.”
Pre-election
positions
Some officials said
that the discussion the leaders had now undertaken in earnest would
ultimately serve as the framework for EU elections in 2019, including
the contest to replace Juncker, who has said he will step down then,
at the end of his first five-year term. By this thinking, candidates
to lead the EU’s executive body going forward would be compelled to
stake out a preferred scenario or combination of paths.
At the same time,
the accelerating discussion about a multispeed EU has already shifted
the strategic thinking of some leaders.
Belgium, the
Netherlands and Luxembourg, which together form a sort of
middle-weight clique called the Benelux countries, said Friday they
would join forces with the Visegrád Group — Poland, Hungary,
Slovakia and the Czech Republic — and the tiny Baltics — Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania — in an effort to counterbalance the influence
of larger powers, such as the “Formidable 4” of Germany, France,
Italy and Spain whose leaders gathered last week in Versailles to
endorse the multispeed concept.
To highlight their
solidarity, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Belgian Prime Minister
Charles Michel and Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel arrived
together at the meeting Friday.
At a briefing later,
Michel said that leaders should strive to issue a declaration in Rome
in plain language, without any footnotes or EU jargon, that presents
a clear message to the citizens they serve.
“This was an
optimistic conversation about our common future” — Donald Tusk
“This message
should be lucid and positive about the future,” Michel said.
The task of drafting
the Rome declaration ultimately falls to Juncker, European Council
President Donald Tusk, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, as the
host, and Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who currently holds
the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Officials said that
leaders, including Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło had expressed
a desire for leaders to jointly sign the Rome declaration — though
some might wonder if Szydło was preparing an ambush given her
refusal to support the joint conclusions of the European Council
summit meeting on Thursday.
At his news
conference with Juncker Friday, Tusk said that his goal was to stress
unity over the variable speed model, particularly with formal Brexit
negotiations expected to begin within a few weeks.
“Our last meeting
in Malta, subsequent opinions voiced by some member states as well as
the European Commission’s White Paper leave us in no doubt that the
idea of a multispeed Europe will be one of the discussions ahead of
the Rome anniversary,” Tusk said.
But, with regard to
Brexit, he said: “It is clear from the debate that the unity of the
27 will be our most precious asset.”
Colleagues described
Tusk as exhausted by the run-up to the formal triggering of Article
50 by the U.K. Still, Tusk said he remains upbeat. “After today’s
debate, I can openly say that all 27 leaders agree with this
objective,” he said. “This was an optimistic conversation about
our common future.”
Jacopo Barigazzi and
Quentin Ariès contributed reporting.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário