EU leaders issue unity pledge as Britain prepares to exit bloc
ROME — Proclaiming “Europe is our common future,” 27 leaders of the European Union signed a statement Saturday in Rome declaring their commitment to integrating the Continent even as a series of crises has badly weakened the efforts and Britain prepares to leave the bloc.
The statement, known as the Rome Declaration and signed on the anniversary of the day the bloc’s foundations were laid 60 years ago, underscored the “unique union with common institutions and strong values, a community of peace, freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”
In a nod to reality, however, the leaders acknowledged that they were “facing unprecedented challenges, both global and domestic,” including “regional conflicts, terrorism, growing migratory pressures, protectionism and social and economic inequalities.”
The ceremony took place in a hall in Rome that was richly decorated in frescoes depicting scenes from the ancient world. It is the same room where the Treaty of Rome was signed March 25, 1957, by six countries. That event helped lay the groundwork for Saturday’s union.
Moments after signing, Christian Kern, the Austrian chancellor, raised his fists in triumph. A keynote speaker, Donald Tusk of Poland, president of the European Council, recalled that his 60th birthday this month made him the “same age as the European Community,” a forerunner of the union, and a beacon for freedom and dignity for Poles during the Communist era, when “it was forbidden to even dream about those values.”
But behind the pomp and ceremony were concerns about the prospect of the project’s failure — even its collapse. With Britain starting this Wednesday a two-year timetable to leave the union, Prime Minister Theresa May was absent from the gathering. And in a speech at the Vatican on Friday, Pope Francis warned the leaders that their union “risks dying” as nations, and citizens, turned inward.
Underlining the disaffection with the union, protesters took to the streets Saturday, shutting down Rome neighborhoods and railing against European technocrats, capitalism and shadowy economic powers. But at other marches and sit-ins, many celebrated the treaty. The March for Europe held a rally close to the palazzo where the signing took place.
“Europe gave us 60 years of peace, so I felt I had to give something back,” said Mauro Armadi, 23, who had traveled to Rome from Taranto to show his support for the treaty.
Tobias Lundquist, 26, who had traveled to Rome from Sandviken, Sweden, said, “With the European Union, we cast off our dark history and came together to solve problems at a table, not a battlefield.”