EU’s new crises raise questions about what more can be done
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Europe in turmoil. Britain dealing the European Union a heavy blow. People power causing the EU great angst over what its mission should be. Terror strikes in a major capital.
“We cannot continue as if nothing had happened … Europe’s crisis is deep,” warned EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker. “A period for reflection, clarification and discussion is called for.”
Those comments and events ring true today — but they are actually from June 2005.
At the time, Juncker’s Luxembourg held the EU’s rotating presidency. A Tony Blair-led Britain had just destroyed his blueprint for a long-term EU budget by insisting on getting its money back. Weeks earlier, Dutch and French voters had rejected a draft EU constitution, ending two years of behind-the-scenes work.
In early July 2005, the London transport system was attacked by extremists who killed 52 people.
So much has changed since then, yet so little appears different — except perhaps that Europe rallied to Britain’s side after the July 7 bombings. Today, the U.K. appears to be in virtual quarantine out of fear its anti-European streak might be contagious.
Though the crises today may be different — Europe’s failure to manage a surge of refugee arrivals, Greece’s debt mountain and future in the shared euro currency — they raise the same questions about how to make the EU relevant to people, whether they be in Malta or Finland or Germany.
Even to many in the 28-nation bloc, Europe seems remote. There are no “European nationals,” and the citizens of Europe distrust distant Brussels even more than their own governments.
Indeed it’s unclear what Europe might do now that it could not have done a decade ago, as farright parties cry victory in the wake of Brexit and shout for others to follow the U.K. lead.
“The challenge for Europe’s leadership is to address the legitimate grievances of people dissatisfied with Europe, without kowtowing to the ideologies of the extreme left or right,” said Etienne Davignon, president of the Friends of Europe think tank.
“We must not use the current crisis as an excuse to push endlessly for ‘more Europe,’” he said. “The answer is responding quickly to specific questions from citizens who want a better and more secure life.”
Stefano Micossi at the Centre for European Policy Studies said European leaders “need to think about tangible and achievable goals, even if they are not easy, which would show the world that the EU will not only survive, it will grow stronger.”
To judge by Juncker’s remarks Friday, the EU’s executive Commission he leads is already enacting some deep reforms that Britain itself has asked for — but will not budge on core beliefs.