Brussels There is a lot of talk these days about the new ability of the EU to act. In Brussels and the European capitals, those responsible praise each other for how quickly they reacted to the new situation after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Undeniably, the war gave a boost to European cooperation. The 27 governments and the Brussels Commission have launched five sanctions packages against Russia – the sixth is in the works.
They are building liquefied gas terminals and energy networks in a hurry so that they are no longer dependent on Russian oil and gas. And they support the Ukrainians with considerable resources – from cash injections to refugee aid to heavy war equipment. All of this deserves the term “turning point”.
But even if the Ukraine war was a wake-up call, it remains to be seen whether the EU is really ready for fundamental change. The ended on Monday annual conference on the future of Europe with a festive ceremony in Strasbourg.
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800 randomly selected EU citizens spent months discussing what the future EU should look like with commissioners and politicians. The result was 49 reform proposals that require several hundred large and small measures.
Some of the proposals are radical
Now the question arises: will the EU manage to implement these reforms? Some of the proposals are radical: the principle of unanimity is to be dropped in almost all areas of politics. This would have the advantage that individual governments would no longer be able to paralyze the entire community with their veto – as Hungary has done recently. Instead, future decisions would be made by qualified majority.
The number of EU commissioners must be discussed in the future.
(Photo: IMAGO/Future Image)
The conference also proposes strengthening the role of the European Parliament and the EU Commission. The former is intended to serve democracy, the latter to harmonize Europe-wide, for example in the areas of education and health. National governments are the ones who would have to relinquish power in all of this. No wonder, then, that there is great outrage in some capitals.
Because the balance of power is at stake, some reforms would also require a change in the EU treaties. However, a treaty change has been taboo for many governments for years because people got their noses bloody in the referendums on an EU constitution in the noughties. The last EU treaty to date, the Lisbon Treaty of 2009, was only ratified with a bang.
A number of member states, including the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, therefore distanced themselves on Monday. According to Politico, they do not support “imprudent and premature attempts” to achieve a treaty change. “We already have a functioning Europe.”
>>> Read more: Europe should become more capable of acting – here are 49 suggestions
You have to think about that when you hear French President Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi talk about the future of Europe. It remains to be seen whether the new momentum after the Ukraine war will be limited to the joint procurement of armaments – or whether it will result in more far-reaching institutional reforms.
What should be discussed in Strasbourg
In any case, the common facade against Russia can hardly cover the old cracks that are opening up behind it. Germany is opposed to the banking union and the reform of the stability pact. The admission of new EU members – from Serbia to Ukraine to Turkey – is as controversial as ever. And most Member States have no intention whatsoever of relinquishing their veto.
And not only the member states lack the will to reform, but also the institutions in Brussels. Anyone who is serious about efficiency and the ability to act should also be prepared to reduce the number of commissioners and to question the second seat in Parliament in Strasbourg.
Ideally, this should happen before the next round of enlargement makes such reforms even more difficult. Funnily enough, however, this was not discussed in Strasbourg.
More: Read the latest developments in the Ukraine war in the Newsblog