EU political and business leaders call for solidarity

EU political and business leaders call for solidarity, political union in Europe
Northern European countries must do more to support southern EU member states, Emma Marcegaglia, president elect of Business Europe, and others said today.

“We see resentment from creditor countries to debtor countries. I think we cannot go on with this kind of situation and we cannot have a form of neo-colonial relations between different countries,” she said at The State of the Union conference in Florence. Marcegaglia pushed for the European Investment Bank to fund energy and transport initiatives to strengthen weak EU member states.

Joseph H. H. Weiler, president elect of the European University Institute, took a similar position: “It is not enough to turn to the south and say you have to have statesmanship and go against public opinion. The north also has to show statesmanship, go against public opinion and show solidarity.

“The crisis really threatens the European way of life; it’s not less serious than Europe emerging in the late 1940s.”

Europe is “too big to fail”, both Marcegaglia and Weiler said.

David Miliband, president and CEO elect of the International Rescue Committee, warned against this position: “‘Too big to fail’ is what people said about the Soviet Union”.

Weiler highlighted the rise of fringe parties and adoption of euroscepticism in mainstream policies, but Miliband said instead “the deliver deficit in the European Union is much more significant than the democracy deficit”. “The antidote to European scepticism is founded on youth delivery,” Miliband said.

Miguel Maduro, Portuguese minister for regional development and minister adjunct to the prime minister, said the European Parliament elections in 2014 will be key to the future of Europe.

“The proposal to link the president of the European Commission with the next European Parliament elections, is a step in the right direction.

“The extent to which the union is imposing discipline on its member states must be complemented by increased political choice at the EU level. It must offer a political choice.”

The State of the Union is a one-day conference that brings together political personalities from European institutions and national governments, prominent academics and business leaders to discuss the development and the future of the EU. The conference is organised by the European University Institute, an international centre for doctorate and post-doctorate studies in Florence.