Sandro Gozi* was the main speaker at a debate evening organized by the Centre Sèvres – the Jesuit faculties of Paris – advocating for a strengthened integration of the European Union.
« I agree with Emmanuel Macron’s idea of rebuilding the Union. » « After the era of the founding fathers, the time for the refounding sons has come » could summarize his speech.
For him, Europe must be transformed in order to defend its interests, values, and a relationship model based on multilateralism more strongly; to curb the rise of populism; to better protect its citizens.
Excerpts from the remarks of a “true” European…
« Europe, the most advanced form of multilateralism »
« The European Union cannot exist in a world that would give up on multilateralism », warns Sandro Gozi. « Because it represents the most advanced form of it, with its systems of governance, management of interdependencies, and ways of relating between peoples and states ».
« Europeans do not have a monopoly on the worldview »
« Can we exist as we are in a world that chooses bilateralism, the power dynamics, the influence strategy? », he asks. « Our conception of international relations is strong, based on ethical and moral convictions. But other actors make choices that challenge the principles on which we built our universal vision and on which we could base international action. »
« Trump is solely interested in bilateral relationships »
The American President fundamentally questions multilateralism, as we have experienced and promoted it, for example with the creation of the World Trade Organization or with the Paris Climate Agreement. How should we respond, we Europeans? Should we let the United States treat each issue separately with France, Italy, Germany? Or will we assert that it is the European Union that should act bilaterally?
« Merkel, Gentiloni, and Macron, together against Trump »
« The collective reaction to President Trump’s announcement that he was withdrawing from the Paris Agreement was significant: the German Chancellor, the Italian Prime Minister, and the French President directly reacted together by reaffirming the importance of the Paris Climate Accord for building our common future ».
« Aren’t we in the middle of the ford? »
« But more fundamentally: are we satisfied with the way we act in the world as Europeans? Aren’t we in the middle of the ford? Shouldn’t we do more to become a fully-fledged and truly influential actor on issues like climate change, security, major trade issues? Shouldn’t the questioning of multilateralism push us to strengthen and accelerate our integration and our union? »
« The Russian logic of sphere of influence »
« Second challenge: the sphere of influence logic, which has returned forcefully with Russian politics. Russia has delineated a zone it designates as its near abroad. For example, it perceives as a challenge that we are giving Ukraine a European perspective ».
« Juncker’s mistake »
« We see it also in the Balkans, where the debate is tense between pro-European forces and national, even nationalist forces, which consider that a new special, strong, and close relationship with Russia is a viable alternative. I believe that Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker made a mistake at the beginning of his tenure when he stated there would be no possibility to enlarge the EU to the Western Balkans before 2019. This has weakened the pro-European forces in the region, which want to reform their institutions more democratically and their economy more effectively; and it has given ammunition to nationalists who argue that the EU offers no concrete prospects and that alternatives must be sought elsewhere ».
« On Syria, Europe has no say »
« On Syria, it is evident that the lack of advanced integration prevents Europe from having a say. We must open our eyes wide and decide if, faced with this reality, we want to exist as Europeans. And if so, how do we achieve it? How far do we go? And for what purpose? »
« The long-term vision of China »
Finally, there is the challenge of China, developing with a long-term perspective, on a millennial scale – Bergson said that it is duration that gives form to things. With it emerges an alternative vision to what we have described as the end of history. »
« The famous Copenhagen criteria »
« We Europeans have always said that liberal democracy goes hand in hand with a market economy and economic development. That has been the Western mantra since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The enlargement of the European Union proposed to those on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain was based on two major objectives. We told the countries of Central and Eastern Europe: build a democratic path inspired by Western values – rule of law, democratic principles, separation of powers, – and follow our market economy model. The famous Copenhagen criteria imposed this model of democratic and economic transition. »
The counter-revolution of Orban and Kaczynski
« Yet today, the Chinese propose a model of economic development that includes freedom of enterprise but not democracy as conceived in Europe. And European countries are inspired by it. Last year, Victor Orban and Jaroslaw Kaczynski advocated a cultural counter-revolution in the EU aimed at breaking the duo of democracy and liberalism, deemed indissoluble by Europeans. »
« The European Union, scapegoat »
These challenges arise in a context of fear, which is the worst enemy of the European Union because it leads to national or nationalist retreat, it drives a renunciation of the rule of law and fundamental freedoms in exchange for greater security. Fear of terrorism, immigration, unemployment, and economic insecurity… The European Union is often scapegoated for all the problems Europe must face. As a result, populist, extremist, anti-European, europhobic, anti-Semitic, neo-Nazi parties have returned to European parliaments and the European parliament. »
« Building a Europe that protects »
To move forward, we must assert that true sovereignty is to build a Europe that protects us. We must construct a Europe of defense that allows us to exist at least in the Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan Africa. »
« Promoting social progress »
« But we must also promote social progress – an objective enshrined in the treaties – and fight against poverty and unemployment, with, for example, a European unemployment insurance that would be triggered in the event of an unforeseen crisis in a given industrial sector and region. We also need a Europe of growth, with new European investment instruments. »
« From 4 to 40 million Erasmus students »
« Finally, we need a Europe that multiplies opportunities, especially for younger generations. The Erasmus program is a success but represents only 1% of the European Union’s budget, which itself represents only 1% of the GDP of member states. It is ridiculous. We must do less rhetoric and more action. Let’s multiply Erasmus-related resources by ten. In the last thirty years, instead of having 4 million young Europeans participating in mobility and freedom, we could have 40 million. »
