Angela MERKEL, German Federal Chancellor, is the twelfth EU leader to debate the future of Europe with MEPs and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the EC, on Tuesday morning.

The Europeans want the EU to change. This is why the European Parliament is taking the leadership over a reform of the EU.

Parliament set out its vision for the future of Europe in three resolutions voted in plenary session on 16 February 2017. MEPs suggested, among other things:

• turning the Council of Ministers into a genuine second legislative chamber, and its configurations into preparatory bodies similar to Parliament’s committees,
• appointing an EU finance minister and giving the EU Commission the power to formulate and give effect to a common EU economic policy, backed up by a euro-area budget, and
• creating a fiscal capacity consisting of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and specific additional budgetary capacity for the euro area, funded by its members as a part of the EU budget.