Leo VARADKAR, Irish Prime Minister, is the first EU leader to debate the future of Europe with MEPs and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the EC, on Wednesday 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.

EP Plenary session. Debate with Leo VARADKAR, Irish Prime Minister on the Future of Europe. Closing statement by Leo VARADKAR, Prime Minister of Ireland