Statement by Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE,BE)&nbsp;on Future of the EU' report:&nbsp;"Possible evolutions of and adjustments to the current institutional set-up of the European Union" during the plenary session in Brussels (01-02/03/2017)

Brussels

VERHOFSTADT, Guy (Renew, BE)

statement

future of the European Union (T)

Future of the EU: statement by Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE) on the report "Possible evolutions of and adjustments to the current institutional set-up of the European Union"

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE), Europe is at a crossroads and is undergoing an existential crisis. Not only outside, but also inside. Inside, we are under the threat of populists and nationalists. Outside there is Trump, who even believes that Europe will disintegrate further. There is Putin who wants to divide the European Union already for a long time, and at the same time there is this external threat of the political, radical Islam. So, it's now the moment to reform the European Union, to make it a real Union and not a loose confederation of Nation States still based on unanimity rule.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE), The 1st thing to do is to abolish the unanimity rule, everywhere. You cannot govern a continent like Europe if you still need the approval of all 28 member states or heads of states and government. This is impossible, the Union will disappear if we continue like that. So, there is a first thing to do. Then, a smaller, less birocratic, real European government. Not the Commission of 28, but a small Commission. And then also European Defense Union because there is a threat from outside the Union. We see it our neighbourhood, in Ukraine, in Syria. We need also the European border and coast guard to really manage the migration flows. All these reforms are desperately needed, and we need to do them now.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE), All we want is to give more power to the European Parliament, so that the EP can also start initiate initiatives. That is today impossible. It's only the Commission who can do that, and we can than react. Now, as any parliament in the world, as representatives of the people, it has to be possible that we ourselves decide on new initiatives to bring forward the EU. Secondly we want full budgetary powers because this Parliament has no power on the income of the EU, so we cannot collect the necessary instruments, the money, to finance the European capacities and capabilities we desperately need.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE), The Member states have always fear of an in-depth reform of the Union.. But let&rsquo;s face the reality. We are with our back against the wall. The reality is that we are in a multiple crisis, in a poli-crisis as I call it: where you have the migration flows, the refugee crises, still a banking problem - banks aren&rsquo;t cleaned up still - still negative economic follow up of the financial crisis in the South of Europe, with Greece as most dramatic example. We have the threats in our neighbourhood.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE), There is no other solution for Europe than to do these in-depth reforms we are proposing. Because otherwise, we are going to disintegrate further. It happened already with Brexit. Other countries will cult follow. To avoid that there is only one way: to reform EU, to make from the EU a real Union, not what we have today, confederation of nation states, based on unanimity rule and in fact always acting too little, too late. That we have to change radically. We can change that radically not by little steps as we did in the past, but by doing in-depth reforms as the Parliament has now decided on.