EUROPE MUST ALTER UNIQUE AND STRONG, TO ENSURE TRANSNATIONAL LEADERSHIP

EUROPE MUST ALTER UNIQUE AND STRONG, TO ENSURE TRANSNATIONAL LEADERSHIP

More than 60 years ago, After the World War. The French For­eign Min­is­ter Robert Schu­man made an his­toric pro­posal lay­ing the foun­da­tions for a united Europe.
“In today’s dif­fi­cult times, it’s impor­tant to reflect on, and seek inspi­ra­tion from, the achieve­ments of the Euro­pean project. Today, Europe is at the cross­roads. Since 2008, the EU was shaken by an unprece­dented finan­cial and eco­nomic cri­sis, but it has to remain united and strong. Europe has been the answer for many prob­lems of the past and con­tin­ues to be the only answer for the prob­lems of today.
In addi­tion to the dif­fi­cult eco­nomic sit­u­a­tion, the Euro­pean project is under attack from the extremes. Extrem­ists from the right and the left are deploy­ing pop­ulist rhetoric and manip­u­la­tive tac­tics which evoke mem­o­ries from the years prior the start of the Euro­pean project.
There­fore, all the part­ners of the Euro­pean project have, now more than ever, the respon­si­bil­ity to explain and to con­vince cit­i­zens that theEU is not the prob­lem — as the extremes claim — but the solu­tion. In this respect, the role of the EPP and all other pro-​European polit­i­cal par­ties will be cru­cial in reach­ing out to Europe’s cit­i­zens. If we truly want to bridge the gap between the EU and the cit­i­zens, the Euro­pean polit­i­cal par­ties must take the lead in the democ­ra­ti­za­tion and politi­ciza­tion process of Europe.
Finally, as Robert Schu­man said on 9 May 1950: ‘Europe will not be made all at once, or accord­ing to a sin­gle plan. It will be built through con­crete achieve­ments’.

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