A REALISTIC ASSESSMENT OF THE EU BY JEAN-CLAUDE JUNKER

Jean-Claude Junker was Europe’s longest-serving leader, with 18 years as Prime Minister of Luxembourg. He also chaired the "Eurogroup" meetings of euro zone finance ministers from 2005 to 2013. He provides the following assessment of the EU:

“I am worried about the fact that an increasing number of people are turning their backs on the European project and that politicians are no longer in a position to rectify this process. We are no longer able to explain our vision for the continent and our words no longer strike a chord with the European citizens. We are also witnessing a precarious need for a stronger welfare state in Europe. People tend to believe that politicians only focus on controlling budgets and making social cuts.

We lack valid explanations to make citizens love Europe. We’ve to provide citizens a new narrative and tell them that without the Union, Europe is small, fragile and no longer the master of the world that our demographics, population, relative share in the world GDP is getting lower and will continue to diminish. Governments don’t explain Europe sufficiently or they do it poorly. They make Europe guilty for their national failures without mentioning its positive effects that are many.

Europeans have abandoned the European idea and have returned to their national states to find solutions to their problems. But it’s a blind alley; there are no answers to be found by turning away from the European project.

We are ignoring and neglecting complex issues because we look for simple solutions. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, 20 new states were created on Europe’s periphery. Up until  now we haven’t deal with these countries the way we should have and their complete integration remains to be done.

We need a stronger and better Europe and the euro is the only way to achieve this. The common currency is the only thing that gives us importance, now and in the future. We don’t have a common foreign or security policy so we need another political instrument to increase our influence. Europe would be politically insignificant if it weren’t for the euro.

Europe is not a Franco-German playground. Budget discipline and debt reductions are not unique to Germany- that’s pure self-deception. The Netherlands, Finland, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Slovenia, and many other European states have a far better record when it comes to budget discipline. Luxembourg and Estonia have the lowest public debt in Europe.

The sense of consensus has disappeared and the enthusiasm of working towards a common agreement has disappeared and when governments do agree the consensus no longer extends to the citizens. People are divided into two camps, those who want more Europe and those who find that there’s too much Europe. Why this loss of consensus? Because European politicians have lost the habit to hold a discourse that lead people to love Europe.

European summits have become the place for the confrontation of national interests rather than a place where compromise can be reached in the common interest. Participants are either for or against and people want winners and losers. Europe should first and foremost be a ‘machine’ to fabricate common interest while currently European leaders speak against Europe and use Europe as a scapegoat for their national problems.

Jean-Claude Junker is a fervent supporter of the European project, who does not become tired to exert himself for the integration of Europe. He sees Europe in a crisis today, since one part of the population wants more Europe, while for the other part there is already too much integration. According to Junker the success of the European Union, which Europe has achieved as a continent of peace, as a continent with a single currency and through the unification of formerly East and West are not experienced and appreciated sufficiently positively. In order to maintain the achievements, he thinks that it is necessary to continue to working on this success story. Therefore in the first place European decision makers should bring European topics before the public in a rightly positive way.

As to the working methods in the European Union he thinks that maintaining the Community method for European governance where everybody can represent his legitimate interests at a supranational level, is a reliable success factor. Junker is convinced that Europe mainly needs progress in two fields. Internally, Europe needs a common social policy which reduces mass unemployment and creates minimum standards. Externally, Europe has to take up its global duties.

He explicitly speaks against the concept of a ‘Core Europe’ which excludes some countries. Everything that is done in Europe should basically be done together with all Member States. A ‘Core Europe’ of a few countries is not a sound, forward-looking concept and may only serve as a last resort, should pan-European solution be hopeless.”