“Many thought the EU was finished after Brexit but that is not how it is”, Renzi said as he welcomed the leaders for France and Germany for crucial talks on how to revive the European project in the wake of the Brexit shock. But it’s not so.
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“Many thought the EU was finished after Brexit but that is not the case”, said Italy’s prime minister Matteo Renzi on Monday, as he welcomed the French president, François Hollande, and German chancellor, Angela Merkel, for a second mini-summit of the EU’s three largest countries by population, organised with the intention of plotting a new course for the union following the United Kingdom referendum.
Mr Renzi opted to hold the meeting in the symbolic venue of Ventotene because this is the small island where men like Italian socialist and state president Sandro Pertini and the influential European federalist Altiero Spinelli were held prisoner by the Mussolini Fascist regime.
It follows an initial three-way huddle by Renzi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande in Berlin in the days immediately following the June 23 British referendum. Merkel has also invited leaders from the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Austria and other eastern European nations for informal meetings at a government guest house in Germany. At Ventotene, the three largest euro zone economies faced a broad range of urgent crises: the rapidly escalating war in Syria and the Middle East, the immigrant crisis and terror attacks in Europe, and the rising danger of a historic European banking collapse centered in Italy.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that the European Union is now facing “enormous challenges” and needs to work together.
What the entire period of almost 75 years since the drafting of the document has shown, in fact, is the deeply rooted inability of European capitalism to overcome the national divisions in Europe, as this crisis-ridden summit made clear.
The meeting was created to lay the groundwork for an European Union summit in Bratislava next month.
“And that’s why internal security, external security, the fight for a common Defense, cooperation between intelligence services, better integration of national Defense industries, the project for an European Community for security are our top priorities”, said Renzy. “It’s more the solution”, he said in remarks from the flight deck of the Italian aircraft carrier Garibaldi, which was moored off the coast of the island. They also boarded the Garibaldi, which combats traffickers of migrants across the Mediterranean.
The trio said they would prolong a €315bn European Union investment plan by two years to 2019, while an enlargement of the plan was also discussed.
“Further growth and development is another big issue (to tackle), since we know Europe is not a most competitive place in all of its contexts”, Merkel stressed.
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After a series of deadly attacks by the Islamic State group, the three leaders were also expected to explore greater co-operation on counter-terrorism and an integrated European security and defence policy – a cherished objective that some analysts say could be easier to achieve after sceptical Britain departs.
