The leaders of Italy, France and Germany have insisted that Britain’s vote to leave the European Union did not spell the beginning of the end for the bloc, pledging to revive it by bolstering EU security, boosting economic growth and giving the continent’s youth a future. Together with another intellectual confined to Ventotene, Spinelli wrote the “Ventotene Manifesto,” which called for a federation of European states meant to prevent nationalism from sparking further conflict.
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The leaders of Italy, France and Germany headed yesterday to one of the birthplaces of European unity in a symbolic bid to relaunch the European project following Britain’s decision to leave the EU.
The Brexit process has laid bare competing visions between those who view closer European integration as part of the solution and countries that want to put the EU’s institutions – and their bureaucrats in Brussels – on a shorter leash. He also referred to the urgent need to enhance regional cooperation on security against terrorism and highlighted the importance of improving the exchange of data.
Whatever the fearless rhetoric, the reality is that – as Francois Hollande, the French president noted – the forces of “fragmentation” are rising in Europe and (as he didn’t say) Britain’s vote for Brexit is adding a significant load to those centrifugal political forces.
He spoke on an aircraft carrier off an Italian island alongside the leaders of Germany and Italy as they plotted a path forward without Britain in the EU.
Europe’s divisions range from refugee resettlement to monetary policy and how to spur growth. The leaders of Italy, France and Germany headed Monday to one of the birthpla.
For Merkel, her European diplomacy marks a break from domestic challenges ahead of state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on September 4.
Yesterday’s mini-summit will now serve as a warmup for an EU-wide summit in Bratislava in September created to chart the EU’s post-Brexit way forward. Italy’s economy has ground to a halt, stagnating in the second trimester of 2016.
But cracks were already visible as Merkel has shown little enthusiasm for loosening economic rules to allow more economic flexibility for debt-stricken Italy and struggling France.
“Italy’s deficit is at the lowest level of the last ten years”, Renzi said. “On this there is agreement with the French”.
The Ventotene trip was the start of an intensive tour for Merkel as she attempts to coordinate a response to one of the EU’s biggest crises in decades and quell fears Berlin wants to monopolise the debate.
French officials say there may be few developments on Brexit itself because European Union members are waiting for the U.K.to start the formal process. Talks may begin in earnest in the early part of next year, with British Prime Minister Theresa May triggering Article 50, the exit mechanism, by April, two United Kingdom officials said last week.
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He said Europe needed to overcome the Brexit vote and a recent wave of militant attacks, and rediscover its role. “Now we have to negotiate according to our own interests”, she said.
