“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.
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“What makes the German-Turkish relationship special is that more than 3 million people of Turkish origin live in Germany,”she said”. But it’s not so. Not so. We respect the choice of the British people, but we want to write a page for the future.
Ventottene mini-summit took place today in a tiny island Ventotene, where the Italian PM invited Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande.
Renzi was to welcome Hollande and Merkel in Naples at 1400 GMT before travelling to Ventotene, where they will visit the grave of Altiero Spinelli, one of the founding fathers of the ideal of European integration. The remaining European Union countries have enough to discuss “that we can allow the time that Britain wants to take to figure out what relationship it wants with the European Union”.
The meeting comes ahead of an informal summit next month in Bratislava, which will be attended by the remaining 27 states.
Chancellor Angela Merkel is calling on people with Turkish roots who are longtime German residents to be loyal to Germany.
Mr Renzi hopes the symbolism of the location will inject some urgency into the European project, with European governments still disorientated by the Brexit vote, and divided over how to confront a range of crises.
Fuchs, an ally of chancellor Angela Merkel, said: ‘If you’re a member of a club you have certain benefits, but if you’re out, you will not have the benefits any more, ‘ in an interview with Bloomberg.
French President Francois Hollande is urging Europeans and their leaders against retreating into nationalist tendencies after Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.
While her current coalition has eased rules on dual citizenship, she already has said that she won’t go any further toward liberalizing them.
The EU plans to offer incentives to African governments to help slow the flow of migrants who have poured into Europe over the past three years, but disagreements on how to handle the situation have laid bare divisions between member states.
“To have security we need frontiers that are controlled so that is why we are working to reinforce coastguards and border guards”, said Hollande, adding that “we want more coordination in the fight against terrorism'”.
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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 long-cherished objective that could be easier to achieve after sceptical Britain departs.
