That’s because of Brexit, of course, although again it’s not clear exactly how our exit from the European Union is going to pan out, either.
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In setting out the commission’s plans for the first time since the United Kingdom voted to exit the European Union on June 23, Juncker highlighted the British referendum as a warning that the European Union faced a battle for survival against nationalism in Europe. “On the contrary, populism creates problems”. “It can not be forced”, Juncker said.
Juncker’s speech comes two days before a meeting of 27 European Union heads of state – British prime minister Theresa May excluded – in Bratislava on Friday.
“We will make sure that our European investment fund will provide a minimum of at least 500 billion euros worth of investment [potential] by 2020 and we will work [to surpass] that and reach 630 billion euros by 2022”, he added. One camp argues for a more integrated European Union, saying crises in Europe stem from the limits of national policy-making.
The project, called WIFI4EU (Do you see what they did there?) hopes to have free Wi-Fi hotspots open and readily available to all EU citizens in public spaces such as parks, squares, libraries and other public spaces. A European army, a common defence and already in this house people are saying: “Well the Americans won’t be here any more we will have to stand alone with our own military structure”.
“Or do we say: Is this not the time to pull ourselves together?”
“Everyone benefiting from connectivity means that it should not matter where you live or how much you earn”, Juncker said.
Moreover, on counter-terrorism, Juncker stressed the need to step up information exchange amongst national police authorities that would help strengthen Europol, as he proposed a European Defence Fund.
“We will be very strict in terms of who can cross our borders and this is something that we are looking to implement by the end of the year”, he said in his annual policy speech.
“It is clear that no lessons are going to be learned from Brexit”, he said.
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“Our friends and partners world-wide, who all deeply regret Brexit, are wondering whether Brexit is the beginning of the break down and the disintegration process for the European Union”. “The next 12 months are the crucial time to deliver a better Europe”.
