The European Union needs a military headquarters to work towards a common military force, the Commission president has told MEPs in Strasbourg.
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Among the specific measures proposed by the commission president in his speech was an increase of funding for its flagship investment plan, a US-style data registration system that would screen incoming visitors to the EU, and a plan to establish a volunteer European “youth corps” numbering up to 100,000. It’s candidate, Norbert Hofer, is now leading in the polls, and already highly critical of the EU. His warning came as he unveiled a raft of proposals to revive crumbling trust in the European Union after the Brexit vote, from job creation to tightening borders.
With EU nations deeply divided, in particular by the continent’s biggest migration crisis since World War II, Juncker’s speech focused on security and the economy to find ways of working together.
The Commission revived ideas for more cooperation among European Union armies, now that British objections no longer count.
He urged the bloc to agree to send 200 more border guards and 50 vehicles from next month to help Bulgaria control its border with Turkey, one of the routes migrants and refugees used previous year to get to Europe. 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”.
Among eye-catching small initiatives was a proposal for a European Solidarity Corps to let young people, many of whom are suffering from stubbornly high youth unemployment, volunteer to help in crises like Italian earthquakes or Greek migrant camps.
The EU wants free Wi-Fi in every town, village, and city in the European Union, in the next four years. There was little detail on that and the digital arena remains a battlefield fought over by competing industrial, national and other interests.
Mr Juncker said the persistent rumours about him being drunk had even caused problems in his marriage. He said some early reality checks will come at the September 26-27 meeting of European Union defense ministers, and a summit of bloc leaders scheduled for December. The EU needs to listen “more intensely” to its 500 million citizens, he said. Farage seized on an ethics probe by Juncker into his predecessor Jose Manuel Barroso for taking a job at Goldman Sachs, to revive his accusation that the European Union is run like a cosy club for big business.
The head of the European Union executive warned Britain it could not expect “a la carte” access to the EU’s single market if it brings back immigration controls, signalling a wider hardening of Europe’s position ahead of negotiations with London.
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Included on the agenda were proposals for a revised and highly anticipated copyright framework, which forms part of the EC’s Digital Single Market strategy and follow extensive consultations with stakeholders across the music and tech industry.
