European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker unveiled a raft of proposals on Wednesday to revive crumbling trust in the EU after the Brexit vote, ranging from a new defence headquarters to job creation and tightening borders.
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The Lisbon Treaty, said Juncker, enables European Union member states to pool their defense capabilities, if they choose to do so, in the form of a permanent structured cooperation.
The Brexit vote has given added impetus to plans for greater defence co-operation, because the United Kingdom has always objected to the potential conflict of interest with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
He said this would create a common military force between member states – “in some cases owned by the EU”.
He said the U.K.’s departure should increase the necessity for greater European cooperation in defense.
The European Commission also wants to give news organizations the right to demand payments from aggregators and search engines who use snippets of their articles and other content. In addition, 5G – faster mobile internet than 4G – should be available in at least one city in every European Union member state by 2020.
The 61-year-old former Luxembourgian prime minister called for ties to “remain on a friendly basis”, but warned that London could not expect a la carte access to the EU’s single market if it brings back immigration controls. The Luxembourg-hailing politician added that a lack of cooperation on military resources was costing billions to European Union countries.
Last year, Juncker drew up an obligatory scheme for member states to share 160,000 refugees in Greece and Italy and any other overwhelmed country among their European Union partners. “And we have to invest in that connectivity now”, said Juncker, who has been president of the Commission since 2014.
“The next 12 months are the crucial time to deliver an EU that protects and preserves the European way of life, that defends our citizens at home and overseas, and takes responsibility”, he added.
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The investment plan works by turning roughly 21 billion euros in seed money from the EU budget and the bloc’s European Investment Bank (EIB) into loans that support carefully selected European businesses, infrastructural projects and start-up companies.
