Once again, Europe is going through a crisis, the third one in a little more than a decade. Europe’s task has changed today. From solving internal problems and guaranteeing peace within the continent, its main task is now to ensure a secure and resilient Europe in a world of turmoil.
For this reason, we have to strengthen Europe’s role and its capacity to be an excellent crisis manager. The corona pandemic has shown us where we have to act. Europeans were understandably disappointed by the EU management of this crisis. Each member state closed its borders unilaterally. There were different travel requirements and quarantine days. And most importantly there was a slower vaccine roll-out than our closest Western partners. For too long Europe has been stuck in lengthy processes, leading to late decisions. The Conference on the Future of Europe must have one top priority, namely that Europe must be in a position to act quickly and truly deliver.
This pandemic has shown us that in some areas Europe should give some competences back to EU member states. However, when common action is key, the EU needs greater executive powers for quicker implementation and faster action.
Take a look at Russia, Turkey and China. In foreign policy, we must become more effective and there must be manifest solidarity between all EU countries when one EU country is faced with a threat from third countries. As a next step, we should appoint a fully-fledged European foreign minister who speaks for Europe as one, who is accountable to the European Parliament and who complements the work of and works with national foreign ministers.
To keep citizens safe, it also means that Europe must be ready to deal with the next pandemic and other terrible diseases. Indeed, currently, EU national governments hold primary responsibility for health and medical care. However, pandemics do not stop at borders. We should create a European Marie Skłodowska Curie Institute for High-Level Research to bring together our best minds and to attract the best talents, so that we can step up the fight against cancer but also Alzheimer’s and other infectious diseases like COVID-19. Europe can become the new health innovation lab.
Technology is, in fact, driving change and reshaping our world. That is why Europe must play a leading role in the digital transition. To do this, the EU needs the appropriate competences to develop a truly digital single market. We need a European ‘Digital Act’ with binding investment targets and infrastructure standards with clear flagship projects, such as the highly secure 5G network. We need to expand the fibre network, to invest in Artificial Intelligence and machine learning in order to excel in precision medicine. Above all, we need to foster clean innovation for the future of mobility, with a new battery technology.
We are already frontrunners in environmental protection, as we have set the ambitious goal of 55 per cent emissions’ reduction by 2030. However, if we really intend to make a step further, then the European Union must be responsible for climate policy, in particular to negotiate and agree on international climate agreements with third countries in accordance with ecological European standards.
Europe needs its own foreign minister and finance minister- Manfred Weber and Roberta Metsola
But if we want to persistently commit to all our ambitions, it is fundamental that Europe is ready to financially withstand the next crisis. To do this, the Economic and Monetary Union must be completed. The EU needs its own finance minister who would focus on stability and macroeconomic performance. The next economic crisis should not lead to greater debts put on the shoulders of future generations. We cannot afford to lose the enthusiasm of our youth, we must ensure a prosperous future in which they contribute to shape.
In recent years, Europeans have had the growing impression that what happens in Brussels does not really take their lives into account and that they do not know who to blame or reward for failures and successes. This is what happens when too many people are responsible for the same areas at the same time. Important decisions are delayed and accountability is lost in the eyes of citizens. Europeans need stronger democratic leadership.
Ultimately, Europe will only be an efficient crisis manager if it is legitimised by the people to do so. We have to strengthen Europe’s democratic mandate. Before the next European elections, we must have clarity as to who is accountable in Europe. In all national elections, citizens get to choose between candidates with their own programmes. This is why we should reinforce the lead candidate process, where voters get the decisive say on who would be leading the European Commission.
The biggest party forming the governing majority would get the right to nominate the president of the Commission, subject to the support of the European Parliament’s majority. Or we should be even bolder and establish the direct election of the president. The EU needs a face over which people have a greater say. ‘Sofagates’ would not occur if Europe had finally one single president of the executive.
If Europe wants to survive the next crisis, it desperately needs change: a more democratic Europe with the necessary powers to deliver for common interests of Europeans. This is why the Conference on the Future of Europe should not start the debate with any taboos or limitations but with an open mind and ambition. Like our founding fathers before us, the EPP Group will continue being the driving force of greater European integration that delivers for citizens. Let’s stop crisis management, let’s start dreaming about our future instead.
Manfred Weber is chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament. Roberta Metsola is First Vice President of the European Parliament.