The European Institute of Romania and the Robert Schuman Foundation (Paris) organized on Wednesday, October 20, 2021, between 16:30 – 18:00 (Romanian time), in online format, the debate “Towards a more united Europe”.
The purpose of the debate was to create a space suitable for ideas exchange between European experts and think tanks, while contributing, collectively, to the shaping ofan European vision, in order to enrich the debates that will take place during the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, as well as those related to the Conference on the Future of Europe.
The interventions of the experts were followed by a Q&A Session. The working languages were Romanian and French, simultaneous translation being provided.
The following key ideas were presented during the debates:
- The crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic had a major impact on the political, social and economic level, but European cooperation and solidarity led to the implementation of joint management and economic recovery measures, while contributing to the strengthening of the European Union’s competences.
- The Conference on the Future of Europe’s main goal, respectively the future of European construction process, based on the spirit of the European integration project’s Founding Fathers, will seek to define a common vision, by involving citizens. Is essential to have a good understanding of the European diversity, with regard to the specificity of each Member State in order to ensure a fair, equitable and mutually beneficial transition process.
- The current challenges that the EU must deal with are: the economic recovery; the crisis of the current development model, a crisis accelerated by the climate change; the lack of confidence in the political leaders and the growing role of the Asia-Pacific region in the global economy and politics..
- The current debates respond to the Union’s need for sustainable training in order to deal with the challenges of the coming decades, and it is worth mentioning the growing concern at the European level in terms of anticipating trends, data evaluation and events from an evolutionary perspective.
- The current energy crisis calls for a strategic approach at the European level with regard to the economic and geopolitical aspects of ensuring the resources needed for the functioning of the internal market. France states that the nuclear energy shall be recognized among the types of green energy, thus favoring an energy transition with a lower economic impact on final consumers.
- The French Presidency of the Council of the European Union will focus on three pillars: membership, economic recovery and European power’s strengthening, being interested in overcoming existing internal cleavages, reflected both in terms of values and identities, as well as in foreign policy priorities; on the consolidation of the internal market and the economic recovery, respectively the clear definition of Europe’s own interests in the context of global geopolitical change. At the same time, greater attention is required regarding the partnership with African states, from the perspective of European demographic challenges and beyond.