Our World in 2017

ISSUE#1193 | January 2017
QUO VADIS EUROPA?
NEW EUROPE: OUR WORLD IN 2017
Page-15
www.neweurope.eu
Eight points to preserve
by Manfred Weber
Chairman of the Group of the European
People’s Party in the European
Parliament.
the European way of life
BELGIUM - BRUSSELS
The unity of Europe, once reserved for
ceremonial speeches, has become a reality.
On no other continent in the world, do
people enjoy a comparable degree of peace,
freedom, security and prosperity. Although the
honeymoon is over and the Union has entered
its daily routine: today, the European Union is
more relevant than ever. Nothing less is at stake
than the self-assertion of the continent and its
values. Digitalisation is changing the world’s
business and social models at an unprecedented
speed. Today’s leading innovations are coming
from Silicon Valley. The new economic giants
are no longer car builders or even banks, but
Internet companies. We can simply not afford
to further lose track: we have to stand at the
forefront of the digital revolution. This is the
only way that we can create the jobs of the
future and secure our European standards and
values in the world.
At the same time, the world is getting
smaller. China, once a closed-off country,
has become the factory of the world and the
leading export nation. Migration flows are
at unprecedented heights. Climate change
is endangering the basis of life. Autocrats
are threatening our political order. Islamic
terrorism is challenging our open societies.
All these challenges cannot be solved by
one nation alone, but only with European
unity. Europe must use its economic power
to shape globalisation otherwise, the world’s
developments will simply sweep away most of
what is dear to us in Europe.
We need a Europe that works to provide
the right solutions for its people. In order to
preserve our European way of life, we have to
make the following eight efforts in 2017:
1. Acknowledge Europe’s successes: our
continent used to be the most war-plagued
place in the world. Today there is peace and
prosperity. Without Europe, the world would
not have agreed upon far reaching goals
for climate protection. Europe stands for
diplomacy and disarmament, a strategy that
led to the success of the nuclear deal with Iran.
Let us be proud of these achievements.
2. Do not act along with national
egoism: today’s biggest mistake would be to
copy populists. Populists have no solutions to
our common problems such as security, the
migration crisis, globalisation and the fight
against climate change. These problems can
only be solved if we act together. Europe is
more than the sum of national interests. Each
EU Member State needs to do its bit and share
the burden of the common challenges. Italy
and Greece cannot be left alone to deal with
the migration crisis.
3. Take the rules seriously: Europe is a
legal community, not a self-service counter.
The trust in rules is the basis of every
community.
4. Be open to change: only those who
A view of the Berlaymont building, house of the European Commission headquarters, in Brussels, Belgium, 21 December 2016.
Europe is a community of values. We draw our true
strength from our values, rooted in the Christian image
of humanity. The European Social Model, developed
from this image, is a unique European achievement that
has to be preserved
quickly detect and address change will be
able to master it. We have to leave the standby
mode in Europe for once and for all
and take up the fight. This means shaping
digitalisation, softening climate change with
technical innovations, setting clear limits for
globalisation.
5. Assume responsibility: democracy
cannot succeed by shying away. In Brussels,
almost no decision is taken without the
consent of the national governments.
Ministers have to stop raising their hands
in Brussels and then permanently criticise
their own decisions when they return to their
national capitals. Citizens have to be able to
choose between clear political alternatives.
This begins with personnel.
We need full parliamentary democracy
in Europe with a strong and directly-elected
European Parliament, a political European
Commission fully accountable to this
Parliament, and a Commission President who
puts himself to the vote of the people, as top
candidate of his political party family.
6. Draw up clear borders for Europe:
people are afraid of an ever-bigger Europe,
getting lost in details and bureaucracy. Europe
needs clear borders: Turkey cannot be a
member of the European Union. Brussels shall
only be in charge where necessary and in a way
that people understand it.
7. Do not build up false contradictions:
being a good Bavarian, German or European
is not a contradiction; for me, they belong
together. He who is a true patriot must also
be a convinced European.
8. Let us defend Europe’s values: we
have to make sure that Europe preserves
its soul. Europe is more than a marriage of
convenience or a sheer community of interests.
Europe is a community of values. We draw our
true strength from our values, rooted in the
Christian image of humanity. The European
Social Model, developed from this image, is a
unique European achievement that has to be
preserved.
EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
Let us live Europe and not just manage
it. This is how we will master the challenges
ahead and continue on the path of European
success - despite all the difficulties of the dayto-day
work.
By acting, we give new vision, justification
and acceptance of Europe.
The demagogues are preaching the return
to nationalism, to times that we thought were
long gone. Their alleged solutions only lead
to dead ends. Instead of regaining national
grandness, people would only witness
irrelevance, fading wealth and loss of control
with them.
Europe, more than ever, stands for the
preservation and recovery of sovereignty
for its citizens and of the public capacity
to act. Europe stands for democratic selfdetermination
and for the self-assertion of
our values.
Europe is our life insurance in a globalised
world. Let us work together in 2017 to make
Europe and our future a success.