“Today, on the heels of the French and German elections, the issue of reforming the European Union is once again on the table,” declared Enrico Letta, former Italian Prime Minister and Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po, at the most recent session of ESADE’s Big Challenges debate series. Despite the important developments of recent years – “especially Brexit” – Dr. Letta explained that “the European Union has seen a decrease in the intensity of reforms, which especially in 2012 and 2013 were brought about by the urgency of the crisis”. 

 

According to Dr. Letta, who also previously served as Italian Minister of European Affairs, the necessary reforms would ideally be introduced “before next summer”, though he acknowledged that a number of factors – including the uncertainty following Germany’s recent elections – will obstruct this effort. “The Germans have some very intense negotiations ahead,” he commented, adding: “I think it is very unlikely that Germany will form a government before the end of the year.” However, Dr. Letta argued, an agreement, once it is reached, will be “very meditated” and therefore “day-to-day operations of the new government will be stable”. He added: “I hope a coalition agreement can be reached in Germany as soon as possible, because this is something that will make a difference for Europe.”

 

 

“With British MPs in the European Parliament, it was more difficult to address the matter of the euro. In my opinion, Brexit could be a good opportunity to work towards monetary harmonisation in Europe,” argued Dr. Letta. “European democracy is in bad shape,” he added. 

 

According to Dr. Letta, “One of Europe’s problems is the fact that we have first-class and second-class citizens. In other words, citizens of leading countries who can vote in those countries are capable of influencing European policies; all others are not.” In Dr. Letta’s opinion, elections in Europe “are not relevant because of their focus on domestic affairs”. It is necessary, he insisted, to “create a European vote, such that an Italian citizen’s vote has just as much weight as a German’s vote, or that of any other citizen.” 

 

According to Dr. Letta, Brexit may present yet another opportunity: “The 73 British members of the European Parliament will leave, and we will have to replace them. Here, there are two possibilities. First, we could distribute those seats among the various member states,” although this option, he argued, “would be a total disaster and useless.” The second option, which Dr. Letta described as “smarter”, would be to “elect MPs to those seats in pan-European elections; in other words, vote on the same candidates in all EU countries”. In this way, Dr. Letta argued, “we could find out which direction Europeans want to take, and it would be a good way to reformulate our institutions”.