Enrico Letta (Delors Institute): “The lack of consensus and leadership amongst the large countries of Europe would be a disaster as regards the challenges facing the European Union”
“The main countries of the European Union (EU) must find ways of liaising and leading the reforms necessary to prevent challenges such as the future enlargement of the bloc and the migratory crisis from becoming a disaster for Europe,” declared Enrico Letta, president of the Delors Institute and former Italian Prime Minister, during the conference that brought together senior European officials and analysts, convened by EsadeGeo, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Agenda Pública, the Delors Institute and the European project ENGAGE.
Letta issued a warning about the risk of enlarging the bloc “without formal changes to treaties and political decision-making.” For this reason, the four main economies of the EU – Germany, France, Italy and Spain – must, together with Poland, “work together to ensure a joint effort” and make a coordinated response to the bloc’s enlargement plans. “This issue is a priority that must be addressed by the five countries,” he commented at the beginning of the discussion entitled ‘Spain: Building Europe with France, Germany and Italy.’
A backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty
The need for consensus between the four main European partners, and the key role of Poland in the spotlight due to the war in Ukraine and as a link with the east of the bloc, were aspects common to the contributions by other panelists. In this respect, Arancha González Laya, dean of the School of International Affairs at Sciences Po and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, described the possible enlargement of the EU as “a transformation comparable to the moment of its foundation”. She called for “finding the energy necessary to achieve consensus and create a framework for discussion and dialogue between leaders, not at the ministerial level.” For his part, Norbert Röttgen, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Parliament, lamented the lack of cooperation between the big five and issued a warning about the consequences: “We really must accept that there will be no European future unless we build a bridge between the east and west of the continent. We must also understand that there are fissures at the domestic level in many members of the union, and that this causes fissures at the European level. So, it’s necessary to encourage discussions between countries with a view to achieving trickle-up agreements.”
The meeting, held in Madrid within the framework of the Spanish presidency of the EU Council, brought together dozens of experts to discuss the challenges and strategies facing the bloc against the present-day backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty, with the spotlight on trouble spots such as the war in Ukraine and the worsening of the conflict in the Middle East, and on challenges within the bloc, such as the enlargement that will begin to be debated in the next EU legislature and migration, which Letta described as “a key issue and indeed the main one in terms of public opinion”.
Other analysts taking part in the event included José María de Areilza, professor at Esade and the Jean Monnet chair; Joaquín Almunia, president of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS); Salvador Rueda Rabanal, general director of Integration and Coordination of General Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Diego Rubio Rodríguez, director of the National Office of Forecast and Country Strategy of the Presidency of the Spanish Government.
