27 June 2016

Politico: France and Germany hatch a plan to save EU

So far, the ideas haven’t been endorsed by Angela Merkel’s chancellory, where officials urged caution. Merkel, whose center-right alliance governs in a grand coalition with the Social Democrats, doesn’t believe such proposals can be rushed out or that they should be pushed without including all remaining EU members. Whether Europe’s Social Democrat leaders, who are meeting on Monday in Paris to coordinate their Brexit response, can push their agenda against Merkel’s resistance is doubtful.

The idea behind the Franco-German initiative is to focus cooperation on areas such as security, foreign policy, border control, the digital agenda, energy, transportation and eurozone governance, but shift other decision-making to national capitals. [...]

The overall goal is to try to play to the perceived EU strengths in foreign policy and security cooperation, giving it a more visible role on the global stage.

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, touched on this new direction in the foreword to a new “Global Strategy” she will present this week to European leaders at a summit.

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