Paris and must do less together and more with the EU
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – It would help the European Union to play a greater role on the world stage if France and Germany were less in pairs and more with the EU. According to Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the EU is more than a trading bloc and currency union, and it is important that Paris and Berlin are “willing to pool more of their foreign policy,” he said in Brussels. “They are to want to do it yourself.”
According to Rutte, the two largest countries in the EU “of course have a lot of power and politics because they are so big and political”, the seven richest countries in the world. France is a permanent member of the UN Security Council. “I think Europe is like France and Germany are willing to do more jointly than always bilaterally.”
He is also bothered by the unanimity that is required to be able to impose on a country, for example. The Netherlands has wanted to get rid of that for a while, “so that not one of the two can be resisted”. This applies, for example, to the punishment that the EU wants to impose on Russia if it were to invade Ukraine. For example, they would rather not see the Russians thrown out of the payment system SWIFT, or that the Nordstream 2 pipeline will not be put into operation. To abolish the unanimity rule, an amendment to the EU treaty is required.
Catch-up sessions
Rutte was in Brussels to meet the new President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola. He also protected “update sessions” with the President of the European Council of Governments, Charles Michel, and with the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In addition to Ukraine, a visit this week, the rule of law, a summit this month on Africa and an EU summit on the economy were also on the agenda.
According to Rutte, it has been approved for him, as one of the longest-serving heads of government in the EU, to take over the role of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who resigned after sixteen years.