Subject: The Brief: Could 'more Europe' heal Brexit wounds?
From: EurActiv <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2017 16:03:08 +0000

The Brief: Could 'more Europe' heal Brexit wounds?      subscribe
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    <http://eurac.tv/6Zxq?sid=33541>    Today's EU policy news,
06.03.2017, 5PM

       = Could 'more Europe' heal Brexit wounds? =

      ===  By James Crisp <http://eurac.tv/6Zxl?sid=33541> ===

 More integration among the remaining 27 member states of the European
Union could have the unintended consequence of laying to rest some of
Britain’s long-held grievances against Brussels.

 The Brits are a difficult lot to please and, perhaps uniquely in Europe,
feel they are somehow different from their continental cousins.

 The reasons for this are well-rehearsed. Britain is an island. It never
suffered invasion and occupation in the two World Wars. Then there’s the
whole Empire thing, which has still not been  put to rest
<http://eurac.tv/6Zwl?sid=33541>.

 It’s hard to prove such theories definitively. But only the British in
Brussels would describe a day trip to Paris as “going abroad”.

 The European Commission’s White Paper on the future of the EU after
Brexit set out five possible pathways. The idea of a “multi-speed
Europe” with different countries integrating at different speeds was
rapidly tipped as the  executive’s preferred option
<http://eurac.tv/6Zwm?sid=33541>.

 Jorge Valero reports this morning that Jean-Claude Juncker is minded to
throw his weight behind the option  of “more Europe”
<http://eurac.tv/6Zwn?sid=33541> when he gives his State of the Union
speech in September.

 A Bulgarian MEP compared the idea of a two-speed  EU to apartheid
<http://eurac.tv/6Zwo?sid=33541>, arguing it would leave countries such as
his behind.

 British politicians have long railed against the idea of “more Europe”
as the answer to all the bloc’s ills.

 But now that the UK is leaving, Juncker might find an unlikely supporter
in his corner.

 David Cameron, at the same time as pushing for a British exemption  from
“ever-closer union” <http://eurac.tv/6Zwp?sid=33541>, argued for
greater eurozone integration on financial supervision. Theresa May
repeatedly insists that she wants  a “strong EU”
<http://eurac.tv/6Zwq?sid=33541> after Brexit.

 The EU is a complicated mix of consensus, coalitions, compromise and
incremental change.

 These are far more foreign concepts to the British, with their
first-past-the-post political system, than say, the Belgians or the Dutch
and their parliamentary traditions.

 No one is likely to ask its opinion but Brexit Britain may be in favour of
“more Europe” for the EU-27.

 It would be much simpler to deal with a United States of Europe than the
stitched together patchwork of political factions that is the EU today.

      == The Roundup ==

 The EPP has stripped Jacek Saryusz-Wolski  of  his vice-presidency
<http://eurac.tv/6Zwr?sid=33541> of the party. Saryusz-Wolski's crime was
to stand as a candidate for  European Council president
<http://eurac.tv/6Zws?sid=33541> against Donald Tusk, an EPP member and
fellow Pole.

 EU foreign and defence ministers have agreed to set up a  military
training headquarters <http://eurac.tv/6ZEV?sid=33541>. Belgian minister
Didier Reynders said, "It's a first step. As for a European army... maybe
later."

 Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said she is happy with
Hungary’s granting of state aid in the construction of the Paks II
nuclear plant. Check EURACTIV for more later and to find out what
Commissioner Oettinger has to do with all this.

 French, German, Italian and Spanish leaders are  meeting in Versailles
<http://eurac.tv/6Zwt?sid=33541> to discuss the future of the EU-27. One
source said the four biggest eurozone nations want to make the most of the
UK leaving the bloc. But doubts remain about enhanced cooperation, 
especially on taxation <http://eurac.tv/6Zwu?sid=33541>.

 Embattled François  Fillon clung on <http://eurac.tv/6Zwv?sid=33541> to
his dreams of becoming French president. Alain Juppé confirmed he is not
interested in re-joining the race. Current leader François Hollande said
he  would “do everything” <http://eurac.tv/6Zww?sid=33541> to prevent
Marine Le Pen succeeding him.

 UK manufacturers are growing at  their fastest rate
<http://eurac.tv/6Zwx?sid=33541> in three years due to the weak pound and
Britain may even escape its  post-Brexit EU bill
<http://eurac.tv/6Zwy?sid=33541> if no deal is struck with Brussels, a
House of Lords report claims.

 Deutsche Bank wants to up  its capital reserves
<http://eurac.tv/6Zwz?sid=33541> by €8bn by selling off a raft of shares.

 The Commission has set up a “one-stop-shop
<http://eurac.tv/6ZwA?sid=33541>” for people to contribute to its
law-making process, following commitments made under its Better Regulation
strategy.

 Austria has called for an EU-wide ban on  Turkish campaign events
<http://eurac.tv/6ZwB?sid=33541>. Far-right Dutch MP  said the same
<http://eurac.tv/6ZwC?sid=33541> and called Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan an “Islamofascist”. Italian Northern League leader Matteo
Salvini  is in Moscow <http://eurac.tv/6ZwD?sid=33541> to meet with the
ruling United Russia party.

 Donald Trump is expected to sign a new executive order excluding Iraq from
his  widely-criticised travel ban <http://eurac.tv/6ZwE?sid=33541>. Jordan
has been denounced for  executing 15 people
<http://eurac.tv/6ZwF?sid=33541> despite committing itself to phasing out
capital punishment.

 The chief of the World Health Organisation said that air pollution, caused
largely by diesel emissions, is a problem on a “much bigger scale
<http://eurac.tv/6ZwG?sid=33541>” than Ebola or HIV.

 30 years ago today the  Zeebrugge ferry disaster
<http://eurac.tv/6ZwH?sid=33541> claimed the lives of 193 people. The
victims were remembered in a service held at sea this morning.

 *Sam Morgan contributed to this Brief. *

      == Look out for… ==

 Preparation for the Council summit this week kicks off at the General
Affairs Council and the network of major European cities, EUROCITIES, will
hold its own summit on the Future of Europe, including how to tackle
populism and Euroscepticism. Commission VP Jyrki Katainen and Parliament
Brexit boss Guy Verhofstadt will be in attendance.

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