It shouldn’t be a surprise at all to EU euro-sceptics that others in the EU are pushing for a stronger Europe and have for many years. But you might not guess that from the headline a British newspaper ran in late April. It read,
“Federal Europe Plot: EU draws up plans for United States of Europe behind Britain’s back“
Here is what specifically happened last autumn to prompt the newspaper article.
Way Forward?
On the 14th of September 2015, four individuals from the nations of France, Italy, and Germany plus Luxembourg signed a declaration at Italy’s capital, Rome. Each was the equivalent of the UK’s Leader of the House of Commons or America’s Speaker of the House.
The declaration is titled Greater European Integration: the Way Forward. It says,
“ … The current moment offers an opportunity to move forward with European political integration, which could lead to a federal union of States. …”
One of the signers, the head of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Laura Boldrini, presented the
declaration to EU leaders, Martin Schultz and Claude Junker in December 2015.
At the same time, an item covering her presentation was posted here on the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation website. It includes the stronger statement,
“The ongoing integration process should not be limited to economic and financial policies: it must also include foreign policy, security and defense policy, ultimately leading to the creation of a federal union of States.”
Matter of Weeks
Strengthening of the European Union is listed as one of 4 sessions planned for the Conference of Speakers of EU Parliaments scheduled in Luxembourg the 22 – 24 of May 2016.
The declaration and draft conference schedule are both readily available on IPEX (short for Inter-parliamentary EU Information Exchange).
The British newspaper, The Daily Express, ran the piece about the declaration with the provocative headline on the 25th of April.
Thursday the 23rd of June is when UK voters decide whether Britain should pull out of the EU altogether. That’s only a little over seven weeks away.
Photo Credits: Euro Symbol, by Chris Goldberg, License: CC BY-NC 2.0; Boldrini, courtesy of Saeima of Latvia , License: CC BY-SA 2.0
