EU leaders consider the way ahead
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EUROPEAN Union leaders yesterday spelled out stark conditions for a new relationship with a departing Britain, warning that if British business wants to maintain access to Europe’s single market, it must accept European workers.
Britain’s “leave” vote hinged on concerns about migration from poorer EU countries.
The leaders agreed they must make the EU more relevant to citizens and keep it from disintegrating after Britain’s unprecedented vote to leave. The 27 remaining presidents, chancellors and prime ministers are “absolutely determined to remain united,” EU Council President Donald Tusk said.
They met without British Prime Minister David Cameron, who left Brussels on Tuesday night without any clear divorce plan, fending off pressure for a quick exit and leaving the complex departure negotiations to his successor. Nominations opened yesterday for a new Conservative leader to replace him.
Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb is the first official contender. Former London Mayor Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Theresa May are also expected to run.
The EU leaders insisted that the “four freedoms” central to European unity are indivisible — the free movement of people, services, goods and finances.
They are focusing on how to deal with the rest of the continent now that Britain is leaving. There’s a widespread sense that the post-war project to foster peace via trade has become a bureaucratic, undemocratic behemoth with little meaning for its 500 million citizens.
The initial EU founding nations in the west lean toward a tighter, closer union, while newer nations in the east want to keep more control with national governments — notably of their borders.
To allow the status quo to continue, French President Francois Hollande warned, would benefit populist forces that seek “the end of Europe.”
Other EU countries are now facing calls for referendums on quitting the bloc. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen pressed Hollande at a weekend meeting for such a vote in France, but this was rejected.
Tusk has convened a special EU summit on September 16 in Slovakia’s capital to work out a plan to keep the EU united.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the lesson from Britain’s decision isn’t necessarily deeper integration or returning more powers to national governments. “This is not about more or less Europe as a principle, but about achieving results better,” she said.
“The coming weeks will be decisive,” Hollande said. “Europe must show its solidity.”
However, the remaining EU members remain divided over how to deal with migration. Central European nations led by Hungary refuse to accept EU refugee quotas, and countries further north have all tightened border controls in response to the arrival of more than a million migrants last year. Britain is more concerned about EU immigration, since its strong economy draws hundreds of thousands of workers from other EU nations.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon met European Parliament President Martin Schulz in Brussels yesterday and was due to meet the leader of the EU executive, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, later. Scottish voters overwhelmingly chose to remain in the European Union but were drowned out by English voters. Sturgeon has indicated there may be a new referendum on Scottish independence as a result.
“It was a good opportunity for me to set out Scotland’s position and Scotland’s desire to remain within the European Union and to protect our relationship with the European Union,” she said after meeting Schulz. She added: “I don’t underestimate the challenges that lie ahead for us seeking to find a path.”
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