The European Union does not believe that it is time to show its fractures, which there are. “We have seen that there is no fatigue”. If that is true, it only seems applicable to support for Ukraine, beyond some doubts and friction.. But other issues such as migration do represent a real headache for the 27, as was demonstrated this Friday at the informal summit of the European Council in Granada.. Maybe not fatigue, but migraines. The issue, incorporated by Italy, ended up being key in the meeting in addition to the issue of the expansion of the bloc, which is also taken for granted for the medium term.
Poland and Hungary do not want to accept the agreement reached at the level of ministers and ambassadors, and the Magyar Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, was especially harsh when comparing the situation to a rape. “If they rape you, in legal terms, and force you to accept something you don't want, how can there be an agreement? It's impossible,” he said.. For his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki, he assured that his country rejects the migration pact to face “the dictates of Brussels.”
Under these premises of the most 'problematic' partners in the search for consensus, the summit ended up distorted and in fact there was a certain delay in ending the meeting, although the leaders ended up assuming that they will have to continue addressing it in the already formal European Council. which will take place in three weeks in Brussels. In the Granada Declaration, which includes the conclusions, not a single paragraph was included on the subject.. Prime ministers such as Emmanuel Macron, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Petteri Orpo left the Granada Congress Palace first without giving rise to any clear conclusion.
And so what was going to be a secondary point became the main topic of a summit that did not want to reach any conclusion but was prepared to shed some light on one of the great taboos of the Union.. The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, and the High Representative, Josep Borrell, agreed on the need to have “a long-term strategy” that combines “solidarity with security at the external borders”. These plans, they said, also have to take into account the most fractious countries in the matter.
Italy, on the other hand, had a different tone. In fact, both Giorgia Meloni and the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz celebrated the agreement reached a few days ago and smoothed out the rough spots that were seen for some moments between both countries.. Both also “confirmed the optimal level of cooperation” between Berlin and Rome and announced that they will hold an intergovernmental summit in November, even though they disagree on their vision of the current European Union.
“It will not be the last time we talk about migration,” acknowledged the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, who spoke of “effectiveness” when managing arrivals through the land or sea border, and at the same time defended the agreements with third countries to “protect those borders” without forgetting “the solidarity factor”. Nobody leaves that line and in the end what is done with the issue is to take a step forward, although the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is confident that the final agreement “is close”, with an approach ” better structured and prepared for the long term”, which includes the countries of origin and transit, with the corresponding investment through the Global Gateway. And he issued a warning: “We are the ones who decide who enters the EU” and that goes hand in hand with “ending the mafia discourse.”
Pedro Sánchez began with thanks and describing the summits as “a true success”. Already getting into the matter, the acting President of the Government also celebrated that Granada is witnessing statements about “what Europe we are going to have in the future”. The Spanish presidency accepts “the challenge” regarding the pending issues and on the migration issue, it asks “to define what responsibility and solidarity means to face a European issue such as migration.”
Expansion yes, but how
The immigration issue left the expansion in the background despite the fact that it was initially the axis on which the meeting was going to pivot.. Everyone already assumes that the EU will expand towards the East, but the question is how this great change is addressed.. “All this makes it clear that we not only have to address the issues of the accession processes of the candidate countries and to a large extent the prerequisites for accession and when they are guaranteed in each case. We also have to prepare the European Union itself for the future. This applies especially to decision-making structures,” summarized German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.. Orbán himself, for his part, warned regarding Ukraine that the EU cannot admit “a country that is at war.”
“Climate transformation, the pandemic and war” are the three key events for Europe to transform, said Michel. The leaders also accept the challenge that the Union has to reform itself first, in aspects such as decision-making or the distribution of funds, and then accept new members.. The 27 believe that they have to strengthen the economic base of the EU, as well as its security and defense, with greater investments. On the other hand, energy must stop being a point of dependence and, finally, the EU needs to strengthen ties with its partners in other regions of the world.. “We believe in a multipolar world,” concluded Michel.
Von der Leyen, for her part, shared an argument: “This has been about making a stronger, safer and more independent EU,” she asserted, and she believes that they are “achieving” it, especially since the start of the war in Ukraine. , as has been seen, he said, especially with the reduction of energy ties with Russia. Of course, not all the work is done, he warned, before adding that accession to the EU “is not automatic” but is based on “merits.”. The block also “has to do its own homework to be prepared.”
This has been about making an EU stronger, safer and more independent
Metsola on the subject pointed out that enlargement needs an EU prepared for it, following Von der Leyen's argument. “We have to be prepared for when the candidate countries are,” he stated, while avoiding talking about a calendar.. The European Parliament, however, calls for progress in the negotiations. Borrell added that “a tailored approach” is necessary for each country because “not everyone has the same needs.”. The process, he stressed, has to be “open and clear” so as not to create false expectations.
In this sense, there have been proposals of all colors, since precisely the meeting has been taken as a brain storming given its informal nature.. Slovenia, for example, has proposed that new members enter the EU in stages and that each stage step be approved with a qualified majority.. For some experts consulted for 20 minutes, this “would generate many imbalances right from the start”, so it does not seem like a viable solution to a process that is long and demanding.. Spain, for its part, maintains like other partners that the main thing is that the candidates “comply with the reforms and what is stated in the Treaties.”
The saying goes that a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush and European leaders leave the Granada summits with many photos and many ideas around them, but without yet being able to land on any concrete ones.. Yes, the event has served to outline and above all 'sell' what Europe intends to build to compete on the global stage with Russia and China.. The question is how, and not all member states agree on it.. Time will tell.