2023-05-09 18:34:00
In the European Parliament, the German Chancellor calls for the enlargement and deepening of the Union. His Austrian counterpart, Karl Nehammer, on the other hand, calls for “more subsidiarity”.
Five percent: Olaf Scholz mentioned this number several times in the European Parliament on Tuesday to promote his vision of Europe. Because even if the western Balkan states joined, which is currently hard to foresee, not even 500 million people would live in the Union, i.e. around five percent of the world’s population. “Europe will only succeed if North, South, East and West see each other as a unit,” said the German Chancellor at the end of his debate in the Strasbourg plenary hall. “If we don’t act together, we will be irrelevant.”
This fear of Europe’s downgrading has been driving the political leaders of the 27 member states for a long time. No wonder that Scholz, who used to be rather reserved in this regard, is now reminding that “Europe is only heard when it speaks with one voice”. And so he pleaded for a deepening and expansion of the Union. “We want you to become part of our European Union,” said Scholz, addressing the citizens of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. “And this is not about altruism. It’s about our credibility and economic sense.” Because, as he warned: “A geopolitical Europe is also measured by whether it keeps its promises to its immediate neighbors.”
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