Renzi: “Brexit talks cannot block the EU for another year”

Rome – The last European summit in Bratislava “has led to little more than nothing”, and the “trivial document” that came out of it showed a “frenetic inaction” on the common management of migratory policies. The Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, borrows an expression from the German sociologist Jürgen Habermas to denounce the stalemate currently afflicting the European Union. “Focusing solely on Article 50” and how to deal with Brexit in the coming year would mean that “additional time would be thrown away at a historical moment in which no one has time to lose”, he warned in a speech to the Italian Parliament on the forthcoming European Council of October 20-21.

Renzi noted that an “unprecedented” path is needed to advance the European integration project, and he believes that the celebrations for the 60^th anniversary of the treaties, to be held in Rome in March 2017, could be “the culmination of this process”. That appointment represents “a watershed moment” and “an opportunity for those who want to continue” on the path of integration, as well as for those “who wish to criticize the European project”.

In order to change the current EU structure, Renzi suggested “listening to the European Parliament”. Proposals such as the ones put forward by MEPs Elmar Brok and Guy Verhofstadt, the prime minister noted, show that the European Parliament has understood that “Europe is at a crossroads and this time the threat is real”, and therefore has “shed the party uniforms” to advance proposals to give a boost to the European project.

Speaking of concrete proposals, Renzi has raised the possibility of penalising member states that refuse to show solidarity and to implement the decisions taken with regard to the redistribution of asylum seekers. “In the coming months we will take up once again the issue of the European budget and how to share it”, the prime minister recalled, who asked to Parliament, including the opposition, to support a “hard stance” at the Council meeting, “to say that the EU budget which will start from 2020 will have to differentiate between those who express solidarity and those who don’t”, regarding the the taking in of refugees.

Renzi also mentioned the game that the government is playing with Brussels over Italy’s latest budget bill, which will be presented next Saturday. The dispute regards the exclusion from the deficit limits set by the Stability and Growth Pact (SPG) of the government expenses for migrants and earthquake-related costs. To bolster his position, Renzi recalled that “Italy is the country that has witnessed the most marked deficit reduction course, compared to other countries considered models of growth”, and that “it is one thing to grow with a deficit/GDP ratio of 2.4%, it another to growth with a 5.1% ratio, and all references to Spain are not coincidental”.

Spain, together with Portugal, was recently “pardoned” for its excessive deficit. It is clear that the prime minister expects a similar treatment from Brussels, which is why he says that “there is no discussion” over the issue of the costs for the seismic intervention scheme for school buildings.