Gentiloni: “Europe politically fragile, Commission must take the responsibility to lead it”

Brussels – The European Union is at a crossroads as never before, and as never before, European institutions will have to lead the member states and not vice versa. It is a task and a role about which Paolo Gentiloni has no doubts because the Economy Commissioner sees little alternative. At this historical moment, he reasons in the setting of the event organized by the Belgium PD and dedicated to prospects and challenges for Europe, “perhaps the least fragile government is the Italian one, which is not very mainstream.” With the federal government teetering in Germany, a downsized Emmanuel Macron in France, and with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban the only leader firmly in charge but with not exactly pro-Europeanist impulses, “there is a lot of fragility, and this gives the von der Leyen Commission with an extraordinary responsibility.”

It will be up to Ursula von der Leyen to take on her shoulders the task of leading the European Union in a turbulent geopolitical environment full of uncertainties and with a Europe of states with weak governments. From here on, Gentiloni punctuates, “We will have really serious challenges, and I do not exclude that from something as negative as the outcome of the US elections may lead to an acceleration of the Union’s assumption of responsibility.” This, he reiterates, “is very much in the hands of the European Commission and its president.”

In short, the future of Europe necessarily passes through the EU executive, which, strong in the power of legislative initiative, can at least try to set an ambitious agenda. Of course, it remains to be seen whether the outgoing and incoming president of the EU executive is willing and able to take on this responsibility that Gentiloni speaks of, notwithstanding the uncertainties of the situation. Recent history tells of the then-president of the EU Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, who, the moment he wanted to try to force his hand and impose a mandatory allocation of asylum seekers on governments, saw the mutiny of the then 28 member states with many appeals to the EU Court of Justice.

Gentiloni, however, sees no alternative. In the inability of states to pull the EU along, someone else will have to take on this role. “The situation that has arisen in the United States can be a wake-up call for the EU because, if not, we would be in trouble,” he says on the victory of Republican candidate Donald Trump in the presidential election. An outcome that is not good for the EU, as Trump “considers this EU trade surplus of 180 billion with the United States as a problem,” the Economy Commissioner further reminds. The EU is in danger of suffering new American competition, adding to the increasing influence of China. Ursula von der Leyen will have to answer to all this.