Italy PM urges ‘pragmatic federalism’, eastward expansion for EU

Mario Draghi calls for European Union enlargement eastwards in addition to EU treaty revision to streamline decision-making within the bloc.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has mentioned the European Union must emerge stronger from the historic challenges thrown up by the struggle in Ukraine, together with by increasing eastwards.

The battle, he advised the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, was “a security, humanitarian, energy and economic crisis all rolled into one” that had revealed current EU establishments to be “inadequate” of their response.

The reply, he argued, was “pragmatic federalism” with streamlined decision-making that might do away with member state vetoes that at present are sometimes in a position to block majority stances.

“This is the start of a path that will lead to treaty revision. And if that’s going to be the case, we should embrace it,” he mentioned, to applause by MEPs.

Draghi, a former president of the European Central Bank credited with saving the euro from collapse 10 years in the past, mentioned EU enlargement eastwards was key, together with by taking in Ukraine.

European aspirations

“We need to fully integrate countries that have European aspirations,” he mentioned.

He voiced Italy’s help for “the immediate opening up of accession negotiations” with Albania and North Macedonia, and for bolstered negotiations with Kosovo and Bosnia.

“We’re in favour of all of these countries joining the European Union and we also want Ukraine as a member of the European Union,” he mentioned.

Days after Russia invaded in February, Ukraine pleaded for fast-track entry into the EU.

Brussels responded by saying the method was rigorous, advanced and took years, however provided Kyiv a speeded-up preliminary analysis stage.

Albania and North Macedonia have been poised to start out the accession course of since 2020, however have been in limbo due to objections from Bulgaria and circumstances imposed by Germany and the Netherlands.

Defence integration

Draghi additionally referred to as for Europe to maneuver extra quickly in the direction of higher defence integration.

He advised EU lawmakers that navy spending throughout the bloc was “deeply inefficient” on account of its distribution throughout greater than 130 particular person armed forces and organisations.

He praised the European Council’s plan of motion to strengthen the EU’s safety and defence coverage by 2030 however mentioned it was “necessary to go quickly beyond these first steps”.

Draghi underlined Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatened “peace on our continent”.

He affirmed his backing of continued navy help as requested by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, arguing “protecting Ukraine means protecting ourselves”.

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