European leaders pledge to strengthen Union facing new challenges
- by Kristina Cox
- in World Media
- — Mar 26, 2017
The leaders of 27 European Union countries on Saturday marked the 60th anniversary of the bloc's founding by renewing their commitment to a common future amid a divorce with Britain.
"The fearfulness that is becoming more and more evident has its root cause in the loss of ideals", he said.
Attending were the heads of the 27 countries which will remain in the Union, as well as top EU officials, including European Council president Donald Tusk.
Federalists, nationalists, populists, unionists and anarchists headed to one of six rallies and demonstrations called to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the signing of the founding treaty of the European Union. It is thanks to our engagement-the Union together with its Member States-that the global community has set up innovative agreements like the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development.
Sixty years ago six European nations signed the Treaty of Rome.
The reference to "different paces and intensity" of integration was a mild mention of the proposal of a multi-speed European Union, which would entail different groups of countries willingly moving towards further integration at different paces within the bloc. "We are saying here very clearly that we want to go in a common direction".
The Pontiff has also been outspoken about the prejudice faced by refugees and asylum seekers, and took the time to criticize the EU's response to the migrant crisis, comparing it to the mass movement of people after and during the Second World War.
Poland, which seems poised to take over Britain's mantle of the most recalcitrant member, wanted more assurances that all its requirements were met and only agreed to the text on Friday, the eve of the summit.
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Later, Welch pointed the AR-15 at a restaurant worker before shooting a computer and a lock on a backroom door. He walked into the restaurant in December with the loaded guns and fired a shot from the rifle into a door.
But in a sign of how deep divisions run between the 27 countries that will form the European Union once the United Kingdom leaves the bloc, the text was watered down after Poland and Greece threatened-for different reasons-not to sign.
Francis, the first pope to hail from Latin America, has been an outspoken supporter of the EU.
In a series of speeches, European Union leaders also acknowledged how the bloc had strayed into a complicated structure that had slowly lost touch with its citizens, compounded by the severe financial crisis that struck several European Union nations over the past decade.
"This was crucial for Poland", Szydło said, following the signing of the Rome Declaration at the summit in the Italian capital.
"If we value it, we have to fight for it", said Russell Owens, 51, who owns a press distribution company in Zagreb and originally came from Liverpool. Yes, there are difficulties.
More and more, it looks like the EU's future will have less unanimity and more areas where groups of European Union nations advance on their own when faced with resistance from others on specific issues, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel of founding European Union nation Luxembourg told The Associated Press.
French President Francois Hollande said the message from Rome was, "we're stronger together", while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that "a Europe of different speeds does not mean at all that there is no common Europe". "We have the strength to start out again".
Ahead of the Rome Summit, the European Commission presented a White Paper on the Future of Europe, to serve as an opportunity for EU leaders to focus on what they for the EU's future. "We will promote a democratic, effective and transparent decision-making process and better delivery".
