Is Germany Strengthening or Weakening the EU?

• 10.09.2018, 18:07
•  Europe

AFP

German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated the necessity of forming a new EU Security Council to reinforce EU foreign policy issues and strengthen its capacity. She said this on September 30, speaking in Ottobrone, DW reported.

Chancellor noted that foreign policy based on a common opinion cannot be a wise solution for the future. Instead, she suggested setting up a European Union Security Council, on a rotation principle. As an argument, the Chancellor pointed out the difficulties they faced when setting sanctions against Russia.

The proposed rotation principle implies that not all EU member states are permanently affiliated with the Security Council. According to the press release, Germany and France will have a status of a permanent member and other countries will be included in the rotation principle.

The idea of ​​creating the EU Security Council is not sounded by Germany for the first time. For the first time this was announced as a result of French-German intergovernmental consultations in June 2018. At that time, the leaders of Germany and France noted: "We need debates in new formats, like the EU Security Council, to ensure closer coordination in the EU and outside forums."

EU foreign policy coordination was one of the most important reforms envisaged by the Lisbon Treaty, which was also conditioned by the creation of the EU Foreign Affairs Service. At the same time, even within the eight years of the existence of this body, it has failed to reach a common EU foreign policy, since member states have their own foreign policy priorities and are primarily guided by their national interests. The same principle applies to the decisions that are adopted by the current EU regulations on consensus principle. This is the reason why Germany and France offer to abandon that principle.

These two Western European countries, which stand on the basis of the formation of the European Union, and now bear a large part of the economic and political "burden" of the Union, want to posess more opportunities. It is another question that such an approach contradicts the principles of the European Union. And it is not ruled out that in case of becoming a reality these changes will later cause a serious value crisis, instead of strengthening the union.