No less than eight months after the European Parliament elections, MEPs eventually gave their blessing to the investiture of the Barroso II Commission, just ahead of the informal European Council which will gather today for the first time under the chairmanship of Van Rompuy.
Adriaenssens encourages EU leaders to rise up to the current challenges and live up to the expectations of the Citizens: "A community-driven economic strategy for the next ten years needs to complete the single market and preserve the EU’s commercial power, the disappointing outcome of Copenhagen has to be countered with far-reaching initiatives on climate change
the disappointing outcome of Copenhagen has to be countered with far-reaching initiatives on climate change
and the cluttered response to the emergency situation in Haiti should generate reinforced coordination for humanitarian assistance."
JEF-Europe deeply regrets the EU has not been more visible on the world stage since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and strongly recommends the Commission President and Vice-President Catherine Ashton to put a community stamp on the intergovernmental discussions, especially in striving towards more coherence in economic governance and unity in foreign policy.
The recent reforms create new windows of opportunity but they should not fall prey to national self-centredness or inter-institutional wrangling. Adriaenssens affirms: "Federalists are yearning for a more active, ambitious and audacious European government that will surmount the growing pains of the early Treaty implementation phase and put Europe back on track."
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