23 April 2012

Danish Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt: Address at University of Copenhagen event, ‘The Future of the EU - moving forward together?’

"The European debt crisis cannot be handled by any individual Member State acting alone and uncoordinated. To handle the crisis, Member States must cooperate, make compromises and align their different capabilities in order to achieve maximum firepower."

The inter-dependence between the Member States of the EU means that the crisis has an impact everywhere. Millions of Europeans are finding themselves at the receiving end of cut-backs, lay-offs, bankruptcies, rising debt and a frozen housing market.

That is also why I continue to argue that the need for a Europe that sticks together and acts in concert is greater than it has been for a long, long time. The European debt crisis cannot be handled by any individual Member State acting alone and uncoordinated. To handle the crisis, Member States must co-operate, make compromises and align their different capabilities in order to achieve maximum firepower.

The economic crisis – and I want to be completely frank about this – has put the cooperation within the EU under strain. It has, however, also made it abundantly clear that the way forward goes through enhanced coordination, stronger common rules and more joint action.

In the last months, some have criticised the EU for not taking appropriate action. I strongly oppose this view. The actions over the last months have showed that the EU is willing to act together and act in solidarity. The fiscal compact, the new bailout programme for Greece, the strengthening of the firewall and the structural reforms under way at national levels. These are common actions show that we can act together.

Many countries, for example Ireland, Italy and Spain, have initiated substantial reforms of the labour markets that will make a difference. And a wide range of countries are liberalising their product and service markets and taking other steps to enhance competition, for instance the Baltic countries. These are all examples of an EU and its Member States willing to take necessary and far-reaching decisions.

And let’s not forget, these are decisions that hardly anyone thought possible just a few years ago. But let me also underline that recent developments have shown that the debt crisis is far from over. We need to keep up our efforts to conduct sound fiscal policies in all Member States.

Thanks to Denmark’s particular history in the EU - being a small country outside the eurozone, with a fixed-exchange rate vis-à-vis the euro - our Presidency is well placed to act as a bridge-builder. Today, there is a widespread recognition among Member States that by pulling together politically and economically at this difficult point in time, Europe might come out stronger on the other side than we had envisaged just a few months ago. The lesson is that whatever one country chooses to do - it will affect the rest. And that our solutions must be carried out in coordination with one another.

All Member States must keep their own house in order. Not only for themselves, but also for the sake of the whole. Our individual sovereignty, our individual room for manoeuvre, depend on the actions of others with whom we share trade, borders and values. It has always been like this – but the crisis has made it even clearer to us all. And knowing this, we must take the appropriate measures to move Europe forward.

The theme for our discussion today – “The future of the EU – moving forward together?” - implies a Europe at a crossroads. A crossroads, where we need to choose. But is the choice really between on the one hand - old-style European politics with a few great powers dominating their smaller neighbours on a divided continent, and on the other - a situation where we are forced to plunge ourselves into new treaties leading to a “united states” of Europe? I don’t think so.

I don’t believe that any of these two destinations for Europe will find much favour with the great majority of European citizens. Nor are they in our interest. What I do believe is that Europe will be capable of working its way out of the current crisis through a relentless focus on achieving tangible results and by applying our expanded economic tool-box in a clever way. This is what European integration has always been about: finding pragmatic and flexible solutions to common challenges.

Full speech

© The Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2012