Over the years, the EU project had its ups and downs, with euphoric moments ranging from the celebration of nations coming together through the EU integration process to other painful moments of living through an economic crisis and, more recently, the mass scale migration phenomenon that made Europe once again question its core values.
During the past two years in my role as president of the Malta Business Bureau, I was in a position to observe more closely the challenges that go into taking this project forward and how easy it is to dismantle the hard work it took to get to where we are today.
As Europeans we now find ourselves at a crossroads and, with most of the achievements seemingly taken for granted, the stakes are now very high to continue delivering new achievements to keep our citizens and businesses engaged with the EU project rather than alienated from it.
As we approach the halfway term of the Juncker Commission, from a business point of view the agenda is now set for nearly all policy areas.
The EU investment plan has been launched and the instruments aimed at re-boosting investment have started functioning.
The energy union and circular economy packages attempt to make Europe more energy independent and to address climate change issues.
The capital market union aims to facilitate cross-border investment and to improve access to finance while the banking union seeks to improve governance in the banking sector to avoid a repeat of the financial crisis.
The EU can either give in to nationalistic and destructive pressures or continue building a project that has generally brought about peace and prosperity
The single market and digital market strategies have been published and legislative proposals are in the process of being rolled out in the weeks and months ahead. The EU trade policy has never been more ambitious than it is today and will provide for more market access to our businesses and this is expected to further contribute to economic growth.
The pillar of social rights sets the tone that Europe has strong social values that it intends to preserve while setting the standard on a global level.
Indeed, the EU remains a block of many different nations that cooperate together for collective prosperity. But by no way does this mean we have become or need to be homogenous. It is for this reason that the governments of member states, the social partners, sectoral stakeholders and citizens at large should follow developments and actively contribute towards the EU legislative process to ensure these principles are reflected in the legislative outcomes.
But there is an equally urgent need to enshrine and solidify the collective cooperation to retain the EU’s relevance for citizens and businesses alike. The way the migration issue has been dealt with (at least, so far) showed that persistent non-cooperation can be possible in the EU. This has led to the lifting, albeit temporarily, of the Schengen agreement and the repercussions on mobility as well as the economy were immediately felt.
We cannot afford to let this sense of detachment from what ultimately is a collective European challenge to escalate and destabilise the general working harmony that exists within the European institutions in spite of the complexity of their working practices.
To keep the European project alive and strengthened, we need to focus on achieving the Commission action plans in the various policy areas, with completing the European Single Market taking the highest priority. Only in this way will businesses and the public at large start feeling that they are reaping benefits again and, consequently, provide the popular support and legitimacy for the EU project to move forward.
On the contrary, lack of Europe-wide solutions, such as how to share the burden of internal migrant-allocation fairly, will give rise to national sentiments that can eventually jeopardise the whole project.
For all these reasons, I believe the EU is at a crossroads. It can either give in to nationalistic and destructive pressures, based on emotional factors, or continue building a project that has generally brought about peace and prosperity.
I strongly believe we would be better off with the second option. The original pillars of the free movement of goods, services, capital and people are still the cornerstone of the European project. They are very basic principles but remain relevant and crucial for the EU to remain on the right path and secure a bright future.
As my term as MBB president is coming to an end, I wish to take this opportunity to welcome and wish all the best to my successor, John Vassallo, whose long experience in EU affairs will surely continue to add value to the Malta Business Bureau, which this year is celebrating 20 years of service to the business community in Malta.
president@mbb.org.mt
Mario Spiteri is president of the Malta Business Bureau.