Eleven EU countries have called for more powers for the EU. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle headed the Future of Europe Group, which made the call in September. They want the European Commission – the EU’s executive – to have more powers. They want “a directly elected Commission President who appoints the members of his ‘European Government’ himself”, as well as a stronger European External Action Service.
Their report says, “In the long term, we should seek more majority decisions in the Common Foreign and Security Policy sphere...For some members of the Group this could eventually involve a European army.” This would mean Britain and France losing their seats on the UN Security Council, to be replaced by the EU, that is, by Germany.
The report says, “Strengthening the Economic and Monetary Union has absolute priority.” So they want “an integrated financial framework, an integrated budgetary framework, [and] an integrated economic policy framework”. They also want a European Border Police or, in the medium term, a European visa.
Some reforms will require changing EU treaties, with all 27 member states agreeing, so instead they want to speed up changes by requiring support just from a qualified majority. ■