Tusk: Considerations on End of West and EU Overblown

Bratislava, May 28 (TASR) – European Council President Donald Tusk, speaking as part of a panel entitled “European (Dis)Union” at the GLOBSEC conference in Bratislava on Sunday, rejected considerations that the fall of the West is allegedly taking place.

“These considerations are overblown, I can’t accept the notion of the end of the Western world and the EU. After the G7 meeting, it seems to me that I’m a bigger optimist than I had expected, mainly as far as US President Donald Trump is concerned,” said Tusk, adding that G7 leaders at the recent summit found some common ground, including regarding the agreement on climate change, even though this was missing Trump’s final decision.

“However, according to my impression, our cooperation, including Trans-Atlantic, will be easier than we had expected after the [US] election,” said Tusk.

Tusk then went on to draw attention to a recent statement made by France’s National Front leader and unsuccessful presidential candidate Marine Le Pen that her anti-EU rhetoric, including a proposal on pulling France out of the EU, was probably the biggest mistake of her presidential campaign.

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka on the panel said that he doesn’t want to see barriers emerge between the eurozone and EU-member countries that haven’t adopted the euro.

At the same time Sobotka concurred with his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico that the EU’s foundation treaties shouldn’t be revised, as Fico believes that these very documents provide scope for the EU to move forward.

Meanwhile, Sobotka maintains that the EU should focus on practical solutions aimed at boosting security, combating terrorism, stabilising its own neighbourhood, and supporting economic growth and technological changes in order to preserve its competitiveness.