Danko: Today's Summit Will Help EU Overcome Its Problems
Bratislava, October 7 (TASR) – Friday’s summit of EU parliamentary chairmen in Bratislava is a project that might help the EU overcome its problems, said Slovak Parliamentary Chairman Andrej Danko following the talks, adding that sometimes it’s worth it to be courageous.
“The courage to convene a summit in Bratislava in this non-standard unofficial format has paid off. We have found support from almost all EU countries. This meeting precedes the conference of European parliaments that Bratislava will host in April, which is expected to result in the declaration of a joint procedure of national parliaments,” said Danko.
In Danko’s words, parliamentary leaders managed to discuss the things they are unanimous in. “We named the problems that have been troubling us. Following a finger raised in the form of Brexit, we managed to discuss the things that caused Brexit and problems within the EU. We talked about where the boundary of national politics is and where that of European politics starts. We discussed how to improve procedures and rules of procedures of individual parliaments in order to increase control of procedures vis-a-vis the EU,” explained Danko.
Danko is positive that nobody questions that the EU is a good project. “The disruption of security caused great problems for the EU’s image. Therefore, it is important to talk about coast guards and to continue in projects like Schengen and the eurozone. We need to deal with how much the EU should enlarge and when there is a need to say ‘STOP’,” said Danko.
As the most important sentence of the summit, Danko mentioned the message of European Parliament President Martin Schulz that we need to realise that the emergence of the EU was preceded by harsh fights and discussions. “We are lucky that our generation no longer has problems like this. Therefore, we must do our utmost not to return to this history,” said Danko.
Asked about particular conclusions that have been formulated by parliamentary chairmen today, Danko said that very interesting things were said and that all the summit participants will report how Bratislava has taken its role in uniting countries and seeking new positions. “This was the most important outcome to me. The EU is seeking other forms of cooperation and communication to become a flexible project,” said Danko.
Danko admitted that if Friday’s informal summit had not taken place, nothing would have changed in common people’s lives. “However, it is a certain step, a kind of opening of doors. It’s not enough if parliamentary chairmen meet once a year. Hearts have been opened today, a dialogue has been launched and we’ve started to get to know each other,” stated Danko.
