EU, THE TRAGEDY OF AFGHANISTAN

Reading Time: 2 minutes read

Europe must use the opportunity of the Conference on the Future of Europe to change and become able to take responsibility.

“The survival of the EU depends on its ability to adapt to external changes. In this respect, the tragedy in Afghanistan is a litmus test also for us”, says Sandro GOZI, President of the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and MEP for Renew Europe. “As Europeans”, continues GOZI, ” we have a duty to shoulder our responsibilities. We can choose whether to manage or suffer the migratory flows from Afghanistan, which in any case exist and will exist. If we choose to suffer them, without an effective policy to manage them, it will be a political and moral disaster. This is why we cannot afford to wait until all the countries agree to accept the refugees; we would only waste time, there will always be a few governments against. The time has come to take responsibility for deciding by majority vote, involving a group of countries and using EU funds. If we decide together it will be easy to manage the phenomenon, there will be no invasion. If we wait for unanimity we will remain prisoners of our impotence“.

“In this moment the EU”, continues GOZI, “is committed to the process of the Conference on the future of Europe, to discuss without taboos the changes needed to adapt Europe’s capacity to act to the challenges of the present day. It is clear that what is happening in Afghanistan should also make us reflect. The United States has been criticised, but NATO’s indecision and improvisation are also blatant. This means that we Europeans must become autonomous and acquire the ability to fight to protect our values and interests. The goal we must set ourselves is to build a European sovereignty, through a federal political union, proceeding with the states that believe in this project. Concretely, this means to share at European level some key competences in the economic and political fields, to create a federal budget, to build a real common foreign policy – starting from the ever-closer cooperation to prepare also in this field the federal transition – and to create an army of the European Union, to achieve a proper strategic autonomy in defence and security.”

“The Conference on the future of Europe”, GOZI concludes, “is an opportunity that we cannot risk missing, all the more so when a tragedy like this one of the Afghan people shows us the urgency to change in order to act and take control of the political processes. Our political future and our very civilisation are really at stake“.

Anna Echterhoff,
UEF Secretary General

Redazione Emmegi

[Corrispondenze da tutto il mondo / Geopolitica – Geo-economia]