President of European Council advocates for coordination, solidarity in EU

Europe faces the dual challenge of remaining credible while ensuring its own stability, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy said at a panel discussion Tuesday.

The panel, in addition to Van Rompuy, consisted of Renée Haferkamp, former director general of the European Commission; Peter Hall, a professor of European studies at Harvard; and Andrew Moravcsik, director of the European Union Program at the University.

Van Rompuy advocated for more coordination and solidarity between the various constituent members of the European Union while maintaining that each country is ultimately responsible for its own well-being.

When asked if the European Union countries which are better off should make fiscal transfers to weaker countries, Van Rompuysaid that they should. However, he added that each country is responsible for the reformation of its own economy.

He cited Germany as an example of these ideas, noting that while Germany had an unemployment rate equal to that of France before the financial crisis, its employment rate is now about half that of France. He added that Germany and its politicians, such as Chancellor Angela Merkel, keep themselves well-informed of European politics as a whole.

“Europe is still in the hearts and minds of Germany,” Van Rompuysaid.

He also noted that one advantage to fiscal crises is that they tend to induce further communication and unity among the various members of the European Union. His successor, he said, will face the difficult task of trying to coordinate this cooperation during a period when it will come about less naturally.

Van Rompuy explained that Europe is very much affected by wars and acts of extremism that are going on in Africa and the Middle East, noting as an example that extremists are related to drug trafficking that starts in South America and moves north before going through Europe. He added that the issue is not the religion of Islam itself but the perversion of it that is an issue.

“It is not a fight of the West against Islam but a clash of civilization against barbarism,” he said. “I see it more like that.”

The European Union also faces a structural economic problem, Van Rompuy said, explaining that an aging population and a growing lack of competitiveness are part of what’s causing the problem.

When asked about the ongoing discussions between Russia and Ukraine, Van Rompuy said that economic sanctions are the best way to bring Russia to the discussion table, as Ukraine does not have a large standing army. He added that Ukraine’s aim is not to hurt Russia but to ensure its own success as a nation.

“Our aim is to have a more free, open, democratic and prosperous Ukraine having good relations with Russia,” he explained.

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He added that while other European countries have let go of the grandeur they had when they were worldwide colonial powers, Russia still continues to harbor ambitions toward the power it had when it was still the Soviet Union and controlled several satellite states. Any attempt at destabilizing Ukraine, he said, is unacceptable.

“They need to learn that there is a new world and a new Russia,” he said.

Van Rompuy assumed his office as President of the European Council in 2009. Before then he served as theprime minister of Belgium before leaving to join the European Council. He began his political career in 1973 and is a member of Belgium’s Flemish Christian Democratic Party.

The panel discussion took place at 4:30 p.m. in Dodds Auditorium and was entitled “Europe: Continent in Crisis?”