Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Brexit won’t finish the EU, insist Merkel, Hollande and Renzi

It’s no surprise that Italy’s prime minister Matteo Renzi chose to host a press conference with Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande on an aircraft carrier; this was a piece of theatre designed to show the EU is fighting back. ‘Many thought the EU was finished after Brexit,’ said Renzi. Not so, he claimed. Instead, Britain’s decision to leave the EU was the chance to ‘write a future chapter’ and ‘relaunch the powerful ideas of unity and peace, freedom and dreams’, the Italian PM insisted. All very well, you might think, but what does that mean?

Defending the continent against the threat of Islamic terrorism was a key topic. Angela Merkel called for intelligence services across the continent to share more information to help fight extremism. So far, so sensible. But the meeting between the three leaders also offered up the possibility that plans for an EU army may be moving quickly over the coming months – catalysed by Brexit. Hollande himself said that he wanted ‘to ensure that there is greater co-ordination (with) extra.. forces’. Whilst the former head of the Italian army General Vincenzo Camporini has said that without the UK prevaricating, plans for a common European-wide defence policy can now roll forward. Many Brexiteers will be breathing a sigh of relief at what might have been.

The three leaders also pledged to fight economic inequality in the continent and it’s welcome news that they are finally talking about doing something to tackle youth unemployment across the EU. Across Europe, this stands at 18.6 per cent; in Spain and Italy, it’s 43 and 36 per cent respectively. It seems Europe’s leaders are waking up to tackling a worrying issue.

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