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The meeting of European leaders, held on October 21 and 22, had migration, lack of energy and Polish Justice as topics of discussion. Although many remained in development, the president and head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, ruled that the Union will not finance anti-immigrant “barbed wire or fences”. Only the applause for the German Chancellor, who fulfilled 107 similar appointments, gave a truce between the partners.
A new meeting of the 27 European partners concluded this Friday, October 22. There were not a few issues to be discussed in a European Union directly affected by migration from Belarus and by an energy crisis that has threatened the stability of one of the leading European powers.
Just at the end of the meeting, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission – the executive body of the alliance – spoke on these two issues.
Faced with the migration issue, which for years has become the great Achilles heel of the bloc, the community leader assured that the budget of the member states will not be used to finance wire fences on the borders of the European community.
“I have made it clear that there is an understanding between the European Parliament and the Commission about not funding barbed wire or fences,” he said.
The migration crisis with Belarus, the main focus of discussion
Von der Leyen said this amid the tension generated by the migration crisis triggered in recent months by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s decision to let irregular migrants pass through his border to Lithuania, Poland and Latvia.
In this sense, the President of the Commission was also responding to a letter sent a few weeks ago in which twelve countries of the bloc asked the Union command to be able to use European funds to build “physical barriers” to prevent the entry of migrants to their territories.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke in favor of the Commission Presidency’s position, ensuring that physical borders would be useless, because most of the people fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle Orient usually arrive through the Mediterranean.
Von der Leyen also referred to the energy crisis that the bloc has been experiencing and indicated that mechanisms would be created to meet citizen needs in the short term, with plans to create new ways to avoid fuel shortages in the long term.
“First of all, in the short term, we have to support vulnerable consumers and highly exposed companies and Member States are already doing this, around 20 Member States have taken measures or announced actions. In the medium and long term, we will work In additional measures to increase resilience and independence, we have agreed to explore how to establish a strategic gas reserve, “he explained.
The judicial dispute with Poland, another axis of the meeting
Another issue that focused the attention of the summit was the current dispute between Poland and the European Union regarding Polish Justice, an issue that has been debated for months as a result of a judicial reform that the country’s conservative government is promoting and that Brussels considers that will undermine the division of powers in the nation.
The situation between both parties reached a new climax when days ago the Constitutional Court of the country determined some points of the European Justice as incompatible with the Constitution and indicated that Polish norms should prevail over European ones. Which directly attacks the bases of Community Justice, which stipulates that it must prevail over that of the Member States.
In this sense, the Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, defended before the rest of the countries of the bloc the decision of the Court of his country, as well as the attempts to reform the national Justice. “Poland, of course, has no problem with the rule of law, but some countries misunderstand our reforms,” he said.
The summit ended, however, without a consensus on how to react to the ruling of the Polish Constitutional Court. “We have a long way to go, which is a combination of dialogue, legal response and concrete actions to restore the independence of Justice,” Von der Leyen summed up at a final press conference.
Angela Merkel says goodbye to her last European summit
The event did not overlook the fact that German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will leave office by her own decision after 16 years in office, was at this summit by way of farewell after having attended 107 appointments of this type and having played a leadership role. unequaled within the European Union.
Although the undisputed leader did not leave without expressing her concern for the future of Europe. “We have a number of unresolved issues and my successor’s projects are important. One of them is the issue of the rule of law, but there is also the issue of migration, which we have not yet resolved among ourselves. This is an area in which which, of course, we are still vulnerable from the outside, “said the president.
Merkel leaves behind an indelible mark and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, made sure to recognize her by stating that a summit without her “is like Rome without the Vatican” or a “Paris without the Eiffel Tower”. The rest of the leaders rose to cheer her in applause.
“This was perhaps my last European Council. For me it was always a pleasure,” said Merkel from the press room in which since 2005 she has explained the conclusions of long meetings. Meetings in which he tirelessly advocated for the cohesion of the Union, even in the most difficult times in its history, such as the economic crisis of 2008 or the worst moment of the pandemic.
With AFP and EFE
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