2023: THE EU’S JOURNEY TO NOWHERE​

As the year 2023 draws to a close, the European Union leaves us with a feeling of having done many things, but without a fixed course or a clear idea of the destination of the journey we have undertaken. It is true that, in these last 365 days, the normality lost after the years of the pandemic and the outbreak of war in Ukraine has been partially recovered. But the reality is that beyond a few laws of great relevance, we are leaving 2023 without knowing what role we can play in this uncertain world, what project of principles and values we defend, or even what map for the future we will have. In short, much has been done in the European Institutions, but the outcome is far from clear. All this, with six months of Spanish presidency, weighed down by the internal situation of a general election and a long period of interim government.

WARS IN UKRAINE AND GAZA

Armed conflicts have continued to dominate the European agenda to a large extent. In Ukraine, close to the years of war, the front has not moved substantially, so that no negotiated solution is in sight to put an end to a conflict that is becoming more expensive for the EU every day. In any case, the unity of the European governments has not been broken in supporting Zelensky, although Orbán has systematically insisted on opposing the sending of aid to the Ukrainian people. However, we cannot ignore the fact that, although the agreement for the start of talks on Ukraine’s accession to the EU has been signed, the debate on the economic impact of the aid has turned the European Multiannual Financial Framework upside down. And where it has been impossible to reach a consensus and a minimum common position is with regard to the war in Gaza. The voices calling for a cease-fire in the face of Israel’s disproportionate reaction to the Hamas terrorist attack, with Spain, the EU High Representative and the United Nations at the forefront, have failed to convince Germany and the capitals most closely aligned with Berlin, which unwaveringly defend the reprisals of Netanyahu’s Executive.

IA LAW AND MIGRATION PACT

Almost as the bell rang for the Spanish presidency, two of the most complex European dossiers have been closed: the Artificial Intelligence regulation and the Asylum and Migration Pact. The AI law is a historic milestone, as it is the first to legislate on the use of a totally disruptive technology that is already changing our lives and that requires limits so that people’s rights prevail over intrusion and abuse. The migratory agreement is another matter, because, once again, we have to use the possibilist bungling to overcome the enormous difficulties that Meloni’s Italy has imposed in order to have a common migratory policy. With the new rule, finally a la carte, in such a way that each State decides how many migrants it takes in and pays for those it does not want to have in its country, we take a step forward, but we do not close the infernal loop of witnessing the tragedy of thousands of lives at our borders.

ENLARGEMENT AND BUDGETS, UNFINISHED BUSINESS

The debate on EU enlargement has crept into the 2023 agenda, as a kind of decoy to have to resolve the budgetary issue and governance in the Union’s decision-making. With the repertoire of unresolved problems that the 27 have today, with a complicated economic and social situation, with a gradual loss of purchasing power of the European middle classes and with sectors such as agriculture, mining and industry, on a war footing against the measures adopted for the ecological transition, talk of the incorporation of the Western Balkans, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia into the EU, is a trompe l’oeil. In fact, the main hot potato remaining for the first quarter of 2024 is none other than the budgetary issue. The 27 have to decide whether to maintain the €50 billion aid to Ukraine, which European items, projects and funds to reduce or whether the member states increase their contributions. But that will be after we have eaten our grapes and toasted the New Year.

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Jesús González Mateos, a Spanish journalist, is the President of EditoRed.

This article was originally published in Aquí Europa, with whose permission we reproduce it.