Bratislava process

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Bratislava Process was initiated by the heads of government of the EU at the Bratislava Summit in 2016 and is intended to drive the EU reform process forward.

Group photo of the European Council in front of Bratislava Castle as part of a summit meeting under the Slovak Presidency

background

After the British referendum ( United Kingdom and Gibraltar European Union membership referendum ), in which the majority of Britons for a withdrawal from the European Union had decided and the refugee crisis met the 27 Heads of State and Government on 16 September 2016 - excluding the UK - at the Bratislava Castle to an informal council summit. In preparation, individual heads of state and government, such as Donald Tusk and Angela Merkel , had already exchanged and consulted in small groups on the subject of refugees six weeks in advance . A “loyal cooperation and communication between member states and the EU institutions” should solve the problems of the EU, because the prospects for a continuation of the Union in its previous form were viewed by all those involved as questionable at the time, given the current events. A demand that the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in particular had made public in the run-up to the summit as a countermeasure to what he saw as a double-faced discourse. In general, the heads of state and government saw the EU in a crisis. In particular, they deplored the dwindling trust of citizens in Europe.

Content, goals and implementation

The meeting agreed on a final declaration, which was drafted in the lead by EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker . The so-called Bratislava timetable is also anchored in this. This should be implemented in Rome by the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome on March 25, 2017. The name of this timetable, probably based on the Bologna Process , came from the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico . The tight deadline of six months for implementing the declaration was relatively new. The most important contents were:

  • Migration and External Borders
  • Internal and external security
  • Economic and social development and young people

Specifically, the doubling of the EU Investment Fund ( EFSI ) proposed by the EU Commission should be decided by March 2017 to implement the goals . Implementation of this requirement was initiated in November 2016. The support fund for Africa should also be increased by 8 billion euros. For September 2016, 200 additional Frontex officers were to be deployed to the EU's external border in Bulgaria. The country also received 108 million euros in additional aid to secure external borders. The EU foreign affairs representative Federica Mogherini introduced stronger cooperation in the defense sector into the paper. The establishment of a joint EU military headquarters in Brussels, a joint EU fund for investments in the defense sector and the use of the already existing EU battle groups should be decided by June 2017. Donald Tusk in particular brought his key points (immigration, terrorism as well as economic and social security) with him in the form that the “unease” within the population on these points must be taken seriously by politicians. However, the paper leaves open what this consensus should look like. Only the requirement for an immigration system, called ETIAS , was specifically named and implemented. In the area of ​​youth unemployment, the European Solidarity Corps was announced by the Vice-President of the European Commission Kristalina Georgieva as part of the process on December 5, 2016 : People between 18 and 30 years of age can do volunteer work, do an internship or an apprenticeship or a job in hot spots stand up and “... support vulnerable communities as well as national and local structures in many areas, e. B. in the provision of food, clean-up actions in forests or the integration of refugees. "

During the spring European Council on 29 April 2017, the progress made in implementing the various single market strategies (digital single market, capital markets union and energy union) should be evaluated. However, the meeting focused on the UK's exit negotiations. According to the EU's assessment, the adopted timetable has also been implemented in the various sub-items. According to an interview with Steffen Kampeter , General Manager of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations, on Deutschlandfunk , the process was never really noticed, especially in the Federal Republic of Germany, and continues informally despite the clear time limit mentioned in the timetable.

criticism

In general, the approach to initiate a reform process was seen as a rather positive sign. In the area of ​​security policy, the Science and Politics Foundation comes to the conclusion that the implementation is essentially still very vague in some points. The elimination of a European refugee quota was also viewed critically in the media.

Web links

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The “Bratislava Process” - Setting the course for an EU-27. In: Konrad Adenauer Foundation. October 20, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Merkel: “We have to get better”. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . September 16, 2016, accessed May 11, 2017 .
  3. ↑ EU Commission wants to expand the investment fund. In: euractiv.de. November 29, 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Counter-terrorism: EU gets an entry system based on the US model. In: The time. November 16, 2016, accessed May 13, 2017 .
  5. ↑ European Commission gives the go-ahead for the European Solidarity Corps. In: European Commission. December 5, 2016, accessed May 13, 2017 .
  6. ^ Special session of the European Council. In: European Commission. April 29, 2017. Retrieved May 13, 2017 .
  7. ^ Report from Brussels. In: German Bundestag. May 1, 2017. Retrieved May 13, 2017 .
  8. ^ Emmanuel Macron: Kampeter "A positive signal for European politics and economy". In: Deutschlandfunk. May 11, 2017. Retrieved May 13, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Solidarity only out of self-interest. In: The time. September 16, 2016, accessed May 13, 2017 .
  10. ↑ The new white paper - a driving force behind security policy understanding? In: Science and Politics Foundation. October 1, 2016, accessed May 13, 2017 .
  11. ^ The Bratislava Trial. In: Frankfurter Rundschau. September 16, 2016, accessed May 13, 2017 .