Fidesz MEP László Trócsányi called for urgent reform of the European Union and said it could not exist without robust member states, in an opinion piece published on the euronews.com portal on Wednesday.
Trócsányi , a former justice minister of Hungary, called for an in-depth debate on the future of the EU. “No convenient solution was found to combat the effects of the global financial and economic crisis of 2008. Then, the EU let its guard down in the face of the migration crisis and the rise in terrorist attacks,” and failed to prevent the United Kingdom, “the second-largest European economy [commanding] essential diplomatic and military power”, from leaving the bloc, Trócsányi said.
Trócsányi said the coronavirus pandemic had “exposed the fact that today, the EU does not work the way it was originally intended by the member states.”
The pandemic continues to pose challenges, Trócsányi said. “National economies need to be restarted, European enterprises need to be rendered more competitive, European economic sovereignty needs to be found and the security of European citizens assured, just to name a few things. Then, there is also the need for viable solutions to the current demographic challenge caused by the ageing of European societies…,” he said.
Trócsányi said the pandemic also offered an opportunity to break free from “the idea that led to the crises of the past decade and change our attitudes. It is not the European nations that need to serve Europe; on the contrary, the EU should exist to serve the interests of European nations.”
Featured photo via László Trócsányi’s Official Facebook Page
