This report entitled “Re-energising Europe: A package deal for the EU27 – Third new pact for Europe report” argues that the EU27 should have the political will and courage to agree on an ambitious but realistic win-win package deal to overcome existing political deadlocks on economic and social issues as well as migration and security challenges.
The deal seeks to strike a balance between competing ideologies on key issues facing the EU, putting forth proposals that balance economic responsibility with solidarity, security with solidarity, national sovereignty with integration and growth with cohesion. Moreover, the report proposes intra- and cross-dimensional compromises across policy areas, arguing that enlarging the negotiation agenda beyond one specific field helps balance different member state priorities and identifies where wider agreements can contribute to overcoming previously insurmountable red lines.
It should counter the danger of a more regressive, nationalistic, closed, illiberal and authoritarian Europe, the greatest challenge we are currently facing.After years of multiple crises, the EU27 should exploit the current political momentum and re-energise the European project. The EU27 must repair the fragmentation and distrust among member states, and between national capitals and Brussels. Europe should return to a win-win exercise from which all countries and citizens benefit. This report outlines in detail how to do so.This third NPE report is the culmination of five years of work reflecting more than 120 national and transnational debates throughout Europe.
While acknowledging that the actual outcome of negotiations among the EU27 would lead to a distinct result, the ambitions of this report are three-fold. First, it demonstrates that sketching a win-win package deal is possible. For each dimension, the report provides a rationale, basic objectives and concrete elements to be included in a bargain. Second, it hopes that by explicitly laying out such proposals, it can spark national and transnational political debates about the future of Europe, which is a central aspiration of the NPE project. Third, a deal that takes the various positions between and within EU countries into account can help to counter the current fragmentation among member states and the escalating polarisation of our societies, which is the fertile ground on which extremist and authoritarian populists thrive.
The full report can be downloaded from Re-energising Europe: A package deal for the EU27 – Third New Pact for Europe report
