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– In Africa, the EU needs to grow its political and economic capital in the
region at an exponential rate, in accordance with the new approach
agreed at the G20 Summit in Hamburg in 2017 and followed up by the
African Union-EU Summit at Abidjan, and to view the region as a
source of opportunities, not problems.
– With regard to climate change, the EU must remain firm in its opposi-
tion to the Trump administration, and should continue to defend the
Paris Agreement, which is one of the greatest diplomatic achievements
of the EU’s history. Existing commitments need to be updated to take
the form of a strategy which permits states to implement the financial
commitments agreed in the framework of national plans to reduce
emissions of greenhouse gases; we need to consolidate alliances with
cities, states, regions and companies (particularly in the USA) and to
increase bilateral channels to influence Beijing to ensure that China
remains a party to the agreement.
7. Defence and security
– The EU must decisively develop the approaches set out in the strategy
approved in 2017, whose objectives include promoting the strategic
autonomy of the EU and establishing a general HQ, capable of plan-
ning both executive and non-executive civil and military missions.
– We must strengthen permanent structured cooperation (PESCO) and
the projects linked to it, designed to ensure the capacities of the EU in
both industrial and operational aspects.
– The competencies, composition and regulation of the European Com-
mittee of the Regions must be reviewed so that territorial and regional
entities have more influence on the decisions that affect them and are
able to represent their interests effectively at the EU without the need
requiring their own state.
– In post-Brexit Europe, the EU and the United Kingdom must sign a se-
curity and defence agreement in the form of an international treaty.
– We should aspire to build a European Security and Defence Union, with
an institutional status at the Council of Ministers of Defence.
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