“In Europe, you need to be not only an architect, but also a fireman” – Jacques Delor

The mandate of this European Union comes to an end on June 9, 2024. It begins in 2019 in a pre-pandemic and pre-war world with a lot of ambition and ends in a more uncertain, polarized world that leaves us uncertain about future events.

The European Union sought during this 4 and a half year mandate to ensure the continuity of the European project, to create a vision for the future and to be relevant. But as it is written in the Bible, man makes his plans, and God laughs.

Of course, the Union proposed a program with a number of innovative laws that will fundamentally change the European economy. The EU was the architect in this mandate, it came with the vision and the reforms, and I will talk about two big projects, but very often it was the fireman for the historical crises that happened or continue to happen. A fire engine for unprecedented crises that have fueled the fires of polarization and propaganda that will hopefully not burn European democracy at the next elections on June 9, 2024.

After 4 years of the Commission’s mandate, we can draw the line to analyze the balance of the European mandate that started in 2019, put to the test. In 2019-2023, the European Union has been tested more than ever. From the pandemic, inflation, the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, the risk of importing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Apart from these visible problems, anti-European propaganda, extremist ideologies, regression of the rule of law and corruption scandals have shaken European institutions.

The European Union as an architect

From a political point of view, these years have meant for the European Union a titanic effort to assert itself geopolitically through groundbreaking legislation in vast areas that is changing the paradigm of the single market in Europe.

1. Green transition thanks to the Environmental Pact, it is changing entire sectors and industries, our cities and regions from scratch. From water, soil, air to green spaces in cities, trams, buses, electric cars, waste recycling, to renewable energy sources, photovoltaic panels, heat pumps, thermal insulation and everything that means reducing emissions through the greenhouse gas effect. It is a transformation involving the economy and the largest market in the world, the EU market. In this mandate, this huge head start was given through legislation and European money, with the hope that the private sector would follow suit. And it happens.

2. Digital transition through large-scale investments in new technologies, in the digitalization of public administrations to improve services, increase transparency and better tax collection. At the same time, the European Union, which sees all these economic benefits of new technologies, has also seen the risks these technologies pose to human rights. That is why in this mandate, in addition to the first law in the world that creates a legal framework for the use of artificial intelligence, which creates obligations for large platforms to moderate their content online and by checking the digital market and complying with the requirements of the GAFAM competition rule against digital giants, from algorithms on which all SMEs also depend. 2023 was the year of the unfreezing of the use of artificial intelligence, thanks to the use of large LLM language models, we have achieved programs such as Chat GPT, which are already creating many useful but also dangerous programs in society, from misinformation, false images, discrimination to plagiarism. We have serious work to do to ensure respect for human dignity and human rights.

Beyond these two big regulatory platforms, the European Union, which doesn’t have the budget of the United States, doesn’t run an economy like China, doesn’t have the digital giants that champion the economy, has had to think about how it can better use its power to protect interests of the Union. This is sovereignty, independence and democracy. To do this, the Union uses a regulatory authority that extends to its market and to all those who want to enter the market and sell products or services, and extends both physically and online. I think we need a more serious perspective on European sovereignty without falling into the trap of protectionism.

The European Union as a firefighter

1. European money to save the economies of European countries. All this time, the Union had to juggle the pandemic, the energy crisis, inflation and the rise of extremists in the polls to think about the future of Europe. You would expect that after 4 years of mandates, hard work, massive policies and rescue plans like SURE, the money to be given to SME workers during the EU pandemic to supplement wages to avoid job losses and bankruptcies some companies. PNRR plan with legislative reforms and large investments to restore the economy during the pandemic, but to clean energy, insulated buildings, etc. Hundreds of billions of euros in support. In the coming years, Romania will receive more than 80 billion euros from PNRR, European funds, agricultural subsidies. It will make a difference if the money is absorbed and used wisely. Now we have good examples in Romania, those who do not know can learn from those who wanted and applied.

2. Wars and conflicts and the limits of EU foreign policy.Great interventions, like a fireman in these crises, when European solidarity helped Russia not yet win the war. He has been helping Ukraine throughout this invasion, which is contrary to international law, which violates any treaties that appear to be sovereignty, territorial integrity and human rights. Money to keep the Republic of Moldova afloat, money for African countries through the neighborhood policy, aid to Palestine. But EU interventions are limited by money and limited by money. The EU budget has limits, as evidenced by the fact that the 2024 proposal for 20 billion euros for Ukraine will only be discussed in January.

A firefighter who seems tired and who finds himself in the thick of propaganda, misinformation and who can’t seem to escape the clutches of extremist messages. All the construction and work, lots of money given to member countries, and yet the extremists are gaining ground. What is wrong in the Union? What do pro-European politicians fail to do? This is the paradox of the firefighter, the European Union.

During all these 4 and a half years, ideologies gained momentum because they used people’s emotions and fears in their discourses. They fueled panic and paranoia during the vaccine dossier pandemic, they fueled apocalyptic fears about the green and digital transition. And the European Union lost ground on these topics when it communicated with citizens and explained them. As long as the propaganda trumpets the apocalypse, and European leaders do not get closer to the citizens and do not make a reform that will increase the democratic legitimacy of the citizens, we risk taking over the leadership of Europe. institutions by political leaders who will turn European construction into a castle of playing cards.

Romania and the European Union

We will enter Schengen in 2024, we can see by air and by land. This is a step forward, but also many steps back in all these negotiations that were supposed to lead to normal accession. The long-term failure of this process is related to the political class. This is not to say that the current Romanian diplomacy does not deserve to be congratulated for the work done in Brussels for this significant progress. _ Read the rest of the article and comment on contributors.ro