As usual, President Juncker pronounced his speech about the State of the European Union in 2018 to the European Parliament and Commission.
Before anything else, he called for modesty and hard work from European servants as European Union still and will always needs their services whatever the results and pride a mandate can get from its work.
Many social aspects and commitments have been mentioned by President Juncker in his speech. First of all, European commitment on a sustainable growth has been mentioned as the trade agreements we signed respect food safety, worker's rights and environment European standards.
Migration is of course a major subject in Europe and Juncker emphasized the importance of keeping borders as it is while implementing migration regulation. However, every Member States needs to take its responsibilities in order for the European measures to be efficient.
The third major aspect is Africa. President Juncker proposed a new Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs between Europe and Africa. This continent represents the future as one fourth of the population will be African by 2030 so we need to build fair partnership with to not only guarantee development but build trade agreements, as equals.
Africa does not need charity, it needs true and fair partnerships. And Europe needs this partnership just as much.
President Juncker concluded his “last State of the Union speech” as he says by recalling how the social dimension of Europe is important, how he wishes to bring back together West and East of Europe and how patriotism should be embraced, instead of unhealthy nationalism. This last recall is important as the Presidency of the Council of Europe is now taken by Austria since July 2018 and Austrian government position concerning migration and Europe is sadly well known.
To love Europe, is to love its nations. To love your nation is to love Europe. Patriotism is a virtue. Unchecked nationalism is riddled with both poison and deceit.
To read the entire speech, click here.
