“The biggest catastrophe that has ever hit us”: a European leader proposes an “intimate union” between 3 countries in the EU
Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever (left), along with his counterparts in Luxembourg and the Netherlands, Luc Frieden and Dick Schoof, at the March meeting in Benelux, photo: Virginie Lefour / Zuma Press / Profimedia Images
The division of the former Netherlands in the 16th century was “the largest catastrophe that has ever hit us,” said Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever, referring to his country, Holland and Luxembourg, reports to Libre.
A closer cooperation between the three countries is a “political objective necessary for our future,” he insisted, also asking for an “intimate union” between them.
He made comments on Thursday at the beginning of the Dutch Parliament session.
Bart de Wever has also mentioned article 350 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union, which offers the countries of Benelux – the Economic Union formed in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg – the opportunity to cooperate and do it already. “The possibilities are so huge and so crucial that we could turn” Article 350 “into a slogan,” he said.
According to the Belgian prime minister, a closeness between the 3 countries would be beneficial for their prosperity and the influence they can exercise in Europe.
He also stated that even the European Union must strengthen its cohesion, especially in the fields of intra -Community trade and migration policy.
“Our internal market is our main commercial destination,” he said. The head of the Belgian government urged the creation of a “more coherent” capital market and a common services market, for example in the fields of mobile and energy telephony.
The prime minister criticized the asylum system and family immigration from the countries outside the community block, stating that relatively few “citizens outside the EU” work. Instead, he pleaded for the “selective immigration of the labor”, including from the EU countries. “A new migration model will provide better opportunities for newcomers, whose talents and experience will contribute more to our prosperity,” he said.
Bart de Wever has also pleaded for the European Union to act in the direction of “strategic autonomy”, especially by concluding commercial agreements.
