More Countries Could Follow UK Out of the EU, Says German Finance Ministry, as European Leaders Warn Radical Reform is Needed
- More Countries Could Follow UK Out of the EU, Says German Finance Ministry, as European Leaders Warn Radical Reform is Needed
by France, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Hungary could all follow Britain out of the European Union in a rash of anti-Brussels rebellions, according to a paper prepared by the German finance ministry.
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The warning came in a document obtained by German media as foreign ministers from the six EU founding member states met in Berlin to discuss how to shore up the ailing European project.
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It came as Emmanuel Macron, the French economy minister, joined calls for EU reform, urging a new road map for the bloc to be put to a pan-European referendum.
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“We’ve never had the courage to organise a true European referendum in its real sense. This next project must give it that strength,” he told a conference. “We would first build this new project with European peoples and then submit this new road map, this new project, to a referendum,” he said, adding that the idea was to have one single referendum across the bloc.
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The Brexit vote has unnerved mainstream politicians across Europe about the rise of anti-establishment parties, particularly in France, where the far-Right, eurosceptic National Front is increasingly popular.
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The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg conceded that they had to “find better ways of dealing with different levels” of commitment to closer European unity.
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While some countries want to strengthen political and economic convergence, many others are wary of relinquishing their sovereignty.
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“We are aware that discontent with the functioning of the EU as it is today is manifest in parts of our societies. We take this very seriously and are determined to make the EU work better for all our citizens,” they said in a statement.
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