EU: summit in Malta. Tusk, “without Europe, the states would lose their sovereignty, thus benefiting the superpowers”

(Brussels) The afternoon session of the informal European Council taking place in Malta today shall lead to reflect on the future of the EU, not least in the light of Brexit and the 60^th anniversary of the EU Treaties, signed in Rome on March 25^th 1957. In his letter on the future of Europe, sent to the 27 heads of state and government in the run-up to today’s summit, president Donald Tusk listed “three key threats that endanger the stability of Europe”. The first one is “the new geopolitical scenario: an increasingly resolute China, the aggressive policy of Russia towards Ukraine and the neighbouring countries, the wars, terror and anarchy in the Middle East and Africa, and the worrying statements of the new US government, are all factors that fill our future with uncertainty”. The second one concerns “the domestic dimension: the rise in nationalist and increasingly xenophobic feelings within the EU”. Third, “the attitude of the pro-European elites: less confidence in political integration, passive acceptance of populist ideologies”. “One should understand – Tusk states – without a shadow of a doubt that the disintegration of the European Union will not involve the reinstatement of a mythical, full sovereignty of the member states, but their real, effective dependence on the big superpowers: the United States, Russia and China. Only together can we be fully independent”.