Direct Speech, EU – Baltic States, Legislation

“The Brexit vote poses profound questions about the future of the European project. But the world will not stop while Europe works out its future; people will continue to want to come, enemies will continue to plot, civil wars will continue to kill.

Even as we fashion a response to the internal crisis of Europe, we must maintain Europe’s capacity to make an effective foreign policy and to protect Europe’s citizens. Ahead of today’s European Council, we call on European leaders to embrace some core principles moving forward:

·         Unity is the most essential source of Europe’s strength. In a time of heightened emotion, it is essential to avoid actions that sow division among member states. There are multiple institutional options for forging common European responses. But there can be no two classes of EU membership, where one group decides about the others. This will be the fastest way towards the unraveling of the EU.

·         Forging an effective partnership with Britain on foreign and security policy will always be a core interest of the other European states.

·         European foreign policy cannot be divorced from the needs and desires of the people of Europe.  Any initiative for forging cooperation among European states must take their concerns seriously.

The following signatories endorse this statement in a personal capacity:

1. Joaquin Almunia, former Vice President of the European Commission

2. Kostas Bakoyannis, Governor of Central Greece

3. Juraj Bayer, CFO & Member of the Board, ZSE Energia

4. Erik Berglof, Director, Institute of Global Affairs, London School of Economics

5. Emma Bonino, former Minister of Foreign Affairs; former European Commissioner

6. Stine Bosse, Chairman and Non-Executive Board Member; Adjunct Professor, Copenhagen Business School

7. Gunilla Carlsson, former Minister for International Development Cooperation, Sweden

8. Ian Clarkson, Chair, Brightfield Consulting 

9. Lucinda Creighton, former European Affairs Minister, Ireland

10. Daniel Daianu, Professor of Economics, National School of Political and Administrative Studies, Bucharest

11. Kemal Dervis, Vice-President and Director of Global Economy and Development, Brookings Institution

12. Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, Director General and Permanent Representative, European Investment Bank

13. Karin Forseke, Co-Chair, Sisters Capital

14. Jaime Gama, former Foreign Minister, Portugal

15. Jonas Gahr Støre, Leader of the Labour party; former Foreign Minister, Norway

16. Carlos Gaspar, Portuguese Institute of International Relations

17. Teresa Gouveia, former Foreign Minister, Portugal

18. Beatrice de Graaf, Professor of the History of International Relations and Global Governance, Utrecht University

19. Djema Grozdanova, Chair, Foreign Affairs Committee, National Assembly of Bulgaria

20. Istvan Gyarmati, Ambassador, International Centre for Democratic Transition

21. Heidi Hautala, Member of the European Parliament; former Minister for International Development, Finland

22. Connie Hedegaard, former European Commissioner for Climate Action

23. Diego Hidalgo, Co-founder of Spanish newspaper El País; Founder of Club de Madrid, CITpax and Founder and Honorary President of FRIDE

24. Anna Ibrisagic, Senior Partner, ESL & Network; former Member of the European Parliament

25. Jaakko Iloniemi, former Ambassador, Finland

26. Diana Janse, Senior Foreign Policy Advisor, Moderate Party, Sweden

27. Ivailo Kalfin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour & Social Policy; former Foreign Minister

28. Claude Kandiyoti, CEO, Krest Real Estate Investments

29. Piia-Noora Kauppi, Managing Director, Federation of Finnish Financial Services

30. Roderich Kiesewetter, Member of the Bundestag

31. Brigid Laffan, Director, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute

32. Pascal Lamy, Honorary President, Notre Europe; former Director-General of the WTO; former EU Commissioner

33. Mark Leonard, Director, European Council on Foreign Relations

34. Sonja Licht, President, Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence

35. Maria Livanos Cattaui, former Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce

36. Miguel Maduro, Professor and Director, Global Governance Programme at the European University Institute; former Minister, Portugal

37. Cristina Manzano, Editor-in-chief, Esglobal 

38. Hedvig Morvai, Executive Director, European Fund for the Balkans

39. Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Professor of Democracy Studies, Hertie School of Governance

40. Dietmar Nietan, Member of the Bundestag

41. Kalypso Nicolaidis, Professor of International Relations, University of Oxford

42. Christine Ockrent, Commentator and writer; Presenter of 'Affaires Internationales', France Culture Radio

43. Cem Özdemir, Member of the Bundestag

44. Andrzej Olechowski, former Foreign Minister, Poland

45. Dick Oosting, CEO, European Council on Foreign Relations

46. Andres Ortega, Author & journalist; former Director of Policy Planning, Office of the Spanish Prime Minister

47. Marc Otte, Director General, Egmont Institute; former EU Special Representative to the Middle East Peace Process

48. Zaneta Ozolina, Professor, University of Latvia;

49. Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz, Ambassador of Poland to the Russian Federation

50. Charles Powell, Director, Real Instituto Elcano

51. Andrew Puddephatt, Director, Global Partners & Associated Ltd.

52. Norbert Roettgen, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Bundestag

53. Adam Daniel Rotfeld, former Foreign Minister, Poland

54. George Soros, Founder and Chairman, Open Society Foundations

55. Andris Strazds, Advisor, Bank of Latvia

56. Ion Sturza, Founder & Chairman, Fribourg Capital

57. Hannes Swoboda, Former President of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, European Parliament

58. Reka Szemerkenyi, Ambassador of Hungary to the United States 

59. Erkki Tuomioja, former Foreign Minister, Finland

60. Constantijn van Oranje, Chairman, Start-up Fest Europe; Director for Digital Diplomacy and Macro Strategy, Macro Advisory Partners

61. Jordi Vaquer, Director, Open Society Initiative for Europe

62. Andre Wilkens, Author

63. Stelios Zavvos, Founder and CEO of Zeus Capital Management, Chairman of the Board of Solidarity Now organization

64. Samuel Zbogar, EU Representative to Kosovo; former Foreign Minister, Slovenia