WHAT A FLAG OR LACK OF IT CAN TELL YOU ON THE FUTURE OF EUROPE

The symbolism behind Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen’s speech at Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate and the contents of her talk reveal daunting challenges for the future of the European integration process.

How much we can understand about the current status of European affairs from a flag or lack of it.

Last Friday I watched Mette Frederiksen, the progressive and dynamic Danish Prime Minister speaking at the virtual climate summit organized by the Biden administration.

The most glaring thing that I immediately noticed while the Prime Minister was speaking was the absence of the twelve-star “flag of Europe” that normally sides along the national flag when a head of government of a member state of the European Union speaks in an official program.

Yet I was not really surprised if you think a bit about the role Denmark has been carving out for itself in the European Union since its membership back in 1973.

After all Denmark plays a bit role of the United Kingdom when the latter was still a member of the EU or, put in another way, Denmark sometimes looks like more Norway, a non-member state pragmatically aligned with the EU on many fronts.

This is because Prime Minister Frederiksen’s nation enjoys of so many opt-outs that sometimes you wonder why the Danish people bother so much to stay within the Union.

Back on Mette Frederiksen’s speech what instead truly shocked me was the fact that in her entire speech she emphasized her eagerness to cooperate and partner with the United States to decarbonize the shipping industry as part of the Mission Innovation, a global initiative to promote and scale global clean energy solutions but at the same time she did say word about what her country is doing as part of the European Union.

I do not think the Prime Minister was just trying to be repetitive as other heads of government of the EU and the President of the European Commission had already spoken about their plans as part of Team Europe.

It was just a deliberate pitch highlighting how serious and innovative Denmark is about climate change.

All this is unquestionably true and it is undeniable that the Scandinavian nation did so much beyond what it has agreed as part of its membership to the EU and therefore was almost granted that the focus of Prime Minister Frederiksen’s intervention would have been on its own nation’s achievements and endeavors.

Yet not mentioning even once the word “Europe” or not even saying a single word about the new EU target of reducing by 55% its carbon emissions by 2030 that had been negotiated in Brussels just two days earlier, seems to be a total disregard of what it means to be a member of the European Union family.

It is even ironic given the fact that the European Commission is heavily involved in Mission Innovation but this lack of respect I would say is indicative of different attitudes and positions that exist within the EU.

Just few days ago while the rotating Presidency of Portugal, in light of the upcoming Porto Social Summit is trying to push ahead with a new groundbreaking social agenda aiming at further strengthening the European Social Pillar, 11 nations, included Denmark, expressed that “any EU initiative in these areas should be in line with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality and needs careful consideration of different national starting points, challenges and institutional set ups”.

Angela Markel, in a recent virtual debate within the European People Party, while sharing her support to amend the Treaty of the EU to include a stronger health dimension, a component now almost totally absent, warned that some countries, especially in the east, might not be willing to cede more national sovereignty to Brussels.

The lack of the EU flag on the back of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is symbolic of this division at the heart of Europe: on the one hand, a simple reality check clearly shows that there is no way that the continent can thrive without a deeper integration while on the other hand, there are nations like Denmark and several eastern member states that can simply thrive without more Europe.

Denmark is already a nation that can be considered a global trailblazer in matters of sustainability and climate action and it does not need the EU to foster its eco credentials but we should wonder how many more opt-outs will allow this Scandinavian nation to be happy staying within the EU or instead what it will take for Denmark to go the Norwegian’s way.

There is no doubt in the minds of many policy makers throughout Europe that we need to have a quantum leap in delegating more powers to a strengthened European Commission that would should end up resembling more and more like a central European government.

This does not mean disregarding the principles of subsidiarity and flexibility that were invoked by the 11 nations as brakes on any potentially audacious outcomes of the Porto Social Summit.

Yet we should not hide behind these concepts a desire to avoid the urgent need for a bold reform of the European Union able to give the much needed tools and resources that are now going to be more and more indispensable to guarantee sustainable economic progress and enhanced wellbeing for its citizens while safeguarding its core interests and values around the globe.

The creation of a Health Union, through a partial amendment to the Treaty, while important, it is not going to be enough.

Perhaps such reform will be the last achievement of the soon to be ended Markel’s era, a period marked by predictability and stability and recurrent crises’ management rather than long term visionary planning.

While as per now it is OK to have an head of state of a member of the EU not displaying on her back the “twelve gold stars in blue” nor showing any enthusiasm for the European project, the day will come in which countries like Denmark will have to make a defining choice rather than keeping on with the long standing tradition of negotiating hard for another opt-out.

Perhaps the only plausible opt-out will be their strategic exit from the European Union.

Let’s keep in mind that ambition requires also sacrifices and the acceptance that not everyone might be ready for them.