The Cyprus Presidency of the EU Council due to begin on July 1 is to play a crucial role in the ‘big picture’ on discussions over the future of Europe, EU Commission Vice President, and Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding’s Head of Cabinet Martin Selmayr has said.
“Cyprus is extremely well prepared for the Presidency”, he says in an interview with CNA, adding that smaller countries don’t have so many people but they have very committed and very talented people.
“We see with great pleasure that at least in the field of the Justice portfolio we see an excellent preparation”, he notes, adding that “I hear the same from colleagues in the Commission so I think that at the technical level everything is prepared in an ideal manner”.
Replying to a question over his expectations of the Cyprus EU Presidency Selmayr speaks of the need for stability in Europe and of a vision for its future, which, if accomplished will be the Cypriot Presidency’s greatest achievement.
“I think the most important achievement of the Cyprus Presidency, one that we are all expecting and we all have to work for at this crucial moment in Europe’s history where Europe is at a crossroads is to stabilize Europe and to give a vision for where we will go in the future”, he stresses.
He further notes that “this is the big picture and I think on that the Cyprus Presidency will have to play a very crucial role that’s why I also hope that before the beginning of the CP issues that currently are being discussed in the Eurogroup regarding Cyprus can be solved and I am confident that this will be the case”.
Referring specifically to the Justice portfolio, he says that Cyprus will be called as early as July to complete a regulation which provides for recognition and enforcement of national civil court judgments in all other EU member states.
The reform of data protection legislation in the EU and the European Sales Contract are another two major issues in which progress is expected to be achieved during the Cyprus EU Council Presidency according to Selmayr.
They are part of the Justice for Growth Initiative and they aim to protect consumers and to ensure that businesses can do cross-border business better, more easily and with less cost.
Referring to the data protection reform, he notes that “the Cypriot Presidency has put enormous energy in making a lot of progress in this file because it is extremely important for the digital single market and for growth”.
“We see that today only 6% of consumers in the EU buy online from another country in the EU, here is an unexploited growth potential”, he says, adding that “the simplification of these rules is a very important step in this direction”.
Referring to the idea of a common European Sales Law, Selmayr explains that “the EU Commission wants to offer a very simple European Contract under which one can sell a product”, adding that “we want to give traders a choice”.
According to him more than ten years’ work has gone into preparatory work for this proposal.
Selmayr also speaks of the necessity of the banking union, expressing the Commission’s opinion that there needs to be in place a banking supervision with ‘teeth’ at the European level. The banking union, he stresses, is the logical consequence of having a common currency.
“Banks need to be prevented from making mistakes because they have a systemically important role in economy and in society”, he points out.
Reding’s Chief of Cabinet further expresses the point of view that things need to move towards a federal direction in the EU.
“Vice President Reding believes very strongly that we need to move to a federal situation in the European Union”, he says, adding that “banking union is just one instrument at the end of the day that has to be accompanied by a strong European government”.
Replying to a question about similar efforts in past that failed such as the European Constitution he puts forward the argument that “the crisis shows that the current system that we have built is not strong enough and Europe has always developed in crisis times and in times of historic change”.
“We are again in such a situation”, he says.
To make his point Selmayr recalls the Treaty of Maastricht in 1991, noting that “many delegations around the table said that ‘we cannot have only a single currency, we need a political union’, because the currency needs in the long run also a political backing”.
“At the time, and that is 20 years ago, there was no majority for this”, he says, adding that “today, 20 years later, we are wiser”.
He points out that “as the Treaties did not provide for political union we had to improvise”.
Every European Council in Brussels is a meeting that replaces for two days a European government, he notes, adding that this is not a very sustainable form of government.
“That is why we need to make this additional step”, he stresses.
At the same time Selmayr expresses the point of view that “huge progress has been made in the last two years in this form”. To this extent he mentions the European Solidarity Mechanism and the Fiscal Compact.
“All these rules had to be created in an improvised manner, in meetings, because in 1991 political union was not created”, he says, adding that “now we have a patchwork of innovations”.
We have to put all these elements together and give it the necessary democratic element, he notes, adding that “we have to take our citizens on board on these matters; we have to make sure that our citizens identify with all this”.
“You cannot identify with an ESM treaty or a fiscal compact, but you can identify with perhaps a democratically elected President of the European Commission who is representing Europe strongly in the world”, he says.