Future of Europe
In February 2012 Reding challenged her fellow European leaders to start working towards designing the future of the united European continent. In an article first published in the Wall Street Journal she called for a political union in Europe as a necessary step to transform the current European Union into a genuine economic, monetary and political Union. To be successful in this endeavour the European Union will have to engage with its citizens. This call led the European Commission to launch a public consultation on the rights of citizens and on the future of Europe as a starting point for a wider debate with citizens on strengthening the democratic and political nature of the European Union.
The Reding initiative led a group of foreign affairs ministers of the European Union to put together a reflection group animated by the German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle on the future of Europe. The plan presented by Viviane Reding also served as inspiration and guidance to the report prepared in June 2012 by Herman Van Rompuy, José Manuel Barroso, Jean Claude Juncker and Mario Draghi to the European Council on the need to develop the united European continent into a genuine Economic and Monetary Union.
In May 2012 Viviane Reding delivered a speech on the Future of Europe in Tallinn, Estonia at the XXV Congress of the Fédération Internationale du Droit Européen. On 12 September 2012 José Manuel Barroso delivered the State of the Union speech in Strasbourg, France taking up and elaborating on many of the ideas set out by Mrs Reding since early 2012.
Read more about this topic: Viviane Reding
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