Mitchell: The more Europe, the better

on 12/09/2012 12:59:37

Fine Gael MEP Gay Mitchell said today that greater EU integration can only be a good step for Ireland.

"From Ireland's point of view, as a small member state in particular, the more Europe there is, the better," said the former presidential candidate.

"Because if we're depending on intergovernmentalism, we're depending on the good will of governments, then we're depending on the good will of big governments like Germany, France and Britain.

"And also, by 2050, which is coming at us fairly quickly, Europe will be about 6% of the world's population, and somebody said in parliament today that Germany and France wouldn't even qualify for membership of the G8.

"So we have to reorganise, and we have to do things more together."

MEPs in Strasbourg have been responding to the EU Commission President's calls this morning for a European federation of nation states.

During his State of the Union address to the European Parliament, Jose Manual Barroso said this federation would not be a "super" state, but a democratic federation of nation states that can tackle Europe's problems through the sharing of sovereignty.

While he did notdefine what exactly he meant by such a federation, he did say the European Commission would present its outline for the shape of the future EU before the next European Parliament elections in 2014.