“I believe that the European Union must reform its politics in a manner that becomes synonymous with the politics of solidarity, inclusion and effective participation”
On Wednesday, the President of Malta Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca participated in the first working session of the 12th Meeting of the Heads of State of the Arraiolos Group, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, entitled ‘How can we increase trust in the EU in a period of growing risks and an unstable international order?’
During her contribution, President Coleiro Preca noted that in order for people to increase their trust in the European Union, people need to feel connected to their politicians and their institutions. The President said that Europeans need to feel safe, cared for, and included, adding that ‘they need to feel that they have control over their future’, whilst Europe must give them effective participatory rights and a sense of wellbeing.
“I believe that in order to increase trust, European Union member states have to construct a shared vision which must be daring and ambitious enough to meet the challenges of our time, and the future.” President Coleiro Preca said that solidarity and inclusion must be upheld as fundamental values between Member States for this shared vision to be achieved.
“We must work together towards a common and focused action, for the good of all our citizens. The European Union’s answer to the current, multifaceted and complex challenges cannot be division and discord.”
The President said that the answer can be found in a radical vision of solidarity and inclusion that embraces all European citizens, whilst also mentioning that there is a need “for a shared European culture based on values of participative democracy, respect for human dignity, and socio-economic inclusion, which must be promoted, both nationally within our own individual states, as well as trans-nationally, among Member States.”
President Coleiro Preca said that she believes that the source of such a vision for our future ‘lives with our young people’, as it is the young people who are most capable of imagining change and renewal: “after all, it is their right to design their future, their Europe, and the world in which they would like to live and to lead. It is therefore imperative that we further enhance our investment in our youth.We must continue to encourage and also increase programmes of youth exchanges such as Erasmus+ and the European Voluntary Service.”
Lastly, the President emphasized that “the European Union is not– and cannot be—simply a union of nations. It is, above all else, a community of values: values which are to be upheld and safeguarded by its institutions, its leaders, and Member States, values which should be reflected in its policies and action, values which will ensure peace of mind, stability, inclusion and wellbeing for all our peoples.”