UPN, Alm.del - 2016-17 - Bilag 319: Formanden for Det Europæiske Råds brev forud for uformelt topmøde i Tallinn 29.09.17

Det Udenrigspolitiske Nævn 2016-17
UPN Alm.del Bilag 319
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European Council

The President

Brussels, 21 September 2017

Dear colleagues,

Prime Minister Ratas has asked me to chair our dinner ahead of the Tallinn Digital Summit, which

is why I am writing to you.

On 29 June 2016, a few days after the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom, we decided to begin a

reflection on the future of a European Union of 27 Member States. The first meeting devoted to

this, in September 2016, resulted in the Bratislava roadmap. We agreed to focus our attention on

the issues of most immediate concern to our citizens: migration, security as well as economic and

social matters. We further developed this agenda in Malta and in Brussels this year, leading to the

Rome declaration, which outlined a more comprehensive vision for the years to come.

In parallel, we set out to deliver on this agenda also during our regular European Councils. We

managed to sort out several issues, which is why the situation in Europe is better today and we

can look to the future with more optimism. On migration, we focused first on the Eastern

Mediterranean Route, then the Central Mediterranean Route, regaining control of our external

borders and bringing down the number of irregular migrants and deaths at sea. On security, we

continued to strengthen our instruments against terrorism and made important progress on

European defence, including in cooperation with NATO. On the economic front we embarked on a

reorientation of our trade policy so that negative effects of globalisation are mitigated. We are

maintaining high ambitions in terms of market opening (trade agreements with Canada and Japan)

while strengthening the robustness of our response to unfair trading practices.

On each of these issues, we still have important and hard work ahead of us. We need to

consolidate our external migration policy, improve our capacity for returns and reach durable

solutions on a reformed asylum system. We must continue to strengthen European defence, in the

first instance by launching the Permanent Structured Cooperation in December. Equally, we need

to continue to improve our economic base, including through the digital single market (Tallinn

summit), while ensuring that it is socially balanced (Gothenburg summit in November).

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UPN, Alm.del - 2016-17 - Bilag 319: Formanden for Det Europæiske Råds brev forud for uformelt topmøde i Tallinn 29.09.17

We must also decide on the further development of the Euro. There is no silver bullet to complete

the Economic and Monetary Union once and for all. But I am convinced that we have the obligation

to improve the functioning of the EMU and strengthen it step by step. Our priority should be to

complete the Banking Union in line with the agreed roadmap so that the euro area is strengthened

structurally. This means that we have to prepare a common backstop to the Banking Union, to

advance further risk reduction and pave the way for a European deposit insurance scheme. We

should also enhance Europe's capacity to act, which could involve developing the ESM towards a

European Monetary Fund. A number of ideas on governance and budgetary resources specific to

the euro area have been introduced, on which much more discussion will be needed. In order to

advance this agenda I will call a Euro Summit in December in an inclusive format. Concrete

decisions on these issues should be taken at the European Council by June next year at the latest.

At the same time, we should continue to develop the international role of the Union, in our

neighbourhood as well as at the global level. In the October European Council I suggest that we

discuss our reaction to developments in relations with Turkey, and in May next year I propose, in

agreement with Prime Minister Borisov, that we gather in Bulgaria for a Western Balkans summit.

Trade will also remain an important priority for our work.

Looking beyond these immediate priorities, we have a big task in front of us when it comes to the

next multiannual EU budget. This discussion, which will shape our policies for the years to come,

will start in earnest once we have concluded the agreement on the UK's withdrawal. It will be an

important item on our agenda until we reach consensus in time for the entry of the new Multiannual

Financial Framework in 2021.

We cannot deal with, let alone decide on, all these questions in Tallinn. But I do think that this

meeting will be a good opportunity to discuss how we approach this debate, particularly given the

many interesting voices we have recently heard on substance, method as well as objectives. I will

be seeking your guidance with a view to deciding, after our discussion, how to organise the work of

the European Council in this respect. In order to ensure an open, frank and informal exchange on

these issues, there will be no texts on the table, and no written conclusions will be drawn from our

discussion.

Finally, we should all be aware that Brexit remains one of the main tasks for us. This will be the

subject of our next meeting at 27 in October, on the basis of Article 50.

Yours sincerely,

D. TUSK

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