In favour of a European Commonwealth

Andreas-Renatus Hartmann, responsible for foreign, security and defence policy in the EPP-ED Group (Christian Democrats) of the European Parliament, calls for a new direction in the EU's enlargement policy: "The most apt designation for the new project would be 'the European Commonwealth'. ... The European Commonwealth would have much in common with the EU, but a lower degree of integration regarding the transfer of sovereignty rights, the scope of its common policy areas and the influence of its common institutions. ... Nonetheless, the project could be attractive enough to make our neighbours want to be part of it. ... The time could come when even Russia feels attracted by the advantages of this new system. This would dispel the current rivalry between Moscow and EU countries in the same way that the creation of the European Economic Community dispelled the Franco-German rivalry 50 years ago. And later on, once the countries south of the Mediterranean have also joined the project, the European Commonwealth could move its headquarters to Istanbul, the geographical centre of the new political system which by that time would extend from the Arctic Circle to North Africa and from Reykjavik to Vladivostok."

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