Permanent structured cooperation at your fingertips
(B2 - exclusive) French President Emmanuel Macron's tour of Central Europe (Salzburg on Wednesday for a meeting in 'Austerlitz' format, Bucharest on Thursday and Varna on Friday) was strongly marked by the desire to reform the directive on the posting of workers and social dumping.
A display also necessary on the internal level, while a reform of labor law, a sensitive subject, is underway in France. But it also had issues, more discreet, and no less important: European cooperation in defense matters. The meeting with the Czech, Slovak and Austrian, then Romanian and Bulgarian leaders made it possible to achieve certain results, first of all in cooperation between defense companies (in Romania, read: Airbus and MBDA strengthen their ties with Romania. An integration for European defense) but also to set up permanent structured cooperation.
According to our own analysis, based on public statements and information collected by B2, the number of countries needed to trigger permanent structured cooperation is now close to the necessary threshold of qualified majority, or even above (with the benevolent neutrality of 'other countries).
This will allow you to move on to the next step. The European Quartet - made up of Emmanuel Macron (France), Angela Merkel (Germany), Paolo Gentiloni (Italy), Mariano Rajoy (Spain) - could thus soon take the next step: notify the High Representative of their intention to trigger this specific form of cooperation put in place by the Treaty of Lisbon.
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
Read also: The 19 principles of Permanent Structured Cooperation endorsed by at least eight countries. Details
