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Why 'Superstate of Germany and France' is Bad Idea to Reform EU

© AP Photo / Virginia MayoEU flags flutter in the wind in back of a no entry street sign in front of EU headquarters in Brussels on Friday, June 24, 2016.
EU flags flutter in the wind in back of a no entry street sign in front of EU headquarters in Brussels on Friday, June 24, 2016. - Sputnik International
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Paris and Berlin have worked out a plan a to reform the European Union amid fears the bloc may start collapsing after the Brexit vote. In particular, the documents presume deepening integration between France and Germany. However, the bloc needs more sophisticated and deep structural reorganization, French lawmakers said.

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Germany and France have worked out a plan to reform the European Union, TVP Info reported on June 27. The channel obtained a copy of the document signed by the German and French foreign ministers.

The paper proposes a number of steps in the sphere of security including boosting defense capabilities, creating a European platform for intelligence cooperation, establishing European civil protection corps and harmonization of criminal law.

According to TVP Info, the document amounts to an ultimatum from Paris and Berlin to the other EU members.

"Our countries share a common destination and common set of values that provide us with a basis for an even closer alliance between our citizens. That is why we will strive for political alliance in Europe and invite more Europeans to participate in this arrangement," it read.

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The document may mean that members of a "superstate" would in practice have no right to their own army, to a separate criminal code or a separate tax system, and would not have their own currency, according to TVP Info.

"Member states would lose control over their own borders and procedures for admitting and relocating refugees," Radio Poland noted.

Despite the fact that France rebuffed the plan of a European superstate, such a project may be discussed among European leaders, an article on the Russian news website Svobodnaya Pressa read.

According to the article, one of the possible ways to create and manage such a union may be optimization of costs and governing mechanisms.

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Recently, during his visit to London, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed to consider the rotating presidency only of France and Germany in the eurozone.

However, French lawmakers of the Republicans center-right party led by Sarkozy are skeptical about his proposal.

Establishing a eurozone presidency or a eurozone chief treasurer is not the way to revive the economic bloc, Jacques Myard from the Republicans center-right party told Sputnik.

"The real problem is that euro is obsolete. The eurozone is a dystopia. The terms of such a monetary union cannot be equal for all members. For example, we have Germany, an industrial power, but also there are tourist countries like Portugal or Greece. This system should be dismantled, but without a system shock," Myard said.

The reform proposed by Sarkozy is unlikely to be supported by other EU members, especially small states such as Belgium, and Southern European countries like Italy and Spain, lawmaker Nicolas Dhuicq said.

"The future of the EU will depend on two main factors. First, it is the main EU institutions – the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the European Council. The limiting factor is the European Commission which does not account for anything to the people," he said.

The second factor is the vision of the future the EU would choose. The lawmaker added.

"As for me, I support rapprochement with Russia. I would like Europe spanning from the Atlantic to the Urals, like Charles de Gaulle wanted. This idea is opposite the vision of Europe limited to only France and Germany," Dhuicq said.

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