EU lacks political unity, says former minister

Budapest, January 2 (MTI) – European Union member states lack political unity and the will to work together on solving the bloc’s problems, former foreign minister Peter Balazs told the Saturday edition of daily Nepszava.

Balazs said the EU had never faced a challenge as great as the ongoing refugee crisis and the main question is whether member states can reach a consensus on how to overcome it.

The former minister said the EU’s “strongest players” are the member states and their leaders, adding, however that the European Commission has taken on a larger role in the handling of the migration crisis.

The EC has been responsible both for drawing up courses of action in connection with the migrant crisis as well as their execution. Balazs said he had expected more from the Juncker-led EC “filled with former prime ministers and ministers” on its management of the crisis. He said the commission takes too long on its proposals, which ultimately “lack imagination and are not well thought out politically”.