The serious economic crisis that shook a good part of Europe a decade ago, whose blows are still felt, convinced community leaders of the urgent need to rethink the European Union . Then, with the triumph at the polls of Brexit , in 2016, the unavoidable obligation to reinvent it was installed as a mantra. The time has passed. And London has even divorced Brussels, overcoming what looked like a dead end. But the EU remains the same, weaker if only to have a less powerful member. It has not adapted to the challenges to which it must respond today in a globalized world in which the axis of international governance turns towards latitudes that are increasingly distant from us.

This stiffening largely explains the great failure of the extraordinary European Council that has shown differences between the twenty-seven almost irreconcilable to approve the economic framework for the coming years (2021-2027). The leaders of each Member State have engaged in a discussion about misery - what is at stake is just over 1% of the continental GDP - which makes it clear that when it comes to money the Union is perceived only as a National market and interests blur a more global and far-reaching vision. The exit of the United Kingdom leaves the community club with about 10,000 million euros less per year. And the richest and not overcrowded countries are not in the job of increasing their contribution. Therefore, on the table there is a proposal for cuts in two areas: cohesion funds and the CAP , aid to an agricultural sector that, as seen in Spain, is more than suffocated for many reasons, including unequal competition with developing countries that have trade agreements with the same EU.

President Sánchez does not lack reason to call the Brussels budget proposal "highly disappointing." But it is, above all, unfair and crazy. Because, so much that there is talk of deepening integration , the EU intends to put the scissors in areas that result in the real convergence of the 500 million Europeans, wherever they live - from which those richest countries also benefit - while demands for example in environmental matters or in sustainability are increased , with a great added cost, or the urgency of devoting great resources to fields such as the digital revolution is raised. You want to do much more with less, the squaring of the impossible circle. And valuable time has been lost for the EU to seek new own resources, including community taxes.

All negotiations in Brussels are long and complex. The capacity of the most affected countries, including Spain, can be trusted to end up achieving a satisfactory budgetary agreement that meets the real needs of citizens. With the Eurosceptic ghost on the prowl, the EU plays its being or not being.

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