The six founding members of the European Union have reiterated their commitment to “ever closer union”, even it means leaving less enthusiastic partners like Britain behind in a two-speed Europe.
London has demanded an opt-out from the “ever closer union” principle enshrined in the EU’s treaties as part of reforms it wants to agree before holding a referendum on its membership of the bloc.
At informal talks in Rome, the foreign ministers of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands issued a joint communique in which they admitted to being “concerned about the state of the European project”.
They said the EU was facing “very challenging times” due to the migration crisis and the threat posed by terrorism.
And they insisted that, for them, the answer lay in more, not less integration while also acknowledging that not every country in what is now a 28-member bloc should have to agree.
“We firmly believe that the European Union remains the best answer we have for today’s challenges and allows for different paths of integration,” the communique read.