“If President von der Leyen doesn’t get a vote of confidence in two weeks, Europe will be in turmoil.” This was emphasized by the vice-president of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, speaking last night at the Nisyros Dialogues, organized the previous two days, on the unspoiled island of the Dodecanese, by the “Georgios M. Michalos” Foundation, under the auspices of the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

“With two wars in our neighborhood, with geopolitical insecurities, with a thousand risks, the opening of a new European crisis of leadership of the European political system in the “heart” of the European political system will have significant implications for Europe,” said Mr. Schinas, answering a related question from journalist Athanasios Ellis.

Earlier, in his speech, taking stock of the previous five years, Mr. Schinas spoke about the lessons learned by Europe, pointing out – among other things – that this period marked the end of the era of innocence but also the importance of resilience. “We used to think we could forever buy cheap energy from Russia or import masks when needed from China. We were wrong,” he said characteristically, pointing out that the “electric shocks” that Europe has experienced led to its awakening but also to its maturation, highlighting the importance of open strategic autonomy and economic security.

In terms of resilience, he particularly focused on building a strong European Health Union triggered by Europe’s decision to buy vaccines on behalf of all member states, but also on the Pact on Migration and Asylum, in which agreement was reached after decades of failure.

Speaking about the priorities for the future, he emphasized the need for resilience and autonomy, especially in the areas of defense and the competitiveness of the European economy, but also in safeguarding international law, European values ​​and our way of life. “We should remain a beacon of reason, in a global context of uncertainty,” he stressed.

In the discussion with Athanasios Ellis, Mr. Schinas was also asked about whether the elite of Europe is also responsible for the rise of the extreme right in the recent European elections. “I do not believe that we are experiencing a tsunami of extreme right and populism, as predicted. We are living a new European Parliament, which will be more kaleidoscopic, will have more colors, more diversity, but a parliament in which there is a clear majority of political forces that want to take Europe forward” he replied.

He also commented that “many times we have a systematic nationalization of European successes and communalization of failures” even by pro-European governments, noting that a “de-Brusselsization of Europe” is needed.

As regards the image of Greece in Brussels, Mr. Schinas underlined that “the improvement of the country’s brand, which has to do with the economy and political stability, but also with the fact that for the first time time after decades, Europe does not become a field of division in the Greek public political debate”.

When asked if he would like to remain in the Commissioner’s position, he commented: “it’s a matter of a few days, a few weeks. It is of course not something that depends on me, the decision is in the hands of the Greek Prime Minister and things are rather simple: if he judges that it is useful to continue I will continue, if he judges that there should be another option I will not continue. I assure you that I have many things waiting for me.”

“Trump’s election will act as an accelerator of European integration”

Asked about the upcoming American elections and what we should expect or fear in case of Trump’s election, Mr. Schinas estimated that “Trump’s election will act as an accelerator of European integration and he explained: “I have no doubt that the election Trump will ring all the right bells to push Europe into a Europe of action – by analogy – of vaccines, the Recovery Fund and of course the demands there are: firstly defense and security and secondarily the competitiveness and resilience of the European economy . Europe cannot remain inactive in this eventuality. We have to arrange the affairs of our house.”

Regarding defense, he noted that “we will have to decide what we will do together” in the context of a common European defense and consider “how we will pay for it”. In particular, regarding the issue of the funds that will be needed, he noted that “we can find money, as we found it in vaccines or in the Recovery Fund” and pointed out that if today we Europeans spend a total of 400 billion euros a year on defense and we do not have a common defense, we can have two or three common defense initiatives with 80-100 billion.

Closing the Nisyros Dialogues, Mr. Schinas referred to the initiative highlighting its importance saying -among other things- that big issues should be discussed in small places, such as Nisyros, in history, its cultural and natural riches which he referred to extensively in his speech.