ROME (Sputnik) — Foreign ministers from the European Union's six founding members are set to discuss the direction of the Europe's further development in Rome on January 19, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Sunday.
"On January 19, in Rome, foreign ministers of the six European Union founding countries will meet. We want to figure out the best way to move forward, with more unity, but also with more speed… The rigidity with which economic policy issues are sometimes dealt with, among others, are likely to jeopardize the European Union,” Gentiloni said in an interview with La Repubblica newspaper.
The Italian government supports the aims of "Europeanism," which, however, must be responsive to the citizens' aspirations, he added. Apparent contradictions of criteria applied to the South Stream and North Stream gas pipe projects as well as "incomprehensible" bureaucratic decisions on matters like migration regulation leave a lot to be desired in terms of an even application of rules, Gentiloni stressed.
Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands were the six countries comprising the European Coal and Steel Community, formed in 1951 and becoming the European Union's predecessor. Since then, the bloc gained 22 new members, many of them joining in 2004.
