'El mundo no se detendrá'

Declaración de 78 personalidades europeas tras el Brexit

The Brexit vote poses profound questions about the future of the European project. But the world will not stop while Europe works out its future; people will continue to want to come, enemies will continue to plot, civil wars will continue to kill.

Even as we fashion a response to the internal crisis of Europe, we must maintain Europe’s capacity to make an effective foreign policy and to protect Europe’s citizens. Ahead of today’s European Council, we call on European leaders to embrace some core principles moving forward:

Unity is the most essential source of Europe’s strength. In a time of heightened emotion, it is essential to avoid actions that sow division among member states. There are multiple institutional options for forging common European responses. But there can be no two classes of EU membership, where one group decides about the others. This will be the fastest way towards the unraveling of the EU. Forging an effective partnership with Britain on foreign and security policy will always be a core interest of the other European states. European foreign policy cannot be divorced from the needs and desires of the people of Europe. Any initiative for forging cooperation among European states must take their concerns seriously.

The following signatories endorse this statement in a personal capacity:

Joaquin Almunia, former Vice President of the European Commission

Kostas Bakoyannis, Governor of Central Greece

Juraj Bayer, CFO & Member of the Board, ZSE Energia

Erik Berglof, Director, Institute of Global Affairs, London School of Economics

Emma Bonino, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy; former European Commissioner

Stine Bosse, Chairman and Non-Executive Board Member; Adjunct Professor, Copenhagen Business School

Goran Buldioski, Director, Think Tank Fund (TTF); Director, Open Society Initiative For Europe (OSIFE)

Gunilla Carlsson, former Minister for International Development Cooperation, Sweden

Ian Clarkson, Chair, Brightfield Consulting

Lucinda Creighton, former European Affairs Minister, Ireland

Daniel Daianu, Professor of Economics, National School of Political and Administrative Studies, Bucharest

Kemal Dervis, Vice-President and Director of Global Economy and Development, Brookings Institution

Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, Director General and Permanent Representative, European Investment Bank

Andrew Duff, Visiting Fellow, European Policy Centre

Karin Forseke, Co-Chair, Sisters Capital

Jaime Gama, former Foreign Minister of Portugal

Jonas Gahr Støre, Leader of the Labour party; former Foreign Minister, Norway

Carlos Gaspar, Portuguese Institute of International Relations

Teresa Gouveia, former Foreign Minister of Portugal

Beatrice de Graaf, Professor of the History of International Relations and Global Governance, Utrecht University

Djema Grozdanova, Chair, Foreign Affairs Committee, National Assembly of Bulgaria

Antonio Guterres, former United Nations Commissioner for Refugees; former Prime Minister of Portugal

Istvan Gyarmati, Ambassador, International Centre for Democratic Transition

Heidi Hautala, Member of the European Parliament; former Minister for International Development, Finland

Connie Hedegaard, former European Commissioner for Climate Action

Diego Hidalgo, Co-founder of Spanish newspaper El País; Founder of Club de Madrid, CITpax and Founder and Honorary President of FRIDE

Anna Ibrisagic, Senior Partner, ESL & Network; former Member of the European Parliament

Jaakko Iloniemi, former Ambassador

Diana Janse, Senior Foreign Policy Advisor, Moderate Party

Mary Kaldor, Professor, London School of Economics

Ivailo Kalfin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour & Social Policy; former Foreign Minister

Claude Kandiyoti, CEO, Krest Real Estate Investments

Piia-Noora Kauppi, Managing Director, Federation of Finnish Financial Services

Roderich Kiesewetter, Member of the Bundestag

David Koranyi, Director, Eurasian Energy Future Initiative, Atlantic Council

Brigid Laffan, Director, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute

Pascal Lamy, Honorary President, Notre Europe; former Director-General of the WTO; former EU Commissioner

Mark Leonard, Director, European Council on Foreign Relations

Sonja Licht, President, Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence

Maria Livanos Cattaui, former Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce

Miguel Maduro, Professor and Director, Global Governance Programme at the European University Institute; former Minister

Cristina Manzano, Editor-in-chief, Esglobal

Joseph Mifsud, Director, London Academy of Diplomacy; Professor, University of Stirling

Hedvig Morvai, Executive Director, European Fund for the Balkans

Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Professor of Democracy Studies, Hertie School of Governance

Dietmar Nietan, Member of the Bundestag

Kalypso Nicolaidis, Professor of International Relations, University of Oxford

Christine Ockrent, Commentator and writer; Presenter of 'Affaires Internationales', France Culture Radio

Andrzej Olechowski, former Foreign Minister

Dick Oosting, CEO, European Council on Foreign Relations

Andres Ortega, Author & journalist; former Director of Policy Planning, Office of the Spanish Prime Minister

Marc Otte, Director General, Egmont Institute; former EU Special Representative to the Middle East Peace Process

Cem Özdemir, Member of the Bundestag

Zaneta Ozolina, Professor, University of Latvia;

Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz, Ambassador of Poland to the Russian Federation

Ruprecht Polenz, former Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Bundestag

Charles Powell, Director, Real Instituto Elcano

Andrew Puddephatt, Director, Global Partners & Associated Ltd.

Norbert Roettgen, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Bundestag

Albert Rohan, former Ambassador

Jan Royall, Member of the House of Lords

Adam Daniel Rotfeld, former Foreign Minister of Poland

Nicolò Russo Perez, International Affairs Programme, Compagnia di San Paolo

Wolfgang Schuessel, former Federal Chancellor of Austria

Narcis Serra, President, IBEI

Javier Solana, former EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy & Secretary-General of the Council of the EU; former Secretary General of NATO

George Soros, Founder and Chairman, Open Society Foundations

Andris Strazds, Advisor, Bank of Latvia

Ion Sturza, Founder & Chairman, Fribourg Capital

Hannes Swoboda, former President of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, European Parliament

Reka Szemerkenyi, Ambassador of Hungary to the United States

Anna Terron Cusi, President, InStrategies

Erkki Tuomioja, former Foreign Minister of Finland

Constantijn van Oranje, Chairman, Start-up Fest Europe; Director for Digital Diplomacy and Macro Strategy, Macro Advisory Partners

Jordi Vaquer, Director, Open Society Initiative for Europe

Andre Wilkens, Author

Stelios Zavvos, Founder and CEO of Zeus Capital Management, Chairman of the Board of Solidarity Now organization

Samuel Zbogar, EU Representative to Kosovo; former Foreign Minister