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Merkel, Hollande plead for unity in face of EU crises

08 October 2015 00:55 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, in a rare joint address to the EU parliament, called for unity in Europe on Wednesday to tackle a series of crises that have shaken the bloc to its core, APA reports quoting .

Reprising a historic appearance by predecessors Helmut Kohl and Francois Mitterrand after the fall of the Berlin Wall, they spoke in broad terms of stepping up cooperation to control migration, strengthen the economy and the euro zone and confront challenges from Russia as well as from Islamic State.

But a tone of mutual congratulation for the reunification of Germany and embrace of ex-communist eastern Europe into the EU over a quarter century was marred by vocal Eurosceptics in the Strasbourg chamber, whose rise poses a threat to the Union -- and to the re-election prospects in 2017 of both the conservative German leader and her Socialist French counterpart.

"This is a test of historic proportions," Merkel said from a shared podium where she exchanged frequent smiles and occasional asides with Hollande during nearly two hours of debate that offered little in the way of concrete new policy statements.

Acknowledging this year's troubles in cutting a deal to bail out bankrupt Greece and bitter arguments, especially with eastern states fearful of immigration, she said finding a common approach on absorbing refugees would lead to economic benefits, adding: "The opportunities are greater than the risks".

Describing a "succession of crises", Hollande warned of a "total war" between sectarian rivals in the Middle East that would reach European territory without global efforts to end the conflict in Syria. And he took aim at his anti-EU opponents, saying a retreat behind national frontiers would weaken France.

"Each crisis raises fears ... Nothing is more vain than trying to take cover alone," he said. "There is no alternative to a strong Europe to guarantee our sovereignty."