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EU's Juncker to bare white paper on Europe's future

Xinhua, March 1, 2017 Adjust font size:

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will present the white paper on the future of Europe to the European Parliament on Wednesday, his chief spokesperson announced on Tuesday.

"The white paper will give an opportunity to heads of state and government to start a period of reflection about the future of Europe and options which they have in order to ensure unity and cooperation between the 27 member states in the future," Juncker's chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas said at a daily news conference, referring to the post-Brexit EU.

Except for shoring up European solidarity, the detail of the white paper is not known until it's published Wednesday afternoon.

Leaders of EU members are due to discuss the white paper at a summit next week in Brussels. They will meet again in Italy on March 25 to mark the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, which founded the predecessor of the EU.

About three months after Britain's June referendum to leave the 28-nation bloc, Juncker in his State of the Union address pledged that "the commission will set out such a vision for the future in a White Paper in March 2017, in time for the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome."

This year is regarded as a crunch time for the EU, as several member states are set to hold general elections and euroskeptic leaders have upper hands in the Netherlands and France in the polls. Endit