European Union heads of state or government will meet in Rome, Italy tomorrow to commemorate 60 years since the signing of the Treaty of Rome, which o lay the foundations of the EU. The leaders are expected to adopt a declaration setting out a joint vision for the challenges for the Union in the short and medium term.
Security is tight in Rome in the day leading up to the event following the London terror attack on 22 March in which four people died and dozens were injured outside parliament buildings at Westminster. Italy's Interior Minister Marco Minniti on Thursday ordered increased security for this weekend's meeting of European Union leaders in Rome, a statement said.
Held under the theme of "Europe is Our Common Future," the Summit due to be attended by more than 40 heads of state and government as well as senior EU figures, is an effort by the 27 to chart a course for their future after Britain's shock June 2016 vote to leave the EU coupled with crises involving the economy and migration.
"It is no longer the time to imagine that we can all do the same thing together. I will argue for this in the days to come," President of EU Commission Jean-Claude Juncker has earlier said.
Italy’s Minister for European Union Affairs, Sandro Gozi, however, insists the focus of the summit will be elsewhere. "Brexit won’t be discussed, it won’t be an issue at all." "We’re going to sign a political declaration . . . an important affirmation of our unity, yes, but also an expression of our identification of new political objectives for the integration process such as common defence, social union, growth and investment with obvious reference to younger people," he said.
A draft declaration, which will be debated among the EU capitals, pledges more security cooperation between EU states and their defense industries, effective management of immigration and tight external borders. "In the 10 years to come we want a Union that is safe and secure, prosperous and sustainable, with an enhanced social dimension, and with the will and capacity of playing a key role in the global world," it says. 
It vows to promote global trade to develop the bloc's single market and promote jobs and innovation. The draft calls for "A social Europe: a Union which promotes economic and social progress as well as cohesion and convergence, taking into account the variety of social models and the key role of social partners..." "Europe is our common future," the last sentence of the declaration reads, an exact repeat of the final line of the EU text signed in Berlin in 2007 to mark 50 years of the bloc. The Rome draft declaration stresses the EU "external borders are secured" to prevent a repeat of irregular immigration.
 In 2016, 1 204 300 first time asylum seekers applied for international protection in the Member States of the EU a number slightly down compared with 2015 when 1 257 000 first time applicants were registered, according to Eurostat .

Source: QNA