Speech by President Donald Tusk at the Bruegel Annual Dinner

	Today President of the European Council Donald Tusk delivered the keynote speech of the dinner of the 10th Bruegel annual meeting. On being proud of Europe he said "I am very proud of Europe and really happy that I was born on this very continent… Surely the European Union is not the best of all possible worlds. But for sure it is the best of the existing ones, and in my view, the best among those that mankind has seen across the centuries." On solidarity: "Europe is the only place where the idea of solidarity is treated as a supreme political principle, or even more, as the main purpose of her existence. Today's disputes about how to apply solidarity in practice, especially in the context of refugees, show us that although we are not perfect, we address this idea with all seriousness." On day-dreaming and need for common sense: "In September 2005, the Union was in a deep political crisis after the rejection of the constitutional treaty by voters in France and the Netherlands… I believe that the European project had drifted too much towards political day-dreaming and too far away from real life."  "..we should use every possibility to improve and correct the current system. Most importantly we should try and apply the rules and principles existing today with greater determination and engagement. Following the current rules would help us to avoid the many problems of the Eurozone, as well as those resulting from the new migratory wave. Step-by-step action is a fine European tradition." He continued on the EMU: "..to improve our Economic and Monetary Union…three key elements require special attention. These are: a common European scheme to insure bank deposits, a true capital markets' union and a euro area system of competitiveness authorities "Legal advice is clear...We can introduce a common European deposit insurance scheme within the current EU treaties."  On migration: "Tonight, I am making a plea for pragmatism and moderation…the very same principles that should guide our response to the other challenge facing Europe: refugees" "The present wave of migration is not a one-time incident…which only means that we will have to deal with this problem for many years to come. Therefore it is so important to learn to live with it without blaming each other." "Compassion is one of the foundations of solidarity, but in order to be able to help others we ourselves must be pragmatic at the same time." He concluded his speech talking about unity & loyalty: "On every issue on today´s agenda: migration, the Greek crisis, war in Ukraine, terrorism, a potential Brexit; we take action, which — if only we are sufficiently loyal to one another and stand united — will bring about positive results. We will continue to live with the problems longer than we would like to — but this is not the reason to question our European principles."