French Europe Minister Catherine Colonna said in a speech that the functioning and current state of the EU is 'worrying'. She said nobody can understand why the Europeans are unable to help one another in an organised fashion in fighting forest fires or in coordinating the evacuations of their nationals from Lebanon. She said the EU was suffering from general fatigue, and criticised the 'slow rhythm' of the EU's decision-making process. Colonna argued that the EU's problems derive from the fact that it has not sufficiently adapted to enlargement and globalisation, and said a fundamental leap is necessary to avoid the EU's collapse. In conclusion, she called for a bigger EU budget, saying, "we will not become a power by spending only 1% of GDP!". In response to her speech, an article in German paper Die Welt criticises Colonna's comment that the functioning and state of the EU are 'worrying', noting that it was the French who rejected the Constitution, watered down the services bill and blocked reforms of the CAP

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