PR | First General Meeting of the Action Committee for the USE: A more Secure and Perfect Union

Brussels, 18 October 2025

On the 70th anniversary of the founding of the First Action Committee by Jean Monnet, the first meeting of the Third Action Committee was held at the Maison Jean Monnet in Bazoches-Sur-Guyonne on 16-18 October 2025. With the participation of, among others, Josep Borrell, Mario Monti, Enrico Letta, Andrea Wechsler, Enrique Barón Crespo, Othmar Karas, Ana Palacio, Klaus Velle, and Domènec Ruiz Devesa. 

Seventy years ago, in 1955, Jean Monnet founded the Action Committee for the United States of Europe, a transnational political initiative that brought together leaders from national parties and trade unions to accelerate European integration. The Committee played a decisive role at the moment of the adoption of theTreaties of Rome, the accession of Britain to the European Communities, and the direct election of the European Parliament.  

In the 1980s, the Committee was revived under the impulse of Max Kohnstamm , Monnet’s direct collaborator in the first Committee. That second incarnation working closely with Jacques Delors contributed the Single European Act and the Maastricht Treaty, reaffirming the vision of a political Europe. 

The new Action Committee for the United States of Europe operates through the partnership established by the Union of European Federalists (UEF), the Association Jean Monnet, the Spinelli Group of the European Parliament, the Young European Federalists (JEF),and Civico Europa Network. 

In 2024, the Action Committee was relaunched with a new generation of European leaders and thinkers committed to completing the Union, starting  with the Declaration of 7 May 2024, followed by the Ventotene Declaration of 1 September 2024, the Memorandum on European Defence of 5 March 2025, and the Second Schuman Plan on 9 May 2025. Together, these texts set out a roadmap for a stronger, more sovereign, and more democratic Europe, rooted in the values and methods that guided the original Committee. 

The Final Declaration on a Roadmap to European Sovereignty adopted on 18 October calls among other things for the full implementation of the Letta and Draghi reports, the establishment of a European Common Defence, the  abolition of unanimity In decision-making, and the organisation of an interparliamentary assembly to reinvigorate the integration process. 

Some quotes from the participants: 

“The third Action Committee is aiming at developing a ‘collective Monnet’, composed pro-European personalities to foster a common vision for a stronger and federal Union” - Domenec Ruiz Devesa, Former MEP 2019-2024 and President of UEF 

“We should not take for granted the European project and be aware of the challenges we need to overcome. All pro-European forces need to fight together, starting by implementing the necessary institutional challenges to tackle the EU's challenges.” Fernando Mariano Sampedro Marcos, Spanish State Secretary for the European Union 

“European federalism is the most ambitious political project in mankind” — Mario Monti, Professor at University Bocconi, former Prime Minister of Italy, former European Commissioner and Member of the Senate of the Italian Republic. 

“The West as we knew it doesn’t exist anymore. As Europeans, we need to overcome our internal institutional competition, clarify and use the tools that we already have on the table to finally build our strategic autonomy.” — Josep Borrell, President of CIDOB, former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and former President of the European Parliament 

“We can criticise the functioning of the EU institutions, but we can not make the big mistake of delegitimising them. We should build the future together, constructively” — Enrico Letta, President of the Jacques Delors Institute and former Prime Minister of Italy 

“If we want a peaceful future, it must be federal” — Enrique Baron Crespo, former President of the European Parliament and President of UEF Spain 

“Unite the pro-European forces of Europe is a start. But Thinking of the states alone without the citizens won’t work” — Othmar Karas, Former First Vice President of the European Parliament 

"Times of crisis - and the 2020s are certainly one of them - often lead citizens and politicians to caution, not to innovation or deep reform. But we, as federalists, are here to challenge them and push them to act. Because these reforms are exactly what we need in moments like this, to move forward and progress together." — Christell Savall, President of Young European Federalists (JEF Europe) 

"We must be bold enough to acknowledge our failures: the threats we underestimated, the crises we allowed to grow. We must confront the nationalist and populist forces that seek to divide us and to put down what we have spent at least 70 years building. I do believe that hope, boldness, and courage must guide us to build a strong Europe with its citizens, for its citizens. I am confident this Action Committee will honour the legacy of those who came before us." — Mathilde Baudouin, Secretary General of the Union of European Federalists (UEF) 

Declaration A Roadmap to European Sovereignty LINK

All statements, documents, and activities of the Committee can be consulted on the website of the Union of European Federalists. LINK 

Pictures here by the photographer David Arous: Day 1 LINK, Day 2 LINK

Program, List of Participants and Background Paper LINK