X UEF European Congress

1. General political motion

The motion set out five priorities:

1. implementation of the European Monetary Fund and a real international role for the ECU;
2. an increase in the Community budget to at least 2.5 per cent of Community GDP;
3. political responsibility of the Commission before the European Parliament;
4. a common procedure for the second direct European election;
5. creation of a European oil agency and an effective common energy policy.

It also called for a stronger international role for the Community, an equal partnership with the United States, a multipolar world order, greater support for developing countries and a European initiative for a peaceful and just settlement in the Middle East.

2. JEF motion

The motion:

• recognised JEF’s political and cultural role;
• encouraged cooperation with environmental movements, migrant workers’ organisations and other transnational forces;
• regarded these movements as potential allies in democratising European institutions;
• called for close and permanent UEF-JEF cooperation;
• encouraged young federalists to assume greater organisational responsibility.

3. Austrian-Swiss resolution

Unanimously adopted, it called for:

• fuller use of the 1972 free-trade agreements between the Community and non-member European states;
• consultation while legislation was still being prepared;
• regular exchanges on political cooperation, agriculture, transport and research;
• a stronger role for the Council of Europe;
• closer cooperation between the European Parliament and the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly;
• improved relations between the European Commission and EFTA.

4. Programme of action

The Congress also adopted a programme intended to:

• establish permanent dialogue between European parliamentarians and citizens;
• promote genuine European political parties;
• build a parliamentary majority supporting the transfer of powers to the Community;
• transform the Community into a European federation;
• increase membership and improve activist training;
• turn local sections into permanent centres of debate and political initiative;
• give younger federalists greater responsibilities.

Resolution adopted by the new Federal Committee

A British urgent resolution was referred by the Congress to the incoming Federal Committee and adopted immediately after the plenary had closed. It concerned Afghanistan, foreign-policy coordination, agricultural surpluses, energy policy, British participation in the European Monetary System, budgetary redistribution and implementation of the European Foundation.

It should therefore be recorded as a resolution of the newly elected Federal Committee, not strictly as a resolution adopted by the Congress plenary.

Friday, 14 March

• 10.30-12.00: meeting of the outgoing Federal Committee.
• 12.30-14.30: working lunch with Members of the European Parliament on “The European Parliament and public opinion: the UEF’s contribution”.
• From 13.30: registration.
• 15.30-17.15: opening by Mario Albertini; addresses by Pflimlin, Friedrich and Vanni; opening speech by Alfred Kastler; Albertini’s political report.
• 17.30-18.30: adoption of the rules; organisational report by Caterina Chizzola; financial report by Max Wratschgo; approval of the accounts.
• 21.00: national delegation meetings.

Saturday, 15 March

• 9.00-12.15: working groups on the political programme and programme of action.
• 12.30-13.15: reception offered by Council of Europe Secretary-General Franz Karasek.
• 13.15-14.15: lunch at the Palais de l’Europe.
• 14.30-19.00: working-group reports and general debate.
• 19.00: elections.
• 20.00: common dinner at the Hotel Pax.

Sunday, 16 March

• 9.30-12.30: election results; statutory amendments; adoption of working-group documents; presentation, debate and adoption of resolutions; decision on the next Congress; closing address.
• 12.45-13.15: first meeting of the newly elected Federal Committee.

Albertini’s report argued that the bipolar international order was entering a period of crisis. Europe should help bring about a gradual transition to a multipolar system involving the European Community, China and the non-aligned countries alongside the established powers.

He warned that failure to develop an autonomous European initiative would result in passive alignment with the American “guiding power” and would deepen the international crisis.

A second central theme was the widening gap between culture and politics. Science and technology were already operating globally, whereas political institutions and means of action remained national. Federalism had to overcome this contradiction by extending democracy to international relations.

For Albertini, the federalists’ distinctive instrument was neither electoral power nor the representation of sectional interests, but ideas. Their task was to identify new historical needs before they became clear to conventional politics, give them a rigorous intellectual form and introduce them into public debate, even at the risk of being dismissed as utopian.

This led to four conclusions:

• European federation was a stage towards world federation;
• the European Parliament should become the driving force of a constituent process;
• the UEF should cooperate closely with JEF and emerging social movements;
• federalist cultural work had to be translated into sustained transnational political action.

The official programme records an organisational report by Caterina Chizzola, Secretary-General of the UEF, followed by debate. Neither UEF-0124 nor The Federalist preserves the full text.

Its context can be reconstructed only from the organisational decisions adopted by the Congress:

• strengthening national and local sections;
• increasing membership;
• improving practical and theoretical training;
• maintaining a permanent presence around the European Parliament;
• creating dialogue between parliamentarians and citizens;
• coordinating European and national federalist structures;
• giving young members greater responsibilities;
• turning local sections into centres of political debate and federalist initiative.

These are documented Congress outcomes, not quotations or a verbatim reconstruction of Chizzola’s speech.

UNION OF EUROPEAN FEDERALISTS

PRESS RELEASE

In order to strengthen democratic life within the European Community and to provide more effective support for the role and activities of the European Parliament, the Tenth Congress of the Union of European Federalists (UEF), held in Strasbourg from 14 to 16 March 1980, concluded its proceedings by adopting a resolution advocating the following priority steps towards European unification:

1. the creation of a European currency;
2. an increase in the Community budget to 2.5 per cent of the combined gross product of the member countries;
3. the granting to the European Community of genuine powers in the fields of economic and monetary policy, as well as foreign and defence policy;
4. the involvement of the European Parliament in the procedure for appointing the Commission and more effective parliamentary scrutiny of the Commission’s activities.

In particular, the Congress recognised the need to introduce a common energy policy as soon as possible, as an indispensable condition for the economic survival and social development of the European Community.

The UEF adopted a programme aimed at establishing a permanent dialogue between European parliamentarians and citizens, particularly in order to promote:

— the establishment of genuine European political parties;

— the formation of a majority within the European Parliament in favour of transferring powers from the member states to the Community, leading ultimately to its transformation into a European federation.

Brussels, 17 March 1980

Caterina CHIZZOLA
Secretary-General