News of Europe | 11/2023, SOTEU and Treaty change
Dear Federalists,
Welcome back to News of Europe. Our apologies for missing last week's publications. The UEF Secretariat was busy preparing an innovative activity on the occasion of the SOTEU (more below).
Nevertheless, your favourite European newsletter is back in your mailbox, so happy reading.
A most important day for Europe. Last Wednesday, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, complied with the traditional yearly State of the European Union address. While the speech did not present dramatically important new policies, the President of the European executive voiced her support for Treaty Change and rapid enlargement of Ukraine and the Western Balkans.
On this special occasion, the UEF organised a live commentary right after the speech, moderated by Yours Truly and EU influencer Quentin Deschandelliers, aka MEPassistant. We were accompanied by Domènec Ruiz Devesa, President of the UEF, and Sando Gozi, Chair of the Spinelli Group. You can watch the video on replay.
You can also read the UEF's press release for the occasion. Our message: our Union should reform to enlarge.
Our German section, Europa-Union, also commented on the SOTEU "The deepening of the EU is indispensable, it is not secondary, especially with a view to Europe's ability to act in foreign and security policy. Otherwise, member states will have to create a political union within an enlarged EU."
On the same day, the five rapporteurs of the European Parliament's Institutional Affairs Committee (AFCO) held a press conference to present their draft report for the amendment of the Treaties. This presentation prompted the UEF to issue a press release to thank the rapporteurs—all board members of the Spinelli Group—for their tremendous job. The report will be put to a vote at the AFCO committee before being presented to the Plenary in November.
A week before the European Commission's President State of the European Union speech, the European Civil Society, through the voice of the umbrella organisation Civil Society Europe, unveiled its own SOTEU report, a 100-page assessment of European civil society and matching recommendations in areas such as green and digital transition, migration, civil space. The report, to which the UEF contributed, features an entire chapter on a better European democracy, asking for EU institutional reforms.
In view of the upcoming regional and local elections, the UEF Greece (ΕΕνΟΕ) is organizing a Conference on Strengthening the EU’s Resilience to Future Challenges: Progress of the NextGenerationEU funding program - Cohesion policies - Regional Development on 19 September at the Institute of International Economic Relations, in Athens. View the event on YouTube. The conference will bring members of the Greek Government, former Ministers, Mayors, politicians, experts from academia, entrepreneurs and business executives, financial advisors, representatives of civil society, and the European Commission Representation in Greece.
All is forgiven. We learned last week that the United Kingdom will come back to the research program Horizon Europe and space program Copernicus. The agreement that was signed between the European Commission and the British government comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's attempts at warming up the relationship between the island and the continent. The UK will not join the atomic research program Euratom, however.
The European Commission proposed a new European legal status for NGOs. Under this proposal, organisations would be allowed to register under a European scheme, instead of registering in every country they work in, with as many regulatory systems. This would also allow organisations under political pressure in some countries to continue their activities freely. The European civil society at large hopes that this proposal will ensure the creation of a healthy European civic space.
The UEF and the UEF France are proud to announce the organisation of a conference on 9 December in Paris as part of our campaign for the European elections. This meeting will see political leaders and representatives of the Federalist family debate and present our ideas for a federal Europe, sovereign and democratic. You can already register here.
The UEF participated in the September Ventotene Federalist Training Seminar, an annual event involving Federalist, civil society, and local government organisations, in the place where the Ventotene Manifesto was created. You can read the report of the seminar here.
Thank you for your continuous readership. Let us know what you think of News of Europe at this link.
Federalist regards,
Alexandre Météreau
on behalf of the UEF Secretariat