News of Europe | 16/2023

image 1 - UEF

Dear readers,

Just a couple of days after the UEF's Federal Committee meeting in Brussels, welcome to the latest edition of News of Europe. This time, we'll deviate from our usual review of the news on the continent and focus on the UEF's own activities.

Happy reading,

Back from the UEF Federal Committee.
The UEF held last weekend its Federal Committee meeting. Delegates from the sections of the UEF gathered to discuss the priorities for the coming months. 

The Federal Committee also voted on a resolution calling for strong support for the European Parliament's draft report on the amendment of the Treaties. Should the ongoing institutional revision attempt fail to materialise, the European Parliament should relaunch the process by affirming itself as a constituent assembly, the resolution says.

Finally, the Committee discussed ways for the UEF, its sections and federalists to get involved in support of the draft report and during the European elections. You can already see what the UEF has in store on our latest UEF Insider newsletter.

The delegates of the UEF Federal Committee meeting in Brussels on 21 October 2023

As some of you rightly pointed out, a mistake found its way into your last edition of the News of Europe. Last week, we presented Donald Tusk as the former president of the Council of Europe. Grave error: the leader of what was until last week the Polish opposition used to be the president of the European Council.

Let's use the occasion to draw your attention to the often ill-named European institutions.

  • The Council of Europe is not an EU institution. It is an international organisation whose role is to defend human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in Europe. Ukraine is a member of the Council of Europe, for instance.
  • The European Council, however, is the organ of the EU gathering the European head of state and governments. This institution defines the priorities of the EU. 
  • What is the Council of the European Union then? Also an institution of the EU, the Council of the EU—also known as "The Council" (confused already?)—is a co-legislator of the Union, alongside the European Commission or the European Parliament.

If all of this is confusing, then you're not alone. Maybe a Convention could decide to rename the Council of the EUas the European Senate—as suggested in several amendments to the draft report on the amendments of the treaties? That would be helpful, thank you!

Speaking of the Verhofstadt-Simon-Bischoff-Freund-Scholz draft report...

The text of the draft report on the amendments of the treaty—and related amendments will be put to a vote tomorrow in the European Parliament's Constitutional Affairs Committee (AFCO). You can watch the live stream from the European Parliament's website.

This is the last step for this important text before the plenary vote at the end of November.

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

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