Our Political Priorities 2023-2025

OBJECTIVE

• Establishment of a genuine European democratic sovereignty, directly linking citizens to EU institutions.

HOW TO DO IT

• Immediate launch of a Convention for Treaty reform under Article 48(2) TEU and in particular
  • Abolition of the national veto and unanimity in the Council.
  • Strengthening of the European Parliament: full legislative power, right of initiative, and oversight authority.
  • Transformation of the European Commission into a true European executive, with the President elected by the European Parliament.

WHAT WE ASK TO EACH INSTITUTIONS

The UEF calls the President of the European Council and the Heads of State and Government to take on their responsibilities at this crucial moment in the integration process and to convene a Convention for a substantive reform of the European Union a soon as possible. (1)

The UEF calls on the European Parliament to continue the battle begun in the previous parliamentary term for the opening of a Convention to reform the Treaties, to use its powers on the adoption of the budget to force the governments to take note of its request for Treaty change, and to bring to European Council before the European Court of Justice in case it continues to ignore the request of Treaty change in violation of the principle of loyal cooperation.

The UEF calls on Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen to link the political priorities highlighted by the Letta, Draghi Reports and Niinistö, commissioned by the same Commission, with the European Parliament's proposal for Treaties reform and the convening of the Convention.

In parallel, the UEF calls on those European governments aware of the need and urgency of strengthening Europe’s capability to act to take the lead and to start proposing concrete measures aimed at greater integration in the areas of the budget, foreign and defence policy, and industrial policy, that will be applicable as soon as possible (2)

1. Read UEF reiterates its commitment for EU Treaty change (6th April 2024)

2. Read the UEF Resolution on Building consensus for Treaty change (16th November 2024)

3. Read For a Federal Europe: the Urgency of Overcoming the Current Treaties (26th November 2023)

4. Watch:
   1. A big step towards a Federal Europe? Part 2 (EU Parliament proposal to reform the treaties)

WHAT IS A CONVENTION FOR TREATY REFORM?

A Convention is composed of representatives of the national Parliaments, the Heads of State or Government of the Member States, the European Parliament and the Commission. The European Central Bank shall also be consulted in the case of institutional changes in the monetary area. The Convention shall examine the proposals for amendments and shall adopt by consensus a recommendation to a conference of representatives of the governments of the Member States. 

The Convention is convened by the European Council, after consulting the European Parliament and the Commission,  and the EU Council adopts the decision with a simple majority in favour of examining the amendments for Treaty Reform. (1)

WHY DO WE NEED A CONVENTION?

There are two crucial reasons why we need to open a Convention to reform the Treaties, so apply the ordinary revision procedure of Article 48 (2-5):

1. the need to guarantee democratic participation. Not only the representatives of the European Parliament but also the national Parliaments can intervene in the content of the revision, making the text resulting from the Convention the product not of a mere intergovernmental negotiation, but of a process in which the representative body of the European citizens is also able to express its opinion.
2. simplified revision procedures are limited and cannot be used to expand EU powers and competences:
   1. Article 48 (6) - that avoid to open of a Convention - cannot extend the competences conferred on the Union in the Treaties so cannot gives more powers in the field of defence and external politices
   2. Article 48 (7) so called the passerelle clauses procedures, cannot apply to decisions in the fields of defense and the financing of the Union and would have no relevance for the strengthening of the mechanism of protection of the rule of law embodied in Article 7 TEU.

Read the Memorandum Why we need a Convention to change the Treaties

Watch the video A big step towards a Federal Europe? Part 3 (Why we need to reform the Treaties?)

NEW COMPETENCES FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION

These new competences brings the possibility of political autonomy for the Union and were also at the heart of the debate during the elaboration of the amendment proposals by the European Parliament.

• a) exclusive competences in the field of environmental policy and the protection of biodiversity - a very important step because environmental protection has cross-cutting applications over a vast number of other policies -;
• b) competing competences in energy, industry, civil protection, health and education;
• c) strengthening foreign and security policy through the extension of majority voting in the Council;
• d) creation of an initial basis of the Defense Union through the creation of military rapid intervention units under a single integrated command;
• e) extension of majority voting for the adoption of the decision on own resources and the Multiannual Financial Framework to enable the Union to become the master of its own budget, which can be used to pursue its objectives and influence the actions of the Member States through conditionality policies along the lines of the NGEU;
• f) introduction of majority voting in the Council to activate the flexibility clause under Article 352 of  TFEU in order to provide the Union with a subsidiary legal basis for the adoption of acts necessary for the pursuit of its objectives;

REDISTRIBUTION OF POWERS AMONG THE EU INSTITUTIONS:

• g) extension of the ordinary legislative procedure to the majority of decisions, whereby Parliament will permanently exercise the role of political co-decider of the Union alongside the Council, which will have to take decisions by majority vote;
• h) granting Parliament the power of legislative initiative and the right to initiate infringement proceedings before the Court of Justice if a Member State violates EU law;
• i) reform of the appointment procedure of the President of the Executive, who becomes 'President of the Union';
• l) selection of the President by the Parliament to be confirmed by a majority of the European Council;
• m) decrease in the number of members making up the Executive chosen on a political basis by the President himself, taking into account demographic and geographical balance;
• n) reform of the European Council, consisting only of the Heads of state or government and the President of the Union (i.e. the European Executive).
• o) overcoming with the unanimity of the European Council

MOTIVATIONS

The European Union faces a multiplicity of challenges in the fields of:

• Economics
• Social policies
• Environment
• Industrial policy
• Digitalization and AI
• Energy
• Health
• Education
• Foreign and security policy
• Real common Asylum and Migration policy
• Defense

The development of common policies in all these areas is necessary to promote inclusive societies and sustainable growth in Europe in order to maintain the European way of life and its standards. It is also necessary for the development of the strategic autonomy which is a core condition for the exercise of political sovereignty.

This includes, among many others, the ability to develop a public investment policy to support the reconversion of many manufacturing sectors, the expansion of research and innovation in strategic sectors, and to intervene in the territorial areas and segments of the population most affected by the transitions taking place. In the field of external action, they imply the capacity to create new partnerships starting with the Mediterranean and African countries, and to contribute to the creation of a wider space of security, exchange, and cooperation that reflects also the legitimate aspirations of the global South, and the emergence of new supranational international institutions that can foster constructive dialogue and cooperation, favoring international trade and sustainable growth.

All these policies need to be developed first at the European level, even if they can be articulated on different levels when necessary, whether national regional or local, according to the basic federalist principle of subsidiarity.

For this, it is necessary first of all to endow the EU with the power to autonomously find the resources to pursue them, to implement them when they have a European dimension, and thus with a democratic decision-making structure and an effective governance capacity.

ABOUT UNANIMITY IN THE EU COUNCIL

Unanimity in the Council still applies in many key areas of the European Union's competences, above all, in the field of foreign and security policy and defense, and in fiscal policy and financing of the Union.

This decision-making rule is neither efficient nor democratic, neither now nor in the perspective of an upcoming enlargement. The need to reach an agreement among 27 – and potentially more than 30 – representatives of democratically legitimized national governments, accountable to a national electorate, makes decisions a result of compromise at the lowest common denominator between conflicting national interests and risks paralyzing the decision-making capacity of the Union. The intergovernmental nature of the decision-making process, hence, does not allow for the emergence of a higher interest of European citizens embodied in the European Parliament. Moreover, it does not allow for quick decision-making, as unanimous compromise, by definition, arises from lengthy negotiations. Finally, a single state, representing even a small minority of European citizens, can prevent any decision.

For these reasons, not only should unanimity be overcome in all fields of the European Union's competences but the European Parliament should be fully involved in the decision-making process.

Read the UEF Manifesto 2023

Read the Memorandum Why we need a Convention to change the Treaties

• Full political, military, and logistical support for Ukraine; recognition of its territorial integrity.
• Promotion of a two-State solution in the Middle East with a federal framework for peace.
• Creation of a European Defence System with integrated command structures.
• Establishment of a shared EU intelligence service and cybersecurity capacity.
• Federal reform of EU foreign and security policy mechanisms to ensure efficiency, coherence and global credibility.

Read the Resolution TOWARDS A COMMON EUROPEAN POLICY IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN (2021)

Read the Resolution THE EU AS A GLOBAL ACTOR IN THE POST-COVID19 ERA: A STRONGER COMMON FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICY (2021)

Read the Statement The atrocities of the wars in Ukraine and Palestine remind us of the urgency of having a federal European government to be able to act on the international stage

Read the resolution On a victorious Ukraine in a Federal Europe

Read the appeal An Airlift to save Ukraine as in Berlin 1948

• Acceleration of accession processes for the Western Balkans, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.
• Reform of EU institutions to function effectively with 30+ Member States, including extension of qualified majority voting.
• Offering candidate countries participation in a strong, politically integrated European framework.

The brutal aggression against Ukraine by Russia has created the need for accelerating the new wave of Enlargement, first to the Western Balkan countries and Ukraine but also Moldova and Georgia.

The challenge of including a larger number of members on the basis of a new, much more, geopolitical-oriented and security-related vision implies the need to proceed in parallel with important institutional changes to make the decision-making mechanisms and structures of the European bodies adequate to ensure effective functioning with 35 or more members, without the risk of being paralyzed or weakened.

The European Union owes it first and foremost to the candidate countries - and once again first and foremost to Ukraine because of the tragedy it is experiencing - not to betray expectations with regard to EU membership and to offer participation in a solid project.

In this respect, the extension of the ordinary legislative procedure (which also implies the overcoming of unanimity and the right of veto) and the strengthening of the European Parliament and the European Commission, indicate the indispensable conditions for making the Union work and being able to build a structure on several concentric levels of integration around the nucleus of the countries that form a political union.

Read the UEF Manifesto 2023

• Reform of the Stability and Growth Pact to combine fiscal responsibility with decarbonisation and social cohesion.
• Establishment of a genuine EU fiscal capacity through own resources and permanent common debt issuance.
• Ambitious industrial strategy focused on green technology, digital innovation, raw materials, and SME support.
• Completion of the Single Market, especially in energy, finance, and services.

• Full implementation of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum by 2026 with strong human rights safeguards.
• Condemnation of extraterritorial asylum processing agreements that breach EU law and values.
• Promotion of migrant inclusion and long-term integration policies across Member States.

• Rejection of the normalization of internal border controls.
• Preservation of Schengen as a pillar of European integration, with effective EU-level border governance.

• Adoption of a uniform EU electoral law with transnational lists.
• Empowerment of the Court of Justice to oversee rule of law compliance and impose sanctions.
• Enhancement of citizens' participation through deeper institutional reforms responding to the CoFoE outcomes.