UEF reiterates its commitment for EU Treaty change

The Federal Committee of the Union of European federalists (UEF), convened in Brussels on 6th April 2024,

RECALLS what stated in the "Manifesto for a Federal Europe" adopted by the Congress of UEF on the 26th of November 2023, in particular that:

• "[t]he reality we live in [..] clearly indicates the urgent need to build a common European sovereignty. In the world, we are witnessing the return of imperial powers, democracy is in the balance [..] and we are confronted with the challenge of climate change, wars, financial instability and uncontrolled people mobility; in this framework, the sovereignty of European states and their capacity for political action is more insignificant than ever";
• "[t]he brutal aggression against Ukraine by Russia has created the need for accelerating the new enlargement, first of all to the Western Balkan countries, Ukraine and also Moldova and Georgia. The challenge of including a further large 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 structure of the European bodies adequate to ensure effective functioning with 35 or more members, without the risk of being paralyzed or weakened";
• "in order to find effective ways of strengthening democracy and democratic participation at European level, the only possibility is to revise the current European political- institutional system introducing core fundamental reforms in order to set some federal mechanisms within the EU, making the direct relationship between citizens and European institutions effective [..] and thus realizing an institutional change that is constitutional in nature";

UNDERLINES that

• the heightening of tensions with Russia and the risk of a dramatic escalation of war are pushing European states and the European Union itself to intensify confrontation and efforts to understand how to strengthen Europe's autonomous defence capability;
• that in this framework the lack of a political union stands out dramatically. A true political union is an indispensable condition for an effective European foreign policy capable of overcoming in a superior framework the contrasts between different national visions and thus to lead to the creation of a European defence;
• in the current political institutional framework, we welcome progress technically starting from the strengthening of the military industry system and attention given to the possibility of enhancing military cooperation, in order to develop integrations in this sector; we also welcome the push for the creation of dedicated Eurobonds to be able to finance the necessary investments. But we strongly insist that these steps do not unravel the knot of the decision-making system and democratic political control both in the construction of common instruments and, above all, in their possible use; all the more so since, compared to the past, we are faced with an absolutely unprecedented dimension to the threat to our security as conceived in Europe in recent decades. The European Union needs a democratic and federal political-institutional framework to develop its foreign policy mission in an international framework that is changing so dramatically;

STRESSES that:

• European citizens have clearly requested, in the context of the Conference on the Future of Europe concluded on 9 May 2022, a leap forward in the integration process, which can be summarized in the demand for a Union that is more capable to act and closer to its citizens;
• the European Parliament has taken up this call for change and drafted an ambitious proposal for Union reform, based on which it has decided to activate the ordinary revision procedure of the Treaties under art. 48 TEU with a resolution adopted on 22 November 2023;
• under the Spanish presidency, the Council of Ministers forwarded the request of the European Parliament to amend the Treaties to the European Council on 11 December 2023;

STATING that

• in the context of the "Convention for Treaty Change" Campaign, the UEF is working to bring national governments and parliaments to support the initiation of a reform of the Treaties and to give a favorable opinion on the opening of the Convention requested by the European Parliament;
• for this purpose, the UEF sent a letter to the President of the Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, stressing the need for the Commission to take a clear position in favor of the opening of a Convention, and to the President the European Council, Michel, urging him "to include in the Agenda of the European Council meeting of 21-22 March 2024 the discussion on the EP request for the amendment of the Treaties";
• in the context of the "European Election 2024" Campaign the UEF aims at bringing national governments and parliaments to support the initiation of a reform of the Treaties and to give a favourable opinion on the opening of the Convention requested by the European Parliament; accordingly, the UEF will engage with candidates, and mobilise citizens and civil society to rally support for a federal Europe;
• for this purpose the UEF together with national sections and JEF sent a letter the Heads of State and Government in view of the European Council of 21-22 March of 2024 urging them to react to the request of Treaty change put forward by the European Parliament and vote on the opening of a Convention;

NOTICING THAT

• over the past few months all pro- European parties (EPP, PES, Greens, Renew) have clearly stated in their political programs and manifestos for the EU elections that they support a process of overall Treaty reform, including the opening of a Convention, with the aim of strengthening democracy and the ability of the Union to act;

OBSERVES WITH REGRET THAT:

• On 20 March 2024, the European Commission published a Communication on pre-enlargement reforms and policy reviews which, while acknowledging the urgent need for institutional transformation and further empowerment of the Union, it substantially ignores the request of the European Parliament for a Treaty change, by focusing only on options such as the activation of passerelle clauses and enhanced cooperation in some areas such as foreign policy;
• On 22 March 2024, the European Council recognized that “preparations for enlargement and internal reforms [need] to advance in parallel to ensure that both future Member States and the EU are ready at the time of accession”, but refused to discuss the proposal of Treaty reform advanced by the EP and postponed to an upcoming meeting the adoption of a roadmap for future work on these matters;

RECALLS the memorandum of UEF “Why we need a convention to change the Treaties”, explaining that

• “neither the simplified procedures of Article 48 (6) and (7) TEU, nor the accession procedure of Article 49 TEU would allow the introduction into the Treaties of the changes that are essential to equip the European Union with the necessary tools and powers that are needed”;
• these procedures “cannot be used in the fields in which a deep reform is most needed: foreign and security policy and defense [..]; the financing of the Union (in particular Art. 311 TFEU); the appointment of the members of the European Commission; the strengthening of the rule of law through the overcoming of the procedure of Article 7 TEU”;
• “ the [..] simplified revision procedures, nor Article 49 TEU provide [any form of] democratic participation. [The latters] would have [..] the sole purpose of circumventing the convening of a Convention (and thus of affecting the participation of the European Parliament in the process) and of emptying of their content the reform proposals that emerged from the Conference on the Future of Europe “;

HAVING ALSO REGARD

• to the resolution approved by the UEF FC on 21 October 2023 referring to the case governments reject the request of the European Parliament;

CALLS UEF SECTIONS:

• to keep up the pressure on the governments regarding the Convention by sending a second letter in view of the European Council at the end of June;
• to actively participate, in collaboration with the Presidency and the UEF Secretariat and in cooperation with the Association Jean Monnet and other partner organisations that wish to join the initiative, in the formation of a European network of personalities to help support and raise the profile in the political debate of the need for a thorough reform of the Treaties, through the launch of the Convention called for by the European Parliament;

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;
• the candidates at the upcoming EU elections to support the project of Treaty reform during the electoral campaign and in the next European Parliament, picking up the baton of the outgoing EP, and to put forward the requests of European citizens for a federal Europe, sovereign, social and democratic;
• the political families that supported the Report on the European Parliament's proposals to amend the Treaties to make it a condition, for the election of the new President of the European Commission, that she/he declares her/his support for the European Parliament's request to open a Convention (ex-Art. 48.2) for Treaty reform.