Brussels, October 10, 2024 

The President of UEF Austria, Lukas Mandl, MEP EPP, will take over the rotating Presidency of the parliamentary intergroup. He was appointed yesterday by the Spinelli Group Board meeting in Strasbourg during the work of the first plenary in October.

As Lukas Mandl inherited the rotating presidency of the Spinelli Group from Sandro Gozi, MEP Renew, and former President of the UEF, the UEF stands beside his leadership and ensures him the support of all federalists.

The Spinelli Group and the UEF warmly thank Sandro Gozi for his chairmanship.
“It has been an honour to serve as Chair of the Spinelli Group for the past two years. Through our federalist network, we have undertaken a historic political fight for the reform and democratisation of the European Union, an effort that must persist in this new term. I extend my best wishes to the new Chair, Lukas Mandl, who will undoubtedly advance our mission to reform the Union and unify the continent.

In this European mandate, federalists play a crucial role in ensuring that EU institutions are responsive to the demands from the Conference on the Future of Europe. By driving treaty reform, we aim to create a more sovereign and democratic Europe.” Sandro Gozi.

The revision of the European Treaty has been a long-standing demand of the UEF. Lukas Mandl stressed the importance of making the Treaty reforms the focus of his work together with the Spinelli Group.

Lukas Mandl said: "Since I am heading the European Federalists as a President in Austria in my country, I feel obliged to contribute here. […] It means a lot to me that I can do it but I want to do it jointly with the other board members otherwise it will not work."

At the Spinelli Group Board meeting the participants were Petras Auštrevičius, Brando Benifei, Gabriel Bischoff, Vivien Costanzo, Nikolas Farantouris, Daniel Freund, Raquel García Hermida-van der Walle, Sandro Gozi, Benedetta Scuderi, Reinier Van Lanschot, and Ilaria Caria, UEF Secretary General.

Brussels, 7th October 2024

In the face of the tragedy of war, if the European Union wants to bring peace to the Middle East, it is time for it to open a Convention to reform the Treaties in order to have a common foreign and defense policy.

One year has passed since the day Hamas unleashed the most brutal aggression against defenseless Israeli citizens since the Yom Kippur War. On the part of the State of Israel, also on the basis of its legitimate right to self-defense, we are instead witnessing the fall into the demonic trap created by Hamas.

This never-ending tragedy of two peoples in one land is intertwined with the history of the peoples of the region and the processes of world politics, and becomes the subject and active part of a much wider, even global, power conflict. In these days when the whole world is holding its breath for fear of an escalation, with unpredictable outcomes, between Israel and Iran, and while the offensives in Gaza and now also in Lebanon continue, it is difficult to unravel the tangle. 

In this context, the United Nations is powerless. We live in a system where it is still the strength of the great powers that makes it possible to arrive at (sometimes having to impose) a diplomatic solution to conflicts, and creates the conditions for stability in the various areas of the world and for strengthening international organizations and cooperation. This system is in crisis and generates the escalation of the struggle for global hegemony and - as a cascade - in the different regions. 

The UEF cannot stress enough how weak the EU's voice is at this juncture, and how cacophonous the reaction of European states has been until now.

As HRVP Josep Borrell said in Ventotene on 1 September 2024, ‘If we are not united, we are irrelevant. In order to be relevant, we have to be united. And on this problem, we are not. Certainly, we have made progress on building a common and foreign policy. Certainly. But in order to do more, we have to be more united, and we have to have different ways of taking decisions. I don't see how Europe can work with unanimity rule'. He continues: ‘I know it's difficult. But the next generation of the Europeans will have to be more integrated, and more integrated means to be ready to accept decisions by qualified majority voting, not by unanimity, and is not a technicality, is at the core of what the European Union is, how it works and what it delivers.'

This is the reason why, if Europe really wants to contribute to the return of the possibility of peace, it must quickly equip itself with the decision-making and political mechanisms that will enable it to move on the international stage quickly and with a comprehensive common policy agenda, being represented by a true European government endowed with authority and autonomy in external action, generating a unique framework of European intervention that can influence global power relations.

The UEF considers the construction of a strong common foreign and security policy, together with a solid pillar of civil protection capacity, crucial for the future of European unity and global stability. That is why we support the launch of a Convention opening the revision of the Treaties to strengthen the EU and its institutions. 

RELATED LINKS

• Read the Speech by the High Representative Josep Borrell at the Seminar on Federalism in Europe and the world LINK HERE
• Resolution passed by the UEF Congress in November 2023 LINK HERE

The European Letter is back and it is dedicated to the Mario Draghi's Report.

Mario Draghi's Report on the Future of European Competitiveness analyses Europe's decline with irrefutable data, and identifies internal fragmentation as the primary reason for the EU's inability to advance the common European interest and to mobilise sufficient resources for innovation and economic development. The solution indicated by Draghi is to equip Europe with the political-institutional instruments to act united as often as necessary, on many interdependent political levels. For this it is indispensable to introduce the necessary institutional changes in the Union by reforming the Treaties.

The European Letter is published in 7 languages - from the edition 77 - under the auspices of the Luciano Bolis European Foundation in cooperation with the Union of European Federalists.

The European Letter is a periodical publication started in 1997 with the aim of stimulating political debate in national parliaments and governments, and in the European Parliament.

The European Letter 82 entitled "Draghi's Plan for Europe: To Be Competitive, the Union Must Be Reformed", is sent to parliamentarians in the following legislative bodies:

• European Parliament
• Bundestag
• Parliament of the French Republic
• Parliament of the Italian Republic
• Cortes generales (Spanish Parliament)
• Nationalrat (Austrian Parliament)
• Belgian Federal Parliament
• Hellenic Parliament
• Parlamentul României

Here the version avaiable:

• ENGLISH
• ITALIAN
• FRENCH
• GERMAN
• GREEK

Link to the Survey 2024 (October-November-December)

The Union of European Federalists counts on you to take part in the 2024 Annual Survey on the perception of the UEF, European federalism and and its’s priorities. This survey has been created in order to evaluate the impact of our work and orientate the future direction of our organisation and actions.

By sharing your insights, you will help us better understand how UEF’s mission, priorities, and initiatives are perceived and appreciated. Indeed, we need it for the continuous development of our strategy and activities, ensuring that we stay aligned with the aspirations of our members and supporters.

The survey, designed by the UEF Secretariat, covers key topics related to European federalism, our current focus areas, and future priorities.

By taking the survey, you already contribute to the development of our movement.

Join us in shaping the future of a resilient, strong, and more united Europe.

Click here to follow the project about this Survey, LINK HERE

We publish here the letter signed by the UEF President former MEP Domenec Ruiz Devesa sent today to the European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and EUCO President Charles Michel in view of the next EUCO meeting of the 17-18 October.

On 24th Ocotber the UEF Secretariat receved an answer from the Head of Cabinet Frederic Bernard.

GREEK VERSION

Brussels, 27th September 2024

Yesterday, the new board of the Spinelli Group sent a letter to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen to point out that the mission letters to the Commissioners-designate have made no reference to institutional reforms or the preparation to begin the Treaty reform process.

“Unfortunately, we regret to notice, that in your mission letters to the Commissioner-designates, no mention is made to institutional reforms or to the preparation of the Treaty change process, nor to the reform of the European electoral law, including the establishment of transnational lists.” 

As a transpartisan and pro-EU Integration network, the Spinelli Group expresses our deepest concern regarding these missing elements. In the words of the President of the Spinelli Group, Sandro Gozi:

"As President of the Spinelli Group, I promoted this letter. We want to say it very clearly to Ursula Von der Leyen: respect your commitment to treaty revisions. Reform the Union to unify Europe!"

Two years have passed since the end of the Conference on the Future of Europe, where citizens gave a clear mandate for EU Treaty reform. Additionally, it has been nearly a year since the European Parliament voted last November to call a Convention as a condition sine qua non to reform the Treaties.

Yet despite all this time and her candidacy relying on the votes of pro-European forces, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has not taken any actions to implement or begin discussions on institutional reforms, treaty changes, or reforms to European electoral law. The board of the Spinelli Group once again calls for the European Commission to be proactive in advocating for treaty reform, given its crucial role in playing the preliminary phases of the Treaty reform process (as seen in Article 48 of TEU).

This inaction comes at a difficult time for the European Union, given the flashing red lights coming from the EU economy and the growing electoral popularity of Eurosceptics who would tear down this union. As the Draghi report has shown, reform of the EU’s governance is needed to face the challenges of the moment, to improve its competitiveness, and to prepare for future enlargement. Inaction during this time of vulnerability within the EU is unacceptable given the breakdown of the rules-based international order and the return of war on the continent, the European Commission must step up and do more. For these reasons, the Spinelli Group fully intends to hold the Commissioner-designate accountable during their evaluation hearings to ensure that treaty reform is not forgotten. 

The signatories of the letter are the new member of the Board of the Spinelli Group, the MEPs Sandro Gozi (Renew Europe, France),  Raquel García Hermida-Van Der Walle (Renew Europe, Netherlands), Markus Ferber (EPP, Germany),  Brando Benifei (S&D, Italy),  Vivien Costanzo (S&D, Germany), Reinier Van Lanschot (Greens/EFA, Netherlands), Gabriele Bischoff (S&D, Germany), Petras Austrevicius (Renew Europe, Lithuania), Daniel Freund, (Greens/EFA, Germany), Klara Dobrev (S&D, Hungary),  Nikolaos Farantouris (The Left, Greece) and Domènec Ruiz Devesa (ex officio member, former MEP, President of the Union of European Federalists).

We re-publish here the article published in the Greek national newspaper TO BHMA, by MEP Nikolas Farantouris who has just been appointed as a member of the Board of the Spinelli Group for The Left component, on 19 September at the first meeting of the Spinelli Group in Strasbourg.

TRANSLATION IN ENGLISH

"I believe in a Left that does not indulge in introspection, internal conflicts, divisions and dogmatism", said SYRIZA MEP Nicolas Farantouris.

SYRIZA MEP and LEFT member Nicolas Farantouris was elected member of the Spinelli Group's Board of Directors. On Wednesday 18/9 on the sidelines of the Plenary Session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the Spinelli Group Board was constituted and held its first meeting.

In a statement from Strasbourg, Nicolas Faradouris stressed: "I feel great pleasure and honour as a Greek and European citizen, but also as the only MEP of the Left who participates in the Spinelli Group's Board. The legacy of Altiero Spinelli is the 'Left that gives birth', which steps forward with a vision for future generations, which embraces, which does not indulge in introspection, internal contradictions, divisions and dogmatism. I believe in this Left as a bulwark against the extreme right, for Europe and for Greece and for a new beginning of the process of European integration."

The Spinelli Group and federalism

The federalism movement or federalism is the political theory that advocates the federalization of the political and social organization of Europe. On 1 September 2024, on the initiative of the Spinelli Group, the Declaration on the revision of the Treaties was signed on the island of Ventone in Italy, where in 1941 Altiero Spinelli, imprisoned by the fascist Mussolini regime, wrote the "Manifesto for a free and united Europe".

After the end of the war Spinelli was actively involved in the creation of the European Union along with other pioneers of European integration, Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet.

Nicolas Faradouris is also a member of the European Parliament's Committees on Budgets, Environment, Public Health and Constitutional Affairs (Co-ordinator).

ORIGINAL IN GREECE

«Πιστεύω στην Αριστερά που δεν αναλίσκεται σε ενδοστρέφεια, εσωτερικές αντεγκλήσεις, διχασμούς και δογματισμούς» δήλωσε ο ευρωβουλευτής του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ, Νικόλας Φαραντούρης.

Μέλος του Διοικητικού Συμβουλίου του Spinelli Group εξελέγη ο ευρωβουλευτής του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ και μέλος του LEFT Νικόλας Φαραντούρης. Την Τετάρτη 18/9 στο περιθώριο της Ολομέλειας του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου στο Στρασβούργο το ΔΣ του Spinelli Group συστήθηκε σε σώμα και πραγματοποίησε την πρώτη συνεδρίαση του.

Σε δηλώσεις του από το Στρασβούργο ο Νικόλας Φαραντούρης τόνισε: «Αισθάνομαι μεγάλη χαρά και τιμή ως Έλληνας και Ευρωπαίος πολίτης, αλλά και ως ο μόνος ευρωβουλευτής της Αριστεράς που συμμετέχει στο ΔΣ του Spinell Group. Η παρακαταθήκη του Αltiero Spinelli είναι η ‘Αριστερά που γεννά’, που μπαίνει μπροστά με όραμα για τις επόμενες γενιές, που αγκαλιάζει, που δεν αναλίσκεται σε ενδοστρέφεια, εσωτερικές αντεγκλήσεις, διχασμούς και δογματισμούς. Σε αυτήν την Αριστερά πιστεύω ως ανάχωμα στην ακροδεξιά, για την Ευρώπη και για την Ελλάδα και για ένα νέο ξεκίνημα της διαδικασίας ευρωπαϊκής ολοκλήρωσης».

To Spinelli Group και o φεντεραλισμός

Το φεντεραλιστικό κίνημα ή φεντεραλισμός είναι η πολιτική θεωρία που υποστηρίζει την ομοσπονδοποίηση της πολιτικής και κοινωνικής οργάνωσης της Ευρώπης. Την 1η Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 με πρωτοβουλία του Spinelli Group υπογράφηκε η Διακήρυξη για την αναθεώρηση των Συνθηκών στη νήσο Βεντοτένε της Ιταλίας, εκεί όπου το 1941 ο Altiero Spinelli συνέγραψε, φυλακισμένος απ’ το φασιστικό καθεστώς Μουσολίνι, το «Μανιφέστο για μια Ευρώπη ελεύθερη και ενωμένη».

Μετά το τέλος του πολέμου ο Spinelli συμμετείχε ενεργά στη δημιουργία της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης μαζί με άλλους πρωτεργάτες της ευρωπαϊκής ολοκλήρωσης, τον Robert Schuman και τον Jean Monnet.

O Νικόλας Φαραντούρης είναι επίσης μέλος των Επιτροπών Προϋπολογισμών, Περιβάλλοντος, Δημόσιας Υγείας και Συνταγματικών Υποθέσεων (Συντονιστής) του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου.

On 18 September 2024, the first board of the Spinelli Group convened in Strasbourg (France).

There is enthusiasm and determination in the next steps to be taken in close cooperation with the Union of European Federalists, outside and inside the European institutions.

The priority will certainly be to catch the baton of the previous legislature in relaunching and demanding the Convention for the reform of the Treaties.

The new EP must certainly regain a decisive role and at this stage it must speak out loudly on European governance - catching up with last year's vote in November 2023 - and fight for a reform of the Treaties.

During the meeting every parliaments groups represented nominated Board members:

RENEW

• Sandro Gozi (France/Italy)
• Petros Austrevicius (Lithuania)
• Raquel GARCÍA HERMIDA-VAN DER WALLE (Netherlands)
• Lubica KARVAŠOVÁ (Slovakia)

GREENS / EFA

• Reinier van Lanschot (Netherlands)
• Benedetta Scuderi (Italy)
• Daniel Freund (Germany)
• Anna Strolenberg (Netherlands)

S&D

• Gabirele Bischoff (Germany)
• Brando Benifei (Italy)
• Vivien Costanzo (Germany)
• Klara Dobrev (Hungary)

EPP

• Markus Ferber (Germany) Vice-President UEF
• Lukas Mandl (Austria) President UEF Austria
• (still missing other 2)

The Left

• Nikolas Farantouris (Greece)

EX OFFICIO

• Domenec Ruiz Devesa (Spain), former MEP S&D, President of Union of European Federalists
• Guy Verhofstadt (Belgium), former MEP Renew, President of European Movement International

Please find here the link to the article “Il faut munir l’Europe d’une autre boussole” published on the La Libre Belgium. This article was written in French by Francisco Vigalondo, Domenico Rossetti di Valdalbero, Jean Marsia, and François Mennerat members of UEF Belgium.

Les questions de productivité et de compétitivité européennes (Rapport Draghi), de réindustrialisation de l’Europe (cf. Plan industriel dans le futur mandat d’Ursula von der Leyen) et d’achèvement du Marché intérieur (Rapport Letta) ont récemment animé les débats sur l’avenir de l’Union européenne. Mais pour qu’une union puisse résister aux aléas de l’histoire, il lui faut un sens qui aille audelà des questions matérielles, économiques et réglementaires. Un saut dans le passé peut nous éclairer.

En 1569, l’Union de Pologne-Lituanie formait l’un des royaumes les plus puissants et les plus prospères d’Europe. Cette union, la Rzeczpospolita constituait une sorte de république nobiliaire guidée par un roi élu par une assemblée de nobles qui tous, grands ou petits, avaient le même poids pour bloquer individuellement les décisions. La règle du liberum veto avait été conçue pour préserver un certain libéralisme aristocratique face au pouvoir central de la monarchie et pour promouvoir un consensus politique.

Malgré la vertu de ce système, sa mise en œuvre a laissé à désirer lorsque d’autres monarchies-États, fortement centralisées, ont émergé autour de l’Union et ont rivalisé avec elle.

La gouvernance qui avait permis de gérer, en interne, la résolution pacifique des conflits, s’est montrée incapable d’affronter efficacement les défis externes. L’Union manquait d’unité nécessaire pour guider son action politique en tant que corps social unique. Faute d’un sentiment de responsabilité partagée, les nobles polonais et lituaniens prenaient leurs décisions en fonction de l’intérêt de leurs familles et de leurs domaines personnels. Le marchandage des votes entre les nobles et l’ingérence des royaumes étrangers qui en profitaient pour influencer la gouvernance de l’Union, a progressivement fait gripper le système. L’Union des deux nations s’est divisée jusqu’à la perte complète de son autonomie étatique.

Mutatis mutandis, l’Union européenne (UE) d’aujourd’hui repose sur un système de régulation politique comparable au liberum veto de la Rzeczpospolita, en visant à répondre prioritairement aux besoins individuels des États-nations souverains.

Seulement une apparence de sens

La recherche permanente de consensus au sein du Conseil européen tient lieu d’unité de sens des mesures adoptées. Ce système a fonctionné de manière satisfaisante tant que la globalisation a été le phénomène prédominant des relations internationales et aussi long temps que les États membres poursuivaient un intérêt mutuel d’intégration économique. La stabilité obtenue grâce au pouvoir normatif (cf. l’extension du nombre de règles communes) a donné une apparence de sens aux politiques de l’UE. La globalisation est devenue la boussole de l’UE, union de sens et sens d’union.

Malheureusement, cette apparence de sens se volatilise inévitablement dès lors qu’il s’agit de prendre des décisions qui touchent le cœur des politiques étatiques, que la Russie agresse son voisin et que la concurrence s’intensifie avec des acteurs comme la Chine et les États-Unis. Une fois constatées les limites indéniables de la globalisation, ce que le paradoxe de Rodrik a énoncé en ces termes : “La démocratie, la souveraineté nationale et une intégration économique poussée sont mutuellement incompatibles : il est possible de combiner deux des trois possibilités, mais il n’est jamais possible d’avoir les trois simultanément et entièrement”, la nécessité de doter l’Europe d’une autonomie stratégique s’est révélée essentielle.

Les conclusions des rapports de Mario Draghi et d’Enrico Letta ne laissent pas l’ombre d’un doute à ce sujet. Or, la manière d’y parvenir sans avancée significative de l’intégration européenne est loin d’être claire. Car le paradoxe de Rodrik se traduit en géopolitique avec des paramètres spécifiques. Ici, le trilemme se trouve dans l’impossibilité d’atteindre à la fois l’autonomie stratégique, le libre-échange et la sécurité.

Ce paradoxe géopolitique explique pourquoi dans le cadre de la globalisation, où l’UE s’est concentrée sur le libre-échange et la sécurité (prospérité et paix), son autonomie stratégique s’est rétrécie en faveur des interdépendances économiques et normatives.

Le chemin de l’intégration différenciée, à laquelle l’UE s’est résolue depuis les années 1990, a favorisé la prédominance d’une logique intergouvernementale où le marché unique est régi par la loi (directives ou règlements) alors que les politiques relevant du pouvoir d’un État fédéral demeurent régies par une fragile coordination volontaire.

En cherchant à gagner d’abord dans l’autonomie et le libreéchange, l’UE a inévitablement dû affronter une perte dans le domaine de la sécurité, ce qui va au détriment de la raison d’être fondatrice de l’Union. Or, si on voulait plutôt relier autonomie et sé curité, le libre-échange et les rapports techno-normatifs sur lesquels il repose ne seraient plus capables de continuer à donner le sens de l’unité politique européenne.

Pas une cause mais une conséquence

La nature de ce paradoxe conduit à comprendre que la radicalisation croissante des choix politiques à l’intérieur des États membres comme au niveau européen n’est pas une cause mais une conséquence des dysfonctionnements du système politique européen.

Bien avant la guerre d’Ukraine, des personnalités politiques européennes comme Pascal Lamy, avaient déjà averti qu’une “volonté de puissance oblige l’Europe à se constituer en un espace politique, un demos européen”, en soulignant que “ce n’est pas le passage à une règle de majorité qui va faire qu’on va décider à la majorité d’une intervention militaire”.

Certes, la géopolitique est liée à la volonté de puissance des États, mais un grand pouvoir implique de grandes responsabilités. On ne peut pas attendre de l’UE qu’elle exerce des compétences étatiques dans les rapports de pouvoir internationaux sans assumer la responsabilité démocratique qui résulte d’une “relation constante entre les dirigeants et le peuple” comme l’évoquait Winston Churchill.

La notion éthérée d’“avancée dans l’intégration communautaire” doit laisser place à celle d’autonomie stratégique commune, désormais vraie nécessité, dont l’expression politique sera l’instauration d’une union fédérale européenne. Il faut munir l’Europe d’une autre boussole que celle de la globalisation, celle d’une “volonté de sens” en tant que corps social européen solidaire, qui guidera les choix à réaliser au-delà du seul libreéchange. Autrement, face à la volonté de puissance de la Russie, des États-Unis et de la Chine, l’Europe unie risque de connaître le destin de l’Union de Pologne-Lituanie.

Brussels, September 12, 2024

The lengthy report prepared by Mario Draghi on behalf of the European Commission was presented last Monday in a press conference in Brussels. The Report rings the alarm on the urgent need for the European Union to change its system and modus operandi in order to counter the constant slowdown in its growth and the decline in its productivity; a decline that is leading to a progressive impoverishment of the population and puts the European welfare state model and social cohesion at risk. Additionally, this trend comes with an implicit political risk that would see the European Union unable to guarantee its own security and leave it dependent on external powers in strategic technological sectors.

The Report stresses, through an in-depth analysis, the issue plaguing European development and proposes concrete and detailed measures to reverse the current trend and release the EU's enormous untapped potential. With the Report pointing out the strategic sectors to be developed in order to cope with the major transformations taking place currently in world trade, technological innovation, energy, and security.

Underlying the EU's weakness in these crucial areas are its fragmentation and its model of economic governance, which among other things, provides neither industrial policy nor funding instruments to make the huge investments that are needed at this stage, and is instead designed for an international framework that no longer corresponds to reality. These characteristics are severely holding back the EU and this affects, among others things, the cost of energy (electricity prices are 2-3 times higher than in the USA, with natural gas being an astonishing 4-5 times more expensive ), the scarce funding for research and development (256 million made available by the EU compared to 6 billion in the USA), alongside the specific lack of funding for research and development in the military field, which is essential for building an autonomous defence (10.7 billion euros invested in Europe in 2022 compared to 130 in the USA (2023 figures)). This is to say nothing about the root causes of the serious difficulties in the European labour market, the absence of a capital market at the European level, and the lack of investment that is estimated as at least 750-800 billion a year (or 4.4 - 4.7 % of GDP) compared to the current European budget of only around 1 % of GDP.

Given the significance and scale of this huge investment shortfall, the Report makes a number of proposals on how to find the necessary resources; with one of the most significant being to strengthen the EU budget and create a ‘common debt instruments’ modelled on the NGEU to finance long-term investment projects in R&I and defence procurement.

‘Draghi warns that Europe needs an amount of investment that is impossible to sustain without the creation of common debt instruments,' says Domenec Ruiz Devesa, former MEP and President of the Union of European Federalists. ‘At the moment there is only the NGEU, but it is only provisional and as the Report says it should be extended and multiplied in various areas for long-term investments.  If the member states are in favour of new common debt instruments there is an opportunity to create the fiscal capacity for the EU’s continued development under the democratic control of the European Parliament. This would be a step forward that would make treaty reform and the creation of the basis for true European sovereignty inevitable'. 

Transformations in governance is an integral part of the Report; it is very clear that they are its conditio sine qua non, due to the choices to be made, the decisive actions that need to be implemented, alongside the problem of finding the financial resources. However, it is here that the weakness of the European Commission's position on this issue emerges. 

With Draghi seemingly having limited himself to reiterating previously prepared reforms by the European Council, despite his repeated statements given in his personal capacity going further, in which he repeatedly emphasised the need for a political union of a federal nature at the European level. Treaty reform is not taken into consideration, and the Report speaks about the possibility of advancing without reforming the treaties through the passerelle clauses or through enhanced cooperation – which, unfortunately, are two totally ineffective and difficult to use instruments. Perhaps in light of these issues, Draghi proposes a third, alternative option which is the possibility of moving forward in a group of willing States outside the Treaties, similar to what happened with the Fiscal Compact.

The Report thus takes into account the impossibility of advancing all 27 countries together simultaneously, and instead argues for a concentric circle structure. However, the unwillingness to address the issue of a reform of the Treaties (due to significant resistance on the part of the member states and the European Commission itself) implies that the European Commission and member states are unwilling to tackle these issues so as to ensure that a shared European sovereignty does not emerge.

As federalists, we want to stress that the European Council has the solutions to address these systemic issues, having received last December a request from the European Parliament to open a Convention to democratically discuss how to build this new Europe. The European Council has the possibility and the power to decide by simple majority (14 out of 27 states) to accept this request and create the conditions to start that process of change in the EU, which the Draghi Report shows as absolutely necessary and urgent.

We therefore call on the European Parliament to rise to the challenge, demand that the European Commission side with the Parliament and the citizens to overcome the attachment of national governments to their small and inefficient power that is leading Europe to self-destruct. 

As Draghi reminds us, the moment is dramatic and if Europe does not change, it is over. 

We need courageous actions equal to the danger we are running.

RELATED

• Press Conference Ursula von der Leyer and Mario Draghi LINK HERE
• Draghi interventions The Next Flight of the Bumblebee: The Path to Common Fiscal Policy in the Eurozone LINK HERE