UEF - Union of European Federalists

A few months before the start of the Conference on the future of Europe it is time for the Union to learn to recognize its mistakes. It is time for the Union to learn the lessons of its founders, starting with Robert Schuman and his Declaration, whose 70th anniversary this year we must celebrate by launching a major European reform. The EU must quickly get out of the current situation and think about the present and even more about its future. This means new policies and new concrete solutions. But at the beginning of a new decade, it also means new institutions. This desire for political renewal is inextricably linked to the drafting of a new treaty.

The Treaty of Lisbon, which entered into force just over ten years ago, has made it possible for Europe to make progress, but it has also shown that it has had its day. Born out of the failure of the project establishing a Constitution for Europe, it has incorporated about 80% of its content. The Lisbon Treaty was the result of the new Franco-German tandem composed at the time by Angela Merkel, who in 2007 was eager for a success during the German presidency of the EU during the first half of that year, and Nicolas Sarkozy who, as soon as he was elected to the Elysée Palace, wanted to implement his idea of a 'mini-treaty' to close the institutional crisis caused by the double French and Dutch 'no' in the referendums of May and June 2005.

The Irish in 2008 and 2009 managed to approve the treaty by referendum on the second attempt. The Polish and Czech presidents were against it. The Germans had to wait for the decision of the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe which, once again, brought the game to extra time. By many, the Treaty of Lisbon was presented as a miracle solution to replace the one adopted under disastrous conditions in Nice in December 2001. And without doubt, the Lisbon solutions on various matters were more effective than those of Nice.

The Member States ratified it by common agreement through parliamentary channels. And many were convinced, mistakenly, that they had learned the lesson of the failure of the European Constitution. It was a perfectly legal way, but one that exposed itself to harsh attacks from the point of view of legitimacy. Denounced by opponents of the European Constitution as a 'betrayal of democracy', the Lisbon Treaty never benefited from the recognition it would have received from popular approval, which in fact continues to be lacking.

This left Eurosceptics of all kinds with a monopoly on anti-democratic criticism of the EU institutions. The pro-Europeans have not only left the field open to their main adversaries, but have also deprived themselves of a capacity for judgement that they always seem to lack. However, there is nothing anti-European about wanting a more democratic and transparent Europe. And then transparency and more democracy are also judged to be more transparent and more democratic institutions.

Already unknown in its essence, the European construction certainly does not need more complexity. On the contrary, it is perceived as increasingly complicated. For this reason too, Europe suffers from a loss of confidence on the part of its citizens, of which Brexit is only the most visible face of a drift with distant roots.

A few months before the start of the Conference on the future of Europe, which must lead to major political reform, it is time for the Union also to learn to recognise its mistakes. It is time for the Union to learn the lessons of its founders, starting with Robert Schuman and his Declaration, whose 70th anniversary this year we must celebrate by launching a major European reform. Because we cannot pretend that we are always and in any case satisfied with the Europe that exists, not least because this attitude runs the risk of doing above all the interests of those who only want it to disappear. Faced with all the more or less justified complaints to which it continues to expose itself, the EU must quickly get out of the current situation and think about the present and even more about its future. This means new policies and new concrete solutions.

But at the beginning of a new decade, it also means new institutions. So let us dispense with the useless prudence and the usual concerns of those who always evoke the risk of opening Pandora's box and seriously undermining a status quo as accommodating as it is hypocritical. All Europeans of heart and conviction have no choice but to take the initiative for truly democratic change in the EU.

This desire for political renewal is inextricably linked to the drafting of a new treaty. No one like Europe today finds itself in dangerous institutional disorder. It is time for greater simplicity, just as Schuman taught. And it is also a time of more direct political responsibility. To the simple question of who presides over the Union, the answers are the most varied: is it the President of the Commission? Is it the President of the European Council? Is it the country that from time to time takes over the six-month presidency of the EU? Or is he even the President of the European Central Bank? Is he the President of the Eurogroup? Or the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy? Or is he the "Franco-German couple" or at least what is left of them (very little in reality…)?

If there is a democratic Europe, there must be a President representing it, chosen democratically: the election by direct universal suffrage of the President of the European Commission is necessary, and sooner or later it must be introduced. In order to be heard and carry its full weight within the EU and on the world stage, the EU deserves to be represented by a leading personality. Only if it has undeniable political legitimacy will it be able not only to defend the values of respect and progress that have given life to the European dream, but also to oppose those who want to destroy them. And supranational democracy needs real transnational politics: that is why in 2024 we should be able to vote on transnational lists in a single European constituency: because we will only be able to have real European political movements if they are voted directly by the citizens of Europe. That is why we must get out of the status quo. That is why we must go beyond the Lisbon Treaty. We will displease the Eurosceptics, but it will be to the benefit of the whole of Europe and its citizens.

This article is the English version of an article originally published in Italian on the Huffington Post Italy

“We are pleased to see the European Parliament take the lead in setting the agenda for the Conference on the Future of Europe, finally opening the door for long-needed Treaty changes with yesterday 's vote. Europe cannot win back the trust of its citizens with another so-called "listening exercise". Instead we need to be courageous and give citizens a real say over the future of the European project. Only a Conference on the Future of Europe that puts all options of deep policy and institutional change on the table can now deliver on citizens' expectations. If Commission President von der Leyen and the European Council are genuine about bringing Europe closer to the people, we invite the Commission and the Council to support the proposals and the level of ambition indicated by the European Parliament", says Sandro Gozi, President of the Union of European Federalists (UEF).

The Union of European Federalists (UEF) and the Young European Federalists (JEF Europe) welcome the resolution adopted yesterday by the European Parliament stating its position regarding the Conference on the Future of Europe. Both UEF and JEF have long advocated for the renewal of our European Union and put forward detailed proposals for the setup of the Conference. The Conference is a golden opportunity for European citizens to walk the path towards an “ever closer union”, as stated in the Treaties. The Conference should not shy away from proposing to expand the Union’s powers and resources and renew its institution to make Europe really sovereign, including through an overhaul of the current Treaties.

The Conference on the Future of Europe must send a clear message to the Union's citizens that their voices will be heard. For this reasons, the European federalists call on the European Commission and the Council, to engage fully and genuinely with this exercise in participatory democracy. The Conference on the Future of Europe shall not be a new dialogue exercise as seen in the past, but a democratic and participative process where citizens have a real say on the Future of the Union. Therefore, in line with the proposal of the Parliament, UEF and JEF welcome an inclusive model that allows citizens to discuss the most pressing policies and institutional reforms, both necessary to rebuild trust in the European project. UEF and JEF are however concerned that there is no credible feedback loop between the decisions ultimately taken by political representatives and the proposals put forward by the citizen agora.

“We couldn’t agree more with the European Parliament: the increase in voter turnout at the 2019 European elections showed that citizens engage with Europe when they are offered the opportunity. For too long we, European citizens, have been sidelined or only cosmetically “consulted” in discussions over the future of European integration. Those times are over. Citizens and civil society are determined to continue pushing for change. The EU’s 60-years-long record of ensuring peace on the continent is at risk if it keeps muddling through the current intergovernmental status quo. The Conference on the Future of Europe is the opportunity to address the concerns of citizens about the future of European democracy and to provide the EU with the tools - institutional and financial - to deliver on its promise”, concludes Leonie Martin, President of JEF Europe.

END

UEF PRESS CONTACT:
Valentina Presa
valentina.presa@federalists.eu
+32.2.5083030

JEF PRESS CONTACT:
Leonie Martin
leonie.martin@jef.eu
+32.2.5120053

EDITOR’S NOTE:

The Union of European Federalists (UEF) is a pan-European, non-governmental political organisation dedicated to the promotion of European political unity. For more than 70 years UEF has been a leading voice in the promotion of European unity and an early campaigner for key milestones in the development of the European Communities and then the European Union. With 25 national sections and over 400 local groups across Europe, UEF promotes a federal Europe among citizens and political representatives at all levels of government.

PRESS CONTACT
Valentina Presa
valentina.presa@federalists.eu
+32.2.5083030

The Young European Federalists (JEF) Europe is a non-partisan youth NGO active with 13.000 members active in more than 35 countries. The organisation strives towards a federal Europe based on the principles of democracy and subsidiarity as well as respect for human rights. JEF promotes true European Citizenship, and works towards more active participation of young people in democratic life.

PRESS CONTACT:
Leonie Martin
leonie.martin@jef.eu
+32.2.5120053

12 European civil society and other organisations unveil today their set of recommendations for a successful Conference on the Future of Europe. The recommendations emerged as outcome of a series of brainstorming sessions between European civil society organisations and other entities held in autumn 2019.

The proposal for a “European Conference on the Future of Europe” initially put forward by President Emmanuel Macron and then taken up by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, represents a great opportunity to reshape the future of the European Union.

The CSOs’ common key recommendations for the Conference on the Future of Europe are:

An open mandate for the Conference, aimed at developing policy and institutional proposals, as well as proposals for treaty change or a new treaty framework, if considered necessary.
A wide-ranging approach, looking at the scope of competences of the Union, the financing of Union policies and proposals for the democratic and efficient governance of those policies.
A democratic process with wide participation and deep deliberation with individual citizens and civil society organisations from across the Union, as well as accession candidate and eastern neighbourhood countries.
A multi-step approach allowing individual citizens and civil society organisations to give input at different levels of expertise using digital tools and deliberative polling and engagement with institutional decision-makers.
A clear upfront commitment by the institutions of the Union, as well as National Governments to deliver legislative proposals on all policy recommendations and initiate Treaty changes on all proposals adopted by the Conference.

The full common recommendations can be found here. The common recommendations are supported by the following organisations:

European Students' Forum (AEGEE ), European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA ), Assembly of European Regions (AER), Civil Society Europe (CSE), Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the EU (COMECE - Church organisation under Art. 17 TFEU"), European Citizen Action Service (ECAS), European Youth Forum, Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, Fondation EURACTIV, garagErasmus Foundation, Young European Federalists (JEF) and the Union of European Federalists (UEF).

END

PRESS CONTACT:
Valentina Presa
valentina.presa@federalists.eu
+32.2.5083030

European_CSOs_recommendations_for_the_Conference_on_the_Future_of_Europe Download

The CSOs’ common key recommendations for the Conference on the Future of Europe are:

An open mandate for the Conference, aimed at developing policy and institutional proposals, as well as proposals for treaty change or a new treaty framework, if considered necessary.
A wide-ranging approach, looking at the scope of competences of the Union, the financing of Union policies and proposals for the democratic and efficient governance of those policies.
A democratic process with wide participation and deep deliberation with individual citizens and civil society organisations from across the Union, as well as accession candidate and eastern neighborhood countries.
A multi-step approach allowing individual citizens and civil society organisations to give input at different levels of expertise using digital tools and deliberative polling and engagement with institutional decision-makers.
A clear upfront commitment by the institutions of the Union, as well as National Governments to deliver legislative proposals on all policy recommendations and initiate Treaty changes on all proposals adopted by the Conference.

The full common recommendations can be found here. The common recommendations are supported by the following organisations:

European Students' Forum (AEGEE), European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA), Assembly of European Regions (AER), Civil Society Europe (CSE), Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the EU (COMECE - Church organisation under Art. 17 TFEU"), European Citizen Action Service (ECAS), European Youth Forum, Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, Foundation EURACTIV, garagErasmus Foundation, Young European Federalists (JEF) and the Union of European Federalists (UEF).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

PRESS CONTACT
Valentina Presa
valentina.presa@federalists.eu
+32.2.5083030

The European Federalists recommend the European Commission and the European Council to follow the position of the EP and agree a concept, mandate, structure, as well as timing of the Conference as soon as possible in order to enable preparations to start early in the new year.

The Union of European Federalists welcomes the approval of the opinion by the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the European Parliament on the Conference on the Future of Europe laying the ground for an ambitious position and a leading role of the European Parliament in the Conference.

The Conference, initially proposed by the French President Macron and then taken up by new European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her political guidelines for the European Commission 2019-2024. It is expected to be endorsed in the European Council's conclusions at the end of this week and to start working early next year.

The European Federalists welcome AFCO’s support of an open and democratic vision for the Conference on the Future of Europe. This conference will have to consult and engage citizens and institutional representatives at all levels. It should be an exercise of real democratic participation, not just a series of dialogues with citizens with no results - as too many times in the past. The Conference must clearly aim at recommending policy and institutional reforms to make the European Union stronger, more democratic, more efficient, more transparent, and with a greater capacity to act in Europe, as well as in the global scene.

The AFCO opinion includes many proposals from the Federalists, including that the Conference should have an open mandate, that it should be ready to discuss all questions of policies and institutions and that it should be open to consider changes to European treaties, as it will be certainly necessary to meet its goals. Citizens’ participation in the Conference should be ensured through a combination of consultations and direct participation.

Sandro GOZI, President of the Union of European Federalists, commented: “We have a unique opportunity to engage citizens across Europe in a first-time exercise of transnational democracy leading to concrete results on European policies and institutions. Ten years after the Lisbon Treaty, in a completely changed Europe and global order, it is high time to address the questions of Europe’s competencies, resources and institutions with no taboos, including no fear to break unanimity if not all Member States will agree on an ambitious reform roadmap".

The European Federalists look forward to seeing AFCO proposal becoming the official position of the Parliament with a resolution in plenary in January, including also further proposals on the Conference's composition and method of working in preparation by a Working Group set up by the President of the European Parliament.

The European Federalists recommend the European Commission and the European Council to follow the position of the EP and agree on a concept, mandate, structure, as well as timing of the Conference as soon as possible in order to enable preparations to start early in the new year.

END

PRESS CONTACT:
Valentina Presa
valentina.presa@federalists.eu
+32.2.5083030

EDITOR’S NOTE:

PRESS CONTACT
Valentina Presa
valentina.presa@federalists.eu
+32.2.5083030

The Union of European Federalists (UEF) has announced that it has established two new national sections in Greece and North Macedonia, extending the reach of the organisation in the South-East of Europe.

The new organisation in Greece, named Hellenic Union for the Federation of Europe, had its constituent meeting on 8 November 2019 in the Office of the European Parliament in Athens. Over a hundred people from the political, business and academic community were present at the event, that was attended also by Marietta Giannakou (member of the Greek Parliament), Manolis Kefalogiannis (member of the European Parliament), Miltos Kyrkos (former member of the European Parliament) and Dimitrios Tsiodras (Director of the Press Department of the Prime Minister) alongside academics, business executives and students. The Board of the new organisation includes Prof. Ioannis Papageorgiou of the University of Tessaloniki (Chair), Daphne Gogou, European Commission official (Vice Chair), Euclides Sakellarios (Secretary General), Dr Venetia Koussia, Director General of The Council on Competitiveness for Greece (Treasurer), Stathis-Raphael Pasgianos and Stefanos Panakoulias (Board members).

The new organisation in North Macedonia was established on 24 April 2019 and had already a series of events to support the accession process of Republic of North Macedonia into the European Union and promote further European integration. Petar Bogojeski has been elected President and Sasho Lazarovski has been elected Secretary General. The new organisation is organizing a large public event with national political personalities on 14-15 December in Skopje.

Both organisations have been formally accepted as candidate sections by the Federal Committee of the UEF meeting in Rome on 23-24 November.

The Union of European Federalists is a pan-european, non-governmental, non partisan political organisation, dedicated to the promotion of European political unity. Founded in 1946, for more than 70 years UEF has been the leading voice in the promotion of European unity and an early campaigner for all key milestones in the development of the European Communities and then the European Union. Today UEF is engaged in promoting a united, strong, democratic and federal Union. UEF has more than 30,000 members in 25 national branches and 400 local groups, coordinated by the European secretariat based in Brussels.

It also has a youth organisation with 13,000 members (Young European Federalists).

"Sovereign, democratic and powerful, this must be the Europe of the future" article by Sandro Gozi, President of the Union of European Federalists

When we talk about Europe, we often talk about turning points, essential junctions in our history, but we have only recognised them when we look back through the rear-view mirror. And most of the time, unfortunately, from that mirror, we have seen only the missed opportunities, the crucial moments from which we have moved irreparably away.

The European Community of Defence, the Spinelli Treaty for the constitution of the United States of Europe or the Treaty for the adoption of a Constitution for Europe, are some of these atrocious crossroads in which we Europeans have lost our way, lost the opportunity to build a real European power.

But if rewriting history is not possible, the goal remains the same. And if the wind direction has changed, we can adjust our sails to still reach our destination. The journey that the new European Commission has just undertaken, including a European Conference on the Future of Europe, will be a decisive one. The Conference will have to discuss how to turn Europe into a global power. At the end of this new political cycle that has just begun, we Europeans will know our destiny, our meaning in history and whether or not we risk political extinction in the new globalised world.

Above all, we cannot act as if we were still in the world of yesterday. We have to prepare the world of tomorrow. Ursula Von der Leyen's speech before her election in July was and remains a good manifesto. The follow-up was not brilliant: we went through strong institutional tensions that already begun the day after the European elections. Today we can start again, but we must show the necessary strength and determination.

Our priorities are clear: Europe as green energy leader; good governance of the euro area and a European investment plan; a European social Union; a new European security and defence project, migration and asylum policies; enforcement of the rule of law and equal opportunities, promotion of innovation and youth.

I am convinced that, alongside all these issues, European federalism, which has never been so necessary and appropriate, is really the response to the problems of our time. We need a sovereign, powerful and democratic Europe: sovereign against the crisis of national politics; powerful against unilateralism; democratic to defeat neo-nationalism.

A sovereign Europe means that we must regain control, adopt a new global approach to a crucial issue such as security. After all, it is also the subject discussed in London, at the NATO summit where China was finally mentioned for the first time as the subject of attention.

We have entered an era in which the US and China are increasingly using their power in a unilateral logic. While the challenges to our security come much more from Beijing, our multilateral security system is still largely based on the structures of the Cold War. Our American ally responds to European decisions for more tax justice, through the web tax for large digital multinationals, by threatening duties against Europe. Our Asian competitors act on the global market with industrial logic and state aid while we Europeans still apply the rules of competition only thinking of our national markets, if not local, and we put our companies more exposed to global competition in great difficulty. Either we will be able, with a new European industrial policy, to win the new economic competition on a global scale or we risk losing out.

A significant and long-term commitment of our global policy, which includes foreign trade, development cooperation, humanitarian aid, international environmental policy, international police, justice and intelligence cooperation, immigration, foreign policy and promotion of EU values.

We Europeans have a duty to share responsibility for global security, which we rightly want to see based on a new multilateralism: dialogue, negotiation, cooperation. But without excluding the logic of power. We cannot be naïve, we must act in the real world, where we are confronted with states and societies that are far removed from a postmodern approach, in which more and more power relations and unilateral decisions prevail We must give ourselves the means to promote our values and protect our interests in a world that has changed.

The Conference on the Future of Europe will be the right opportunity to discuss Europe as a power, as a sovereign and democratic power, with a central role for the European Parliament.

"Europe Power" inevitably brings back to the controversy that arose over the harsh words of Emmanuel Macron on NATO’s "brain death", which Macron rightly confirmed in London, at the same time insisting on starting the process of reforming the organisation: not sterile criticism, therefore, but a concrete and constructive proposal. We are well aware of the challenges we face: the United States refraining from continuing to exercise true political leadership; the Turkish "ally" violating fundamental values; the United States acting in a unilateral and potentially destabilising logic in the Middle East; difficult relations with Russia; China’s hegemonic logic, from military to digital and 5G.

We Europeans need to intervene in the geopolitical space where our interests are at stake: for example, we all agreed on the need for intervention in Mali, but France had to take action because the EU did not have the means to do so. President Von der Leyen rightly reminded us of these challenges and it is with regard to these challenges that we must become more capable of acting together as a Union.

In short, we must acknowledge that we are in an era of power relations, imperial logic and new threats. However, we must still act as Europeans, and not on the basis of national or, even worse, nationalist logic.

The French President's wake-up call was necessary, it lifted the veil of ambiguity and perhaps gave a wake-up call to a Europe which is now still suffering from the historical error of the French Gaullists and Communists in rejecting the European Defence Community in 1954 and which is paying the price for the very slow progress of these decades on the subject of common defence. The only way to stay alive and protagonists in a world that is reinventing itself between Beijing and Washington, passing through Moscow and the new emerging world economies, is to build a true European power. Only a truly sovereign, democratic and powerful Europe will enable us to overcome many of the challenges of the future and to survive as Europeans. To give in would mean the end of our civilization.

This article is the English version of an article originally published in Italian in the HuffPost Italy

Sovrana, democratica e potente, questa deve essere l'Europa del futuro

You can also find a version of the article in German here.

You can also find a version of the article in French here.