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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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).

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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE SET UP OF THE CONFERENCE ON THE FUTURE
OF EUROPE BY 12 EUROPEAN CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS

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 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

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.

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 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.