
The 40th anniversary of the Spinelli project
STATEMENT OF THE SPINELLI GROUP
14 FEBRUARY 1984 - 14 FEBRUARY 2024
Today the federalist-minded members of our intergroup, celebrate the 40th anniversary of the approval by the Plenary of the European Parliament of the Draft Treaty establishing the European Union promoted and strongly pursued by Altiero Spinelli.
The Draft Treaty adopted by the European Parliament 40 years ago laid the foundations for the emergence of the first nucleus of a true European federation, starting with the Economic and Monetary Union. According to that, the European institutions would have had economy-related competences and powers, albeit limited, to govern the nascent European Union on a federal basis. In a world dominated by bipolar confrontation, and in a European continent divided by the Iron Curtain, Spinelli led the European Parliament to support a project capable of giving Europe the instruments of acting as a sovereign and autonomous global player.
40 years from that moment, we are honouring the legacy of Spinelli. Under the advocacy of the Spinelli Group, the European Parliament has put forward in November 2023, a historic proposal for the reform of the Treaties. Without a federal Europe, without new competences and without more democratic and effective decision-making procedures, the whole integration process launched in 1950 is in jeopardy.
The Board of the Spinelli Group reiterates its motivation to promote the European Parliament’s proposal for the reform of the Treaties as the cornerstone of a new constituent moment for Europe, which will soon enter a new crucial electoral phase, until the 6-9 of June. Therefore, we demand the European Heads of States and of Governments to discuss and to take a position on the Parliament’s proposal during the March EUCO, so that the convention for the revision of the Treaties can be launched after the next European elections. 40 years after the adoption of the Spinelli Project, we live up to the heritage and example of the father of European federalism.