The Federalist library

At the 14 September 2023 meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO), a proposal for a motion was presented together with an attachment setting out a detailed draft reform of the Treaties. The text arises from the compromise reached between the representatives, in the European Parliament, of the main pro-European parties: the Left, the Greens, the Socialists, Renew Europe and the EPP.

European Letter dedicates its first issue of 2022 to an analysis of the judicial problem that has its origins in the conflict between Poland, grappling with its authoritarian drift, and the European Union, which seeks to uphold the values of the rule of law.

The Conference on the Future of Europe is a unique opportunity to equip the European Union with the tools it needs to look after the interests of its citizens and overcome many of the global challenges that its member states are no longer able to address. Some of these indispensable tools, in particular the creation of an EU fiscal capacity and the overcoming of the unanimity rule in the field of foreign policy, cannot be achieved through the instruments of enhanced cooperation or through passerelle clauses, and therefore demand the overcoming of the current legal framework. In short, it is becoming clear that a revision of the European Treaties is inevitable, even though, for some member states at least, this prospect has, for the past 15 years, been a taboo subject, in spite of the many crises that have already amply demonstrated the inadequacy and shortcomings of the existing legal system.

We publish the Appeal that the UEF and the Spinelli Group in the European Parliament have launched in order to call together the forces that intend to fight to build a sovereign and democratic Europe. The first signatories of the Appeal are the members of the Spinelli Group in the European Parliament from the main political families.

From an early stage, President Macron has always tried to launch a deep European reform process able to generate a political power which is the only thing that can tackle the current challenges and issues.

A Philosophical Sketch by Immanuel Kant 1795 PERPETUAL PEACE Whether this satirical inscription on a Dutch innkeeper's sign upon which a burial ground was painted had for its object mankind in general, or the rulers of states in particular, who are insatiable of war, or merely the philosophers who dream this sweet dream, it is not for us to decide.

In 1941, the anti-Fascist activists Ernesto Rossi and Altiero Spinelli, placed under house arrest on the Italian island of Ventotene, draw up a manifesto for a free and united Europe.

Towards a free and united Europe

From 15 to 22 September 1946, militant federalists from 14 European countries met in Hertenstein, Switzerland, with a view to adopting a common declaration laying the foundations for a European organisation of federalists, which became the Union of European Federalists (UEF) on 15 and 16 December 1946.

Debate over the political philosophy of Immanuel Kant, and over his federalist or confederalist ideas is still very much alive and culminated two years ago, in the staging of a number of conventions and in the publication of many works to mark the two hundredth anniversary of the publication of Perpetual Peace.

What should be the ultimate aim of a constituent convention? In 1780, well before the convening of the Philadelphia Convention, Hamilton, writing to lames Duane, then member of Congress for New York State, provided a clear answer to this question, setting out what he considered to be the defects of the confederation. Here, we reproduce most significant passages of this letter.

Mai come oggi è utile rileggere e riflettere sul limpido saggio elaborato da Altiero Spinelli in occasione del convegno (Roma, luglio 1956) organizzato da Luciano Bolis sulla nascita degli Stati Uniti d’America per rispondere alla domanda (formulata dallo stesso Bolis nell’introduzione al volume che raccoglie i vari contributi): «Fino a che punto la storia delle origini dell’attuale Costituzione degli Stati Uniti d’America può rappresentare un esempio storico per il processo dell’unificazione europea in corso?».

One effect of the passing of the decades, and of the turnover of generations it brings, is the disappearance of personal historical memory. We all have access to history books, and to the endless historical reflections and reconstructions that seek to interpret the events of the recent past, but there is a world of difference between reading a book and coming across a slice of history in one’s own memory, or in the memory of someone who actually lived through the relevant period, and is still alive to recount it in his or her own words.

After the First World War, during the 1920s, a European current of thought arose from the inability of organising the European states and people according to an international natural order suited to the unity and diversity of Europe.

Contribution to the ongoing process began with the Meseberg
Declaration, designed to initiate a reform of the monetary union

Contribution to the European Parliament‘s Own Initiative Report in preparation
by the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and the Budget Committees

20 proposals

25 proposals

FROM CLOSER INTEGRATION TO A EUROPEAN ARMY

DESPERATE PEOPLE, DESPERATE EUROPE

INCREASING SECURITY THREATS, DECREASING
SECURITY CAPABILITIES