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European Federalists

TAKING THE NEXT STEPS IN THE FEDERATION OF EUROPE

JOINT DECLARATION OF THE UNION OF EUROPEAN FEDERALISTS & THE YOUNG EUROPEAN FEDERALISTS

Sixty years ago the Declaration of Robert Schuman changed the course of European history. It had the virtue of brevity and clarity. It was bold, and at once visionary and down to earth.

"Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity."

The proposal to pool the coal and steel production of France and Germany made the two states depend on each other for mutual well-being. Their destiny was shared.

"The pooling of coal and steel production should immediately provide for the setting up of common foundations for economic development as a first step in the federation of Europe ...".

Their example was to be followed by others. The new coal and steel community was from the outset "open to all countries willing to take part".

"In this way there will be realised simply and speedily that fusion of interests which is indispensable to the establishment of a common economic system; it may be the leaven from which may grow a wider and deeper community between countries long opposed to one another by bloody divisions. By pooling basic production and by instituting a new higher authority, whose decisions will bind France, Germany, and other member countries, this proposal will lead to the realisation of the first concrete foundation of a European federation indispensable to the preservation of peace."

Sixty years on, after many successes and some failures, the goal of Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet to create a European federation has come closer. Sovereignty is pooled to a great extent in the European Union, whose constitutional architecture has many federal characteristics. The recent entry into force of the Lisbon treaty has widened the competences of the Union and strengthened the powers of its institutions. Yet building a federal Europe is still work in progress. Much remains to be done.

The single market has still to be completed, not least in the services sector, intellectual property, science research and energy.

The financial system needs to be made more transparent, buoyant and progressive, equipping the EU with the money it needs to fulfil its political objectives and meet the demands of its citizens. The EU needs more capacity to raise revenue, borrow and lend in order to boost investment in European public goods such as education, green technology and infrastructure.

EU budgetary policy should promote Europe's economic recovery. In the impending mid-term review of the budget and in the design of the new multi-annual financial framework from 2013, spending should be transferred from the national to the federal level where economies of scale and cost efficiencies can be made, or to correct market failure. This is particularly the case in the military sector where the European Defence Agency shows the way forward. Conversely, where EU expenditure is no longer appropriate, national treasuries should play a larger role.

Current negotiations on strengthening the regulatory framework for the financial sector should drive towards the eventual establishment of a single EU supervisor for transnational financial services.

A return to fiscal rectitude and tinkering with the Stability and Growth Pact is not enough. An economic government is now urgently required, above all within the eurozone, with sufficient executive authority to oblige the state governments to adopt mutually reinforcing economic policies within an overall common strategy aimed at the twin objectives of stability and competitiveness.

We urge the task force established under the authority of President Van Rompuy to emulate the Schuman Declaration in terms of courage and clarity of purpose. The members of the European Council must accept individual responsibility and be held accountable for their collective decisions.

The European External Action Service must be set up as fast as possible with all the resources it needs to correct the current dislocated and uncoordinated external activities of the Union. The Commission and Council should set aside their institutional jealousies and follow the logic of the Lisbon treaty to establish a common diplomatic service with the capability of turning the Union into an impressive actor on the world stage.

Those states which are militarily capable and politically willing should move soon to form an integrated defence structure on a permanent basis, as foreseen by the Lisbon treaty.

The European Parliament must continue to upgrade its performance. The European political parties should revitalise themselves by campaigning to make a reality of EU citizenship and championing the development of the common area of freedom, security and justice. We strongly support the proposal to establish a transnational constituency for a certain number of MEPs in time for the 2014 elections.

We the undersigned Presidents of two long-standing federalist organisations in Europe call on the institutions of the European Union and on national parliaments to recall the motivation behind the Schuman Declaration and to confirm the Union's mission to peace, solidarity and enlargement. These are the next steps towards the building of a European federation.

Andrew Duff MEP, President UEF

Philippe Adriaenssens, President JEF

Tuesday, May 4 2010 By Laurencija

EP election predictions: Voters focus on political stability

Written by Marco Hardt, spokesman of Europa-Union Deutschland
Translated by Julia Brink

Berlin (ots) – Despite the economic crisis, Europeans focus on political stability. If European Elections took place today, voters would largely confirm the balance of power in the European Parliament. This is the result of the European Election Forecast Predict09.eu presented jointly by the non-partisan Europa-Union Deutschland and Burson-Marsteller in Berlin.

According to this prediction, the conservative Christian-democrat EPP-ED will remain the biggest fraction – despite the possible diverging of the British conservatives and the Czech ODS. The social-democrat PES fraction will manage to slightly enlarge their relative power in the Parliament. Altogether the center-left-parties will catch up with the center-right-parties. Extreme right and left wing parties will not play a major role in the new Parliament.

Predict09.eu forecasts a remarkable result for Germany: The SPD will improve considerably by 7,2% to 28,7%. While the CDU will degrade by 8,8% to 27,7%, the CSU will manage to overcome the 5% barrier despite great losses with 6,8% (-1,2%). The liberal FDP (+7,3% auf 13,4%) and Die Linke (+4,3% to 10,4%) will be the greatest winners of the elections, while the Greens (-2,2% auf 9,7%) will probably have to face a slight decline.

Predict09.eu is a novel method of forecasting. For the first time, it will be possible to issue prospects before the European Elections. Predict09.eu is an instrument created by the London School of Economics and the Trinity College Dublin on behalf of Burson-Marsteller. Predict09.eu is based on an evaluation of all European Elections held so far. In the framework of the analysis, the factors best suitable for explaining the outcome of the elections were determined. The results of each party according to national surveys were “corrected” according to these factors. This way of forecasting yields much more precise results than a simple addition of national surveys.

Regularly, www.predict09.eu is supplied with new national forecasts and the possible results for the composition of the seats in the European Parliament are shown.

The Predict09.eu prospects for the European Parliament:

Information on all German candidates running for a seat in the European Parliament on 7 June is available at the European Elections Portal of the Europa-Union Germany at www.wahlen-europa.de.

This article was also published on presseportal.de

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Wednesday, April 15 2009 By manajan

JEF Manifesto for the 2009 European Parliament elections

JEF is a supranational, politically pluralist youth organisation with about 30,000 members in over 30 European countries. The aim of JEF is to work for the creation of a European federation as a first step towards peace and a more free, just and democratic society. Their ideas are spread through international activities and youth exchanges, publications, public actions and co-operation with other youth-organisations.

We young Europeans believe in the values of peace, freedom and solidarity.

We recognise the success of European integration in securing democracy and prosperity in Europe through the unification of the continent.

The European Union is our present and a federal Europe our future, but the rapid evolution of globalisation presents new challenges. The crises are evident in economic, financial, security and ecological matters. We can successfully face these challenges only if the EU is able to speak and to act as a real Union.

JEF EP Campaign Logo

It’s time to act!

We expect brave and innovative decisions. We want concrete benefits from the EU in our everyday life. Therefore, we demand:

  • a European Economic Policy for ensuring growth, employment and sustainable development, in particular to benefit young people;
  • a European Energy and Environmental Agency for ensuring global leadership in the battle against climate change and managing a European Energy Reserve to guarantee a strategic independence of the EU;
  • a Solidarity Clause to ensure Member states protection against terrorism and natural catastrophes;
  • European Blue Helmets enabling the EU to contribute to peace-keeping in the world in the framework of a real European security and defence policy;
  • a Citizens’ Right of Initiative in order to listen to the voice of European citizens;
  • a European Civilian Service to promote EU citizenship among young people;
  • European symbols to be officially recognised by all European institutions.


We ask the candidates for the next European Parliament elections (June 2009) to support these proposals. Furthermore, we ask the European Parliament to exercise the right to initiate a treaty change process – as established in the Lisbon treaty – to produce the necessary constitutional and legislative framework for these reforms and to give the European citizens a true federal government.

We invite European citizens and civil society to express their support to our Manifesto.

IT’S TIME FOR CHANGE… IT’S TIME FOR EUROPE!

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Wednesday, March 11 2009 By manajan - Federalist Manifesto

A third Franco-German initiative is necessary to face the financial crisis

Article written by Guido Montani, Vice-President of the UEF, Professor of International Political Economy University of Pavia

The informal European Council of March 1st ended with the refusal of the countries of the Monetary Union to create a fund to help the Eastern European countries in difficulty. The German government is right to refuse indiscriminate aid, but is wrong in facing up to the more general issue of the European financial system and budget. The financial crisis is putting the cohesion of the Monetary Union to the test and, without adequate powers at European level, national governments, Germany above all, could be faced with the dilemma of having to finance the default of countries which are suffering from the crisis, such as Ireland, Greece, Hungary or Austria, or accepting the disintegration of the Monetary Union.

EU Council 09-03-01
Source Le Conseil de l'Union européenne

Germany has already experienced a similar situation in the past, when it helped countries with a weak currency several times. After the founding of the Monetary Union the problem was solved. Today, a similar unitary solution is necessary. In the 70s, Giscard d’Estaing and Schmidt implemented the building of the European currency, with the European Monetary System. In 1991, in Maastricht, Mitterrand and Kohl gave life to the Economic and Monetary Union, but without reforming the European fiscal system. In 1997, Germany requested and obtained the Stability and Growth Pact. However, as the President of the European Central Bank, Trichet pointed out, “the Stability and Growth Pact is the legal framework that we have as a quid pro quo for the fact that we do not have a federal budget and a federal government”. Now, it is time for a third Franco-German initiative: it is necessary to give the European Union a federal budget and a federal government.

A federal budget is necessary because there are some European public goods – such as monetary and financial stability, sustainable growth, space exploration, etc. – which must be financed by European resources. Other public goods, of national importance – such as the welfare system – must be financed by national budgets. Other local public goods will be financed by a regional financial system. If the European Union cannot count on its own resources, in the case of a crisis, the stronger States of the Union will be obliged to carry out the role of “lenders of last resort”. The world economic crisis is increasingly getting worse day by day. There are two indispensable reforms that need to be implemented as soon as possible:

1. The ceiling of the European budget must be raised to at least 2% of the community GDP (as the McDougall report proposed) and the European Commission should be authorized to issue Union-Bonds, in order to finance a serious plan for the relaunching of European industrial production and for the ecological reconversion of the economy. Without a European Plan, national plans will end up fostering protectionism and causing the waste of public money. The increased European fiscal responsibility should be matched with increased political responsibility. A Minister for Economics and Finance should be appointed within the European Commission and a periodical report should be presented to the European Parliament.

2. An Interinstitutional Agreement – between the European Parliament, the Council and Commission – should be approved at the beginning of each European legislature. The Agreement must contain expenditure limits, such as the maximum level of indebtedness and of public deficit, and the total amount of European budgetary resources. The European budget must be financed with real European resources, therefore euro-taxes, as the European Parliament has proposed. This does not mean an increase in the citizens’ tax pressure, but a better sharing of financial resources between the national level and the European one.

Merkel and Sarkozy

If the French President, Mr Sarkozy, and the German Chancellor, Mrs Merkel, are able to take this step, the Economic and Monetary Union will be strengthened and Europe will be able to face the difficult phase of negotiations for the reform of the world financial and monetary system with a renewed impulse.

European citizens await a response from those who govern them.

By manajan

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