Strasbourg, 27/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - Seen as a further cause of economic inequality, social disparity and erosion of democracy, European integration is coming in for more and more criticism, as demonstrated by the rise in populism at the elections of May.
In view of this, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) made a proposal at the plenary session which ends this Friday 27 June, to offer a forum to debate the future political form of the European Union and, more specifically, the challenges which would be brought about by moving to a federal democracy. The resolution was adopted on Wednesday 25 June by 96 votes to 18, with 18 abstentions, on the basis of a report by Swiss Socialist Andreas Gross.
PACE debates usually focus on how the fundamental European values, such as human rights, the rule of law and democracy, can be better protected, the text stresses. It has adopted “a great many reports dealing with the crises facing democracies today”, as its role - originally defined in 1949 - is precisely to bring about a “European democratic federation” on the basis of a European constitution.
The subject of this discussion is, therefore, a federal Europe, a federal Europe with a federal democracy capable of winning back the trust of the citizens. This presupposes a process of balancing powers within a differentiated political system, allowing unity whilst guaranteeing diversity. “European federal democracy therefore does not mean more of Europe and less of the nation states. It would involve a strong decentralised government of European competences based on the agreement of the European citizens allowing it, in the interest of the citizens, to deal with trans-national issues which cannot be effectively addressed by the individual nation states alone”.
Basically, the text adopted stresses the principle of subsidiarity, implying that “all solutions must be looked for as close to the citizens as possible”. This idea is not new but PACE is proposing to embed it within a pan-European chamber in the broadest sense. As to whether its proposal to debate the future of the European Union will go down well with those who are to lead it... (VL)