European federalist forces discussed a draft of a new manifesto for a federal Europe during a seminar on the island of Ventotene (Italy) at the end of August. This text calls for a profound institutional reform of the European Union through the granting of new competences at supranational level in areas such as health, as well as increased democratisation and transparency of European governance.
Prepared by the Spinelli Group, chaired by Daniel Freund (Greens/EFA, German) and composed of federalist MEPs from different political groups, the manifesto states that the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine are pushing the Union to break new ground through joint purchase of vaccines and a European debt for massive investments in ecological and digital transitions.
“Faced with the pandemic and economic crisis, the Union has found its unity around a new principle: there can be solidarity between states if there is a common purpose and control over the use of resources”, say the authors of the project.
For them, while the lessons learned from the pandemic have given Europe the “Health Union” with shared competences at national and European level, the war in Ukraine must lead to a new integration process, including: - “a union on migration based on solidarity and mandatory responsibility sharing” as well as legal migration channels to address labour shortages; - “an energy union” to end Europe’s dependence on Russian hydrocarbons; - “a defence union” with the establishment of a rapid reaction force of 5,000 men and a European headquarters; - “a digital union” with the creation of a supranational authority that will establish the nature and extent of data transfer to economic operators.
These new responsibilities, to be incorporated in “a new constitutional treaty”, will have to be accompanied by a reformed decision-making process, where the European Parliament is placed on an equal footing with the EU Council in a bicameral system and where the use of qualified majority of Member States for decision-making in the EU Council is extended, notably in the areas of foreign affairs and taxation. Furthermore, participatory democracy, including the creation of a “Permanent European Citizens’ Agora” whose recommendations would influence the work programme of the European Commission, should be placed on an equal footing with representative democracy.
The Spinelli Group also wants to give the EU stronger tools to enforce fundamental values within the EU. The unanimity rule would be less of an obstacle to the so-called ‘Article 7’ procedure of the Treaty on the respect of the Rule of law, and the regulation making the granting of EU funds conditional on the respect of the Rule of law would cover the whole of Article 2 on fundamental European values.
Finally, on the economic and social front, the authors of the draft manifesto advocate for the creation of a ‘Tobin’ tax on financial transactions to finance the ecological transition and the preservation of biodiversity, as well as the continuation of the European Recovery Plan. They call for an end to tax havens, “including those in the EU”. European fiscal rules should be revised to introduce specific treatment for public spending that promotes climate transition, notably by writing it off over the lifetime of an investment. Finally, the European Pillar of Social Rights would become binding and workers on digital platforms would benefit from real social protection.
See the draft manifesto: https://aeur.eu/f/2wu (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)