Brussels, 15/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - A seminar on the “Action Committee for the United States of Europe - method, action, influence” was organised on 11 and 12 September at Lausanne University by the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe in partnership with the university of Cergy-Pontoise (under the coordination of Professor Gérard Bossuat) and with the Jean Monnet Association.
The round table on how appropriate the Monnet method is today, a subject which brought together two academics, the president of the Portuguese Republic, two former presidents of the European Parliament and the vice-president of the European Commission, Jacques Barrot, was an opportunity to also discuss ways to give fresh Community impetus to the Union.
“We are painfully recovering from an institutional psycho-drama for which Jean Monnet might have wanted a more pragmatic solution”, Commission Vice-President Jacques Barrot said (pointing out that such difficulties have not prevented the Commission from being successful in things of importance such as the proposal of precise objectives in the fight against global warming).
At a time when the intergovernmental method could raise its head, what should be done so that the balance weighs more towards the Community method? First of all, in each institution, it takes people who “believe in Europe”. There must also be extension of qualified majority in Council and Parliament, which becomes “co-legislator of common law”. “All the major breakthroughs that I have obtained in the field of transport, whether on maritime security or Galileo, were only possible thanks to the alliance with Parliament”, Jacques Barrot pointed out, evoking his first dossier. The Commission vice-president also considers “elections would probably be needed everywhere the same day, and why not 9 May? … elections must be lived out at European level”. And the European Commission - even though a 27-member Commission can of course not work exactly as Jean Monnet had imagined - must count on “its two main assets - its expertise (which also implies its ability to anticipate) and its collegiality”. The “Monnet spirit” can contribute to finding solutions, especially by its refusal of “rusty formalism”, its resolve to reach concrete achievements, its insistence on a transatlantic link based on true reciprocity, and its awareness of the importance of civil society. Jacques Barrot went on to conclude by calling for European elite formations (economic, trade union, academic) as it is they that will get Europe moving, he said.
The president of the Foundation, José-Maria Gil Robles, who was formerly president of the European Parliament, said a real “legislative contract” was needed between Commission and Parliament if the crisis was to be overcome. The Commission would be strengthened by the formation of a sort of “cabinet” made up of some of its members and able to act within it (decisions taken earlier by the collegial method between all commissioners), an idea, as Mr Gil Robles went on to say, that Jacques Santer, strongly encouraged by Leon Brittan, was reflecting upon shortly before the fall of his Commission. However, Mr Gil Robles stresses, Europe must also be given ways to carry out its policies - the Community budget cannot be reduced year after year.
The idea of a legislative contract greatly pleases another former president of the European Parliament, Enrique Baron, who is convinced that the Monnet method is appropriate today, at a time when we are at a crossroads and that acquis communautaire should be defended and consolidated in a changing world (and along the right lines, says Mr Baron who cites the disappearance of war as a solution to the problems on Union territory). The Union needs a true economic policy, Mr Baron said, although he did not call for capitalism to disappear (“its centuries are counted”, he said, citing former MEP Giorgio Ruffolo).
Mario Soares, former President of Portugal, is on the same wavelength. “Capitalism is necessary but one must combat speculative capitalism”, he said. Mr Soares wondered which of the EU27 heads of state would today be in favour of the United States of Europe, taking the view that such a movement should come from the citizens.
Professor Gérard Bossuat from Cergy-Pontoise university was of the opinion that an end should be put to the divide between institutions and the public. Should one return to the Monnet method? Perhaps not - but it is useful to learn from Monnet's “way of managing events, men and things”. Eric Roussel, who presides over the Pierre Mendes-France Institute, considers for his part that inspiration could be taken from what Jean Monnet did by “rehabilitating the idea of general interest”.
During the seminar, participants heard contributions on the areas of action by the Committee (monetary policy, social policy, energy) on the role of German and Italian members within the Action Committee, on Monnet and the press, and on Monnet and Ostpolitik. All these contributions will be brought together in one of the Foundation's Cahier rouges, probably published next spring. (email: secr@fjme.unil.ch, website: http://www.jean-monnet.ch ). (L.G./transl.jl)