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A new constitution for Europe or far-reaching changes to the existing treaties?
(September 6, 2020)
A new constitution for Europe or far-reaching changes to the existing treaties? The European crisis paradox: the engine of integration or the "pull of technocracy".
The political prerequisites for the implementation of fundamental reforms in the EU currently appear unfavourable; I appreciate all the more any initiative by European federalists and civil society to (re)start this process.
It is important for me to remember that the project for a European constitutional treaty was already well advanced in 2004. On October 29, 2004, the heads of state and government of the European Union signed the Treaty on the European Constitution in Rome. It summarized the previous European treaties and added new elements. The constitution should be ratified by November 1, 2006 by the member states of the European Union. According to the respective national regulations, this was done either by the parliaments or by referendums. In Germany, this took place with the necessary constitution-amending majority of two-thirds in both the Bundestag and Bundesrat.
In France and the Netherlands, the populations rejected the constitution in referendums. As a result, the ratification process was suspended by the EU heads of state and government in June 2005 until further notice.
After long negotiations under the German Council Presidency in the first half of 2007, the heads of state and government agreed in Brussels in June 2007 on a reform treaty, the Treaty of Lisbon, which came into force on December 1, 2009 and contains the essential elements of the constitution.
The subsequent crises - the euro crisis, the Ukraine crisis, the refugee crisis, the Brexit crisis and the Corona crisis - have simultaneously triggered a far-reaching crisis of democracy and confidence in the EU among many citizens since the mid-2000s.
All institutional reforms that could be used to permanently improve the existing flaws and shortcomings of the EU and that require a change in the existing treaties appear to be politically blocked.
Prof. Edgar Grange described this situation concisely in a lecture in 2018 entitled “The new Europe and its crises, ways out of the decision-making traps”.
https://www.pw-portal.de/die-krise-der-europaeischen-union/40796-das-neue-europa-und-seine-krisen
In 2017, the EU Commission published a white paper on the future of Europe and other reflection papers on the social dimension, deepening economic and monetary union, the future of EU finances, defense and globalization.
https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/new-push-european-democracy/conference-future-europe_en
She wanted to initiate a “broad debate” that “includes the whole continent, including the European Parliament, the national parliaments, the regions and municipalities and the entire civil society” (EU Commission 2017, p. 3).
At the end of 2019, the European Parliament and the European Commission announced a conference on the future of Europe, which will formulate new answers for the future of European democracy over the next two years and outline the next steps in European integration. Parliament wants citizens of all backgrounds, civil society representatives and stakeholders at European, national, regional and local levels to be involved in setting the EU's priorities. In line with citizens' concerns, this will be done in a "bottom-up, transparent, inclusive, participatory and balanced approach".
Such a central discussion process has so far obviously not really got going - also due to the Corona crisis.
The politicization and political entanglement trap.
As Edgar Grange succinctly described, the European integration process is not only blocked by conflicts of interest between the member states, but also by the consequences of the crisis of democracy and confidence in the institutions of the EU.
One expression of this loss of trust is the strengthening of new Eurosceptic political movements and parties, but also the increase in intra-party conflicts on European policy issues in the established parties.
However, this politicization has not expanded the decision-making leeway of political decision-makers, but increasingly restricted it: European politics was and has fallen into the "politicization trap":
Any further treaty reform threatened - and still threatens - to fail due to the veto of the voters (especially in national referendums), as was the case with the constitutional treaty of 2005. For these reasons, the reform scenarios presented by the EU Commission do not envisage any changes to the existing treaties. The aim of the commission was reforms of the EU without further politicization of the European topic in the member states.
And yet Europe - precisely because of such political blockades - has been fundamentally changed in recent years. As Edgar Grange describes it, the pressure to act of the crises and their consequences did not allow simply nothing to be done.
The crises have repeatedly forced the European institutions and the governments of the member states to make far-reaching decisions and institutional reforms with far-reaching consequences. But because the path to treaty reforms is politically blocked, Europe has developed in a different way, it has been caught in the “tow of technocracy” (Habermas 2013).
But it was precisely the various crisis management policies and the upheavals they triggered that set in motion a gradual, informal restructuring of the EU, which has fundamentally changed it and will continue to change it.
This is often described as the European crisis paradox: according to this, the European project would not be weakened by crises, but emerged stronger from each one.
The design flaws in contracts in particular have repeatedly been the reason for new integration steps. A best example of this is provided by the most recent EU Council summit, at which fundamental agreements were made on the multi-year EU budget and the special assets of the "Corana reconstruction fund" and their financing.
Civil Society Commitment.
However, the large pro-European and Europe-wide citizens' movements such as the Europa Union and the European federalists are not caught in this "politicization and political entanglement trap" and are not prevented from working widely on their goals of a federal European state and a uniform integrated constitution - neither to generate the lack of motivation from above through activities from below, from civil society. (Habermas 2011, "On the Constitution of Europe" p.128)
I don't think there's any point in starting from scratch.
Rather, it makes sense to take the draft constitution that was negotiated in 2004 as a basis for discussion and to expand it to include the “acquis communautaire” that will exist in 2020.
This should be updated with the solutions found in the multiple crises and opened up for further developments.
The draft constitution is divided in a modern way into a preamble, Part I. Principles, Part II. Charter of Fundamental Rights, Part III. the individual policy areas and part IV. the transitional and final provisions and protocols.
The first part of the constitution regulated the principles of the European Union with definitions, the goals of the Union, its competences, political organs and symbols as well as the principles of its financing and the regulations for joining and leaving the Union.
In the second part, the basic rights for the citizens of the European Union were laid down, which are based on the European Convention on Human Rights.
The rules of the previous treaties were to be replaced by the third part of the constitutional treaty, whereby the convention, in addition to the incorporation of new content, also edited and restructured the existing paragraphs in order to make the text more understandable. This part primarily regulated the processes and details of the principles set out in Part I. In this respect, Part III would have been decisive for the day-to-day practice of EU activities.
Part IV of the constitutional treaty regulated transitional and final provisions, such as the procedure for future constitutional amendments.
The thirty-five protocols that follow the text of the constitution were expressly intended to be part of the constitution and contained, among other things, important regulations to ensure subsidiarity, such as the national parliaments' rights of action and objection, or power issues such as the distribution of votes in the Council and Parliament.
I think that these approaches “from below” should be taken up again.
In view of the large scope and the wide range of topics of the new draft constitution, however, this will not be “trivial” internal hard work and must not only be expressed in general political phrases.
This work requires some capacity and requires the collaboration of all European federalists and the support of external bodies.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/ALL/?uri=OJ:C:2004:310:TOC
With the results of this cooperation we would then be able to make structured, targeted and productive contributions to the forthcoming conferences on the future of Europe and at the same time advertise our concern for a federal European state with a uniform integrated constitution.
(September 11, 2020)
The well-founded forum contribution by peter schulze from 6.9. 20 I gather two essential statements:
- On the one hand, Schulze pleads for a European federal state based on a uniform federal constitution. To this end, he certainly has the main movements and advocates of European integration behind him. We have long left behind the “Europe of fatherlands”, which is based on a contractually regulated internal market.
- Secondly, Schulze pleads for – as I understand some of his statements – the European project wherever there is an opportunity to reform and advance. He writes: "I don't think it makes sense to start from scratch (with the Constitution for Europe)." He goes on to say that the European project has not been weakened by crises but also strengthened and writes of one "creeping informal" restructuring of the EU.
I am not able to answer the question of whether there can be a precise timetable for the sequence of the individual steps – to a certain extent a precise recipe for achieving a European federal state. I have asked this question many times in events and discussions about the future of Europe and have received different answers. Basically, it will be about recognizing possibilities and chances, about the right word at the right time and in the right place. The aim of "Realization of an ever closer union of the peoples of Europe' will be realized in pragmatic steps, sometimes even unexpectedly.
It will be important not to let the integration process go to sleep, not to be satisfied with the status that has been achieved, as has appeared to be the case in recent years. Various crises, and also the speeches of Emmanuel Macron have given impetus. I have high hopes for the Conference on the Future of Europe to be held later this year. Will there be initiatives there to expand the EU Parliament's opportunities to participate, for example by granting the right of initiative in legislation? Will there be any impetus to make the decision-making processes of the European Union more transparent for the citizens, for example at the Council, which has so far met behind closed doors?
Even before getting started on the constitutional project, there is a whole range of options for advancing the European integration process. The approaches lie both in the political and programmatic as well as in the area of EU structures. Schulze refers to the results of the most recent council summit. As part of the Corona reconstruction fund and the multi-year financial framework, the EU will not only spend large amounts of funding, it should also have its own sources of income (e.g. via a plastic tax). What could be more obvious than to install the long-discussed EU finance minister? What could be more obvious than using these investment funds to advance the uniform financial and economic policy that has been discussed since the introduction of the euro? In order to cope with the consequences of the Corona virus, loans are being made available to the member countries to combat unemployment, among other things. What could be more obvious than to enter a permanent system of protection against unemployment?
The elections in the United States on November 3 this year could – should the current President be re-elected – prompt the EU to develop a unified European foreign policy very quickly, as otherwise there is a risk of the erratic action of Donald Trump leading to dubious escapades against Being maneuvered into Russia and China.
The fire and destruction of the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos vividly demonstrates the failure of the EU refugee and asylum policy. A report of the regional newspaper Heilbronner Voice from 10.9. bears the heading: "Catastrophe with announcement". In a comment, the newspaper's EU correspondent mentions Ross and Reiter: "Anyone who is looking for someone to blame should also name them: the cold-bloodedness with which the governments in the east of the Union used the refugees to warn against the Islamization of the West blocked everyone solidarity solution. That's where the guilty sit" (Detlef Drewes: "A symbol", Voice of Heilbronn, September 10.9.20, 30.9). This is certainly true; A number of Eastern European member states turned down the call to show empathy for the people affected and solidarity with the affected Mediterranean countries on nationalist and ideological grounds. But other EU members have also come to terms with the Dublin rules well and for a long time. The commission will be on XNUMX. present their long-awaited proposals on asylum and migration policies. Will this create an opportunity to deepen European integration?
It makes sense to discuss the need for a federal constitution for a European state. One should not forget, however, that there are other areas of work for "European solutions" in addition to the constitutional project. The danger that an EU constitution could fail again because of the "No" of the citizens of one or more member states also has peter schulze addressed. This would be a disaster for the European project.
Andrew Duff drew me to his post yesterday "Five Surgical Strikes on the Treaties of the European Union“, which he published in the European Papers on April 11, 2023.
Andrew Duff is still one of the most important sources of inspiration in Europe, but unfortunately not willing to get directly involved in a discussion here. But he likes to point out that you can comment on his post. You are very welcome to do this here.
I share Duff's negative view that little or nothing is being done by current European decision makers. "Beyond the Parliament, there has been no official preparation for a Convention." Or even "But although the Parliament is well within its rights to take the Council before the European Court of Justice for failure to act, it does not do so."
As I have written elsewhere, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron have Ursula von der Leyen enthroned as president precisely for this reason, so that Europe does not continue to develop in the direction of a European federal state -- vdL is a guarantee for standstill and regression, both beautifully packaged and with a blow-dry, just the way most Europeans love it. And the current German government, whose decision-makers all come from the Merkel dynasty, will do nothing in the direction of a united Europe apart from cheap announcements - who is sawing off their own branch anyway?
Since there will be no constitutional convention, Duff at least proposes "to amend some key articles in order to strengthen the democratic legitimacy of the EU, to make its decision making more agile, and to enhance its capacity to act."
In this regard, he proposes changes in electoral law, in decision-making (“If an emerging democratic polity like the Union is to be well governed, constitutional change should be accepted as a normal and, indeed, regular occurrence.”) Passerelle regulation and a new distribution of competences within the EU.
What's new for me is that he's merging the politically completely dubious "privileged partnerships" -- whatever they may be -- into a "Affiliate Membership" -- probably as a kind of back door for the UK?!
Andrew Duffs proposals all come from the forge of a long-standing and very experienced member of the EU Parliament and can probably only be properly understood or even evaluated by experts in their entirety.
Personally, I continue to believe that a constitutional convention is the only correct solution and that the constant tinkering with the treaties is just a job-creating measure for professional policy, civil servants and advisory staffs. But gladly concede, better that than no progress in Europe at all!
The Spanish federalists have on their VI. UEF ESP Congress in Bilbao on March 3rd and 4th, 2023 adopted the following resolution. This was made today by Alejandro Peinado Garcia sent to all UEF associations for information. I think that this resolution fits the discussion here quite well.
THE EUROPEAN UNION MUST BE MORE FEDERAL
On March 3 and 4, 2023, the IV Congress and General Assembly of UEF Spain was held in Bilbao, in which a group of European citizens commemorated the 75th anniversary of the European Congress held in The Hague in 1948, only three years after the end of World War II. The Hague Congress was convened at the initiative of federalist groups of civil society, and clearly indicated the political objective of the Unity of Europe, which has since been developed with a federal approach to this day, work incompletely. Spain was represented in this event, among others, by political leaders from exile, such as Savior of Madariaga and Indalecio prieto, and also with observers as the Lehendakari Aguirre and Javier de Landaburu.
The second objective of the Bilbao meeting was to reflect on the future of the European Union and the Reforms that it has to address in a new dramatic moment: the war in Ukraine and the resulting geostrategic changes. Just as we were recovering from the pandemic, new challenges have appeared such as inflation and a new economic and social crisis; the need to advance the digitization and decarbonization of our energy system; the deterioration of the quality of democracy and the rule of law; the lack of a common tax system; the development of new social policies and the migratory challenge.
Alarm bells are ringing across Europe with the emergence of extremist and ultranationalist political forces, which may weaken European integration at a time when more Europe is needed.
With these reflections, the federalists of Spain and Europe, we intend to collaborate with the preparatory work of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU that will begin on July 1, 2023. The main conclusion of the UEF Spain Congress is that the European Union has to continue advancing in a more federal way.
The first European urgency is to put an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is a war against European values, and therefore also our war. The European Union must continue to support the Ukrainian government with all the necessary political, humanitarian, economic and military resources, in cooperation with our allies, as well as welcoming refugees.
Federal advances make their way with difficulties and contradictions. For example, the European Central Bank is a federal institution for the eurozone, but the Eurogroup is intergovernmental. The monetary union wants to be federal but it cannot be without the creation of a powerful Treasury and the implementation of common fiscal and social policies. Important steps have recently been taken with the issue of European debt, the approval of the Recovery Plan and the launch of the Next Generation Fund, as well as the provision of new own fiscal resources. The recovery plan must become a permanent instrument; and the European Parliament must be involved in the design and decision-making.
But we have an institutional problem which blocks us and we must overcome it, it is the sterile rule of unanimity in the Council which prevents the EU from adopting the right and timely responses.
Following the adoption of the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe on 9 May 2022, a Convention on the reform of the Treaties needs to be convened, as called for by the European Parliament in June 2022. From UEF Spain we will continue working to achieve the European federation and reduce the space given to intergovernmental agreements, because we must not let governments decide only among themselves the reform of the treaties, we propose a convention so that the voice of citizens and civil society is heard, together with the commission and the European Parliament, national parliaments and consultative institutions such as the Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee.
The Convention shall enshrine a majority rule and ending unanimity among States on many issues, such as foreign policy, security and defence; taxation social policies; immigration and asylum policy. The principle of primacy of European Law must be strengthened over the law of Member States.
The institutions of the European Union must be proactive towards the Member States in order to improve the quality of the democratic system and the rule of law. The European values of Article 2 must be protected even by sanctions to Member States, which cannot currently be applied because of the unanimity rule.
The European Parliament must have the right of legislative initiative and parliamentary scrutiny in all areas, including on the EU's own resources. We demand that the Council reach an agreement with the European Parliament to adopt the pan-European constituency with transnational lists for the next European elections in 2024, and to strengthen European political parties, their presence and symbols in election campaigns. In order to bring the European political system closer to the public, it is essential to open a debate and accountability also at national level. National parliaments must dedicate parliamentary sessions to the debate on European policy, in which the Commission and the European Parliament participate.
Foreign and security policy must include defense competences, and the responsibilities of the High Representative, who should be called the European Ministry of Foreign Affairs, must be increased.
Further institutional reforms are also needed to give the EU new powers. In this way, new policies can be promoted. The pandemic has taught us that it is necessary to move forward to the European Health Union, with new responsibilities for federal coordination and collaboration in public health.
A more open policy for the admission of immigrants is needed, taking into account the protection of human rights and the guarantee of fair treatment of all persons. The right to family reunification, and guardianship for non-accompanied minors, must also be protected. The European Union and the Member States must guarantee international protection to asylum seekers, and put in place a system of sharing and solidarity.
The European Union's policies must be strengthened to deal with the climate emergency, to reduce emissions and to bring about carbon neutrality. To develop the European Green Deal, it will be necessary to have new funds available for the European budget to facilitate the energy transition, which must be socially fair.
It is imperative to complete the Banking Union with a federal system of deposit guarantee funds. It is alarming that disparities between Member States in corporate taxation persist, causing serious strains on the functioning of the internal market.
At the same level as the four fundamental freedoms of the internal market (free movement of goods, persons, services and capital), it is necessary to constitutionalize the European Pillar of Social Rights and implement the European Social Charter in these two aspects. The Charter throughout Europe guarantees the right to housing, health, education, employment, social and legal protection, mobility, and prohibits any form of discrimination. The quality of the European labor and facilitate labor mobility between Member States. European social dialogue and collective negotiation should be promoted; and also the creation of a guaranteed minimum income system, a minimum wage system and unemployment insurance in the EU.
To face these enormous challenges with confidence, the European Union must improve its governance model and strengthen its links with citizens. The New Ventotene Manifesto adopted on August 29, 2022 by the Spinelli Group and other federal sections and activists, constitutes the roadmap that federalists share, since it is time to move towards a Federal Europe. The Spanish Presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2023 must play a very active role in developing the federalist agenda.
In Bilbao on March 4, 2023
Addition: Inflation is stronger than before the euro?
No. The euro has been around for 25 years. On average, the Eurosystem (ECB + national central banks) achieved the inflation target significantly better between 1999 and 2020 than was the case before. The phase of current inflation as a result of the Corona crisis and the supply bottlenecks and the energy crisis has driven up prices worldwide in 2021 and 2022. Inflation has been falling continuously since the end of 2022 and is approaching 2% again.
In addition, the common currency has given Europe stability in various crises.
The common currency supports the domestic market and has helped Germany achieve strong export performance.
Thank you, I have posted your post in the relevant forum. I would also be happy to unlock you for the forum, so you can also actively participate there.
I would like to add to the minutes of the “Europe Now!” discussion group that we participants also debated how “natural” Europe has become, especially for us younger people. Many of us don't know any different. Travel without borders, pay in euros, no customs fees when shopping online, we hardly know any other way. It is important to demonstrate these freedoms in order to arouse interest in Europe.
Likewise, the majority of the group agreed that we are not afraid, but rather feel concern and uncertainty when we observe current developments.
Dear Semin, this addition actually belongs as an answer under the post: https://kuemmerle.name/foren/topic/protokolle-7-hertensteiner-gespraeche#postid-291 by Walther Heipertz. You can find this option as “Answers” immediately to the right below each forum post.
The good thing about it is that everyone involved in the post will then receive a reference to your corresponding answer.
This comment function here is intended for the 'general' of the forum.
Would be a topic for the next round on January 18.1.2023th, XNUMX, right? It's no good if we fill it up alone 😉
As we were able to determine, the half-life of such rounds is not sufficient to fill a forum even remotely. Where non-binding has become a principle, you really have to think about completely new communication channels.
Blogger achievement unlocked! 🏆
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