More Europe Manifesto proposes fiscal and social harmonisation

A group of Spanish eurobloggers has launched an appeal for More Europe, in order to overcome the crises in the eurozone and the wider European Union.

You can read and sign the appeal on the More Europe blog. You can participate in the Twitter discussion @moreurope, hashtag #moreurope, and help to spread the word.

The initiators act as EU citizens. Thus they want to build on European achievements important for ordinary people. Their appeal is now available in eight languages.

After stating the need for greater European integration, their fourth proposal aims at establishing fiscal and social harmonisation in the eurozone.

“More Europe” Statement

Given the dramatic social situation in many Member States caused by the economical crisis and the anti-European voices predicting the breakup of the Economic and Monetary Union, the undersigned ask for More Europe.

We consider it is necessary to move to a greater European integration in order to address the current situation of social and economic crisis affecting Europe and for this reason we will join our forces as European citizens. To achieve our goal we claim that:

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4) We consider it is urgent to establish a fiscal and social harmonization. Having in account the voices rising daily in the international arena by questioning the strength of an unprecedented monetary union in human history, we believe the more similar the economic instruments and social benefits in the eurozone are, the more reinforce the welfare state will be.

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Since the initiators want to establish fiscal harmonisation in the eurozone, they probably aim for more conclusive measures than those already in use (Wikipedia point 3.5).

Their demands on social harmonisation seems to lead to the same conclusion. See Social chapter in Wikipedia article on EU law and separate article. The Manifesto mentions economic instruments and social benefits.

The proposal can be seen as an opening in the debate about the need for more convergence regarding competitiveness in the internal market, or at least among countries sharing the euro currency.

These questions are controversial in the wider European Union. Forces in the United Kingdom are lobbying for opting out of EU social provisions (repatriation), and many of the new member states see their lower wages as one of their main competitive advantages.


More Europe proposals

I have mentioned the More Europe initiative of the Spanish eurobloggers in earlier posts: announcement, free movement, EU symbols and education about European integration.



Ralf Grahn