Future of Europe: European Parliament’s vision

It is possible to find overviews in Reader’s Digest style of the most notable Future of Europe initiatives.

The annotated version of president Jean-Claude Juncker’s State of the Union 2017 address, with the sub-heading Proposals for the future of Europe that can be implemented on the basis of the Lisbon Treaty, demonstrates how the flexibilities of the EU treaties can be used to improve the effectiveness of European Union action, without embarking on a formal process of treaty reform.

European Parliament and Juncker proposals

Already at headline level we notice a high degree of similarity with one of the EU reform resolutions from the European Parliament:

European Parliament resolution P8_TA(2017)0049 of 16 February 2017 on improving the functioning of the European Union building on the potential of the Lisbon Treaty (2014/2249(INI)) [rapporteurs Elmar Brok and Mercedes Bresso]

The European Parliament Think Tank did a bit more, by comparing Juncker’s SOTEU proposals with the resolution by the EP plenary. For our purposes it is enough to recall the general drift of the document The European Council and the 2017 State of the Union proposals, which describes Juncker’s vision for a more united, stronger and more democratic Europe:

His vision consists of five proposals which would require a decision by the European Council, as well as one suggestion which would directly impact on the composition and working methods of this EU institution. The five proposals are: 1) using the general passerelle clause to shift from unanimity to qualified majority voting (QMV) in the Council on remaining internal market issues and aspects of taxation policy; 2) moving to QMV in the field of Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP); 3) setting up a European Defence Union; 4) extending the competences of the European Public Prosecutor's Office; 5) agreeing on a new composition for the European Parliament, including transnational lists. The additional suggestion is to merge the positions of President of the European Council and European Commission.

In principle, all proposed initiatives could be carried out without a Treaty change. The Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) include a series of clauses enabling the European Council to go beyond the current status quo. In three cases, the European Council would need the consent of the European Parliament before taking its decision. A comparison between President Juncker's proposals and the views of the European Parliament indicates that their opinions overlap regarding four of the ideas, while on one of them, discussions in the Parliament are still ongoing (see Table 1 below).

In each case, the Juncker proposal, the treaty basis and the European Parliament view are presented.

Since the directly elected European Parliament represents the citizens of the union, and the European Commission promotes the general interest of the EU, their views are often similar.

Juncker and Macron

The in-house think tank of the European Commission, the European Political Strategy Centre EPSC, published a Juncker-Macron comparison available in English, French and German: Two Visions, One Direction: Plans for the future of Europe as laid out in President Juncker’s State of the Union and President Macron’s Initiative for Europe.

The summary of this comparative assessment is telling (page 2):

Out of the proposals put forward by President Macron in his speech of 27 September, about 80% are already proposed or foreseen in the European Commission’s work programme, as outlined on 13 September in President Juncker’s Letter of Intent to European Parliament President Antonio Tajani and to Estonian Prime Minister Jüri Ratas.

Naturally, each proposal is compared and commented on.

European Parliament vision

The EP has presented its view on the need for EU reform in the publication Future of Europe: European Parliament sets out its vision.

President Antonio Tajani states the view of the European Parliament (page 1):

If the EU is to be more responsive to citizens’ expectations and democratically accountable, it must first boost its capacity to act and make the euro zone more resilient to economic shocks, whilst making full use of the Lisbon Treaty. But to go further, it needs to reform itself more substantially.

The views of the European Parliament in various policy areas are at the centre, but these opinions are compared with the proposals from Juncker and Macron.

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I have not yet found other language versions of the publication about the EP’s vision on the future of Europe, but maybe one of my queries will receive a response.

Ralf Grahn

European Council: United we’re stuck?

After the 18 October 2017 tripartite social summit the president  Donald Tusk offered an optimistic view on the role of the European Council (EUCO) for the future of Europe in general and the deepening of the economic and monetary union (EMU) in particular:

From all quarters, there is now a new willingness to energise and enrich our work, draw on new ideas, maintain our unity and increase the dynamism of the EU. I will be calling on leaders to work together according to a strict timetable on the issues we have identified as the most pressing, from migration to EMU reform, where we are deadlocked and where the Gordian knot needs to be cut.

The day before, Tusk had presented his Leaders’ Agenda, based on how the heads of state had implemented the tasks they had set themselves in Bratislava last autumn and in their Rome declaration in March 2017. On twelve pages the document Implementing the Bratislava Roadmap ticks off various actions without analysis of effectiveness or efficiency, nor does it offer a critical framework for evaluating if the goals and actions are commensurate with the the challenges.

On the basis of this implementation report, who would know that due to the member state governments the economic and monetary union (EMU), with a euro area population of 341 million and the second most important reserve currency in the world, still stands on clay feet: feeble, complicated, opaque and undemocratic?

As an indirect, but honest admission of the failings of the national governments, Tusk’s Leaders’ Agenda proposed to the European Council that “we should further step up our efforts and re-energise our work, and, to this effect, set out clearly what we intend to deliver.”

According to the so called Leaders’ Agenda being discussed by the European Council right now, between now and June 2019, thirteen regular EUCO meetings or summits are supposed to deal with a number of subject headlines, a few EU reform issues for each meeting. For the deadlocked issues - quite a lot of them there are - decision notes are promised along the road.

The idea of a longer period of thematic European Council meetings was tried, as proposed by Herman Van Rompuy, the then president of EUCO. Even if I appreciate a systematic and structured approach to strategic issues, I really don’t know if the interests of EU citizens and businesses were better served by these thematic meetings (or the erratic crisis summitry which was the imprint of the Sarkozy era in France).  

Let us see if president Tusk’s optimistic description and principles in the EUCO invitation letter are going to make the heads of state or government change their spots more easily than the leopard.

Is it going to be easier, or even possible to advance according to Tusk’s unity mantra; he keeps repeating: as long as I am here, I will be the guardian of European unity. It is not only my formal role as the President of the European Council, but - above all - it is my true belief. Because unity is, in fact, our most important strength.

It is great that all member states of the European Union are invited to participate and to advance. But does Tusk mean that treaty reform and flexibility are excluded, leaving only enhanced or structured cooperation as a way forward for a group of frustrated member states? (Opaque, ineffective and anti-democratic intergovernmental cooperation is not exactly the future of Europe model I would want to see.)

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Tusk’s invitation letter and Leaders Agenda discuss issues as if EUCO were part of the solution. But what should be done if the union of heads of states or government (member state governments) is the cause of poor outcomes for EU citizens and businesses, powers at the European  insufficient for real security and progress for Europeans, and if the European Council is an obstacle on the road to full democratic rights for the citizens of the union?

Ralf Grahn

Future of Europe to meet European Council

We are approaching the moment of truth. Let us wait for the “Leaders’ Agenda” president Donald Tusk is going to present to the European Council (EUCO), before we definitively state that the EU27 heads of state or government have become impetus takers, instead of impetus providers, as they imagined in Article 15(1) TEU. But the years since the Lisbon Treaty entered into force have revealed the limitations of an intergovernmental EU, while the world has become even more challenging.

The novelty is that there is an ongoing future of Europe debate. Clearer views about the need for capability and democracy have reached EU institutions, with reform winds in the European Parliament, the European Commission and even parts of the European Council.

 

European Parliament

In the aftermath of the UK’s Brexit referendum, the European Parliament adopted a 28 June 2016 resolution on the need for a better European Union, based on using the Lisbon Treaty to the full and completed by a revision of the Treaties. On 16 February 2017 the Parliament elaborated on the theme through three resolutions: one on utilising the flexibilities of the Lisbon Treaty, a second on treaty reform proper, and a third one about creating a budgetary capacity for the euro area (EPRS note).

The one plus three European Parliament resolutions are P8_TA(2016)0294, followed by P8_TA(2017)0049, P8_TA(2017)0048 and P8_TA(2017)0050.  

Juncker Commission

The president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker used his State of the Union 2017 (SOTEU) address SPEECH/17/3165 to outline proposals for the near future (draft Commission Work Programme for 2018), as well as more long-term initiatives  to make the EU more capable, by using the flexibilities of the EU treaties. (The State of the Union 2017 web page offers a convenient brochure and other references for those interested.)

Well before the SOTEU speech, starting 1 March 2017, the Juncker Commission launched a public debate on the future of Europe. First came the White Paper:

White Paper on the Future of Europe: Reflections and scenarios for the EU27 by 2025; Brussels, 1.3.2017 COM(2017) 2025 final

The White Paper contained analysis and five imaginary scenarios based on conflicting ambitions for the future of the European project. The White Paper promised to deliver further food for thought and debate (page 18):

The European Commission will contribute to that discussion in the months ahead with a series of reflection papers on the following topics:

• developing the social dimension of Europe;

• deepening the Economic and Monetary Union, on the basis of the Five Presidents' Report of June 2015;

• harnessing globalisation;

• the future of Europe’s defence;

• the future of EU finances.

Known as Reflection papers and stimulating public discussion beyond the Rome Declaration from the EU27 leaders, the five documents are:

Reflection paper on the social dimension of Europe; Brussels, 26.4.2017 COM(2017) 206 final

Reflection paper on harnessing globalisation; Brussels, 10.5.2017 COM(2017) 240 final

Reflection paper on the deepening of the economic and monetary union; Brussels, 31.5.2017 COM(2017) 291 final

Reflection paper on the future of European defence; Brussels, 7.6.2017 COM(2017) 315 final

Reflection paper on the future of EU finances; Brussels, 28.6.2017 COM(2017) 358 final  

Because I have used references to the austere but readable Eur-Lex versions, I owe a mention to those who prefer the pastel coloured “printed” versions of the Commission’s White Paper and Reflection papers (including the annexes) that they can be found through the web page White paper on the future of Europe and the way forward.  

Twitter reflects at least parts of the multilingual pan-European public debate under the hashtag #FutureOfEurope.

President Macron

On 26 September 2017 the Sorbonne speech of the president of France Emmanuel Macron was an eloquent call for European sovereignty in a challenging, even dangerous world. The president sprinkled his speech with examples of reforms to make the European Union more capable and resilient.

President Macron has told the public that France is going to recognise the symbols of the European Union at the EUCO meeting next week. This probably means a notification to join the declaration 52 by 16 EU member states annexed to the treaties. This would be an opportunity for ten remaining EU27 to follow suit. You find the declaration on page 355 of the consolidated EU Treaties (2016).

New interventions and discussion regardings Macron’s EU reform ideas may appear under the Twitter hashtag #InitiativeEurope.

European Economic and Social Committee

The consultative European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has taken initial steps in the discussion about the future of Europe, by adopting a preliminary resolution on 5 July 2017 and by publishing a compilation of national consultations of organized civil society on the White Paper on the Future of Europe (216 pages). The EESC is preparing an opinion.

Committee of the Regions

According to president Karl-Heinz Lambertz, the consultative European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is preparing an opinion on the future of Europe to be delivered next year (page 8).

Ralf Grahn

Future of Europe: relaunch through democratic conventions?

In the latest blog post we saw that Emmanuel Macron proposed democratic conventions to relaunch Europe, at least from the start of the En marche ! movement. As we saw, he has returned to this idea a number of times, but the substance remained vague ahead of the president’s speech at the Sorbonne.

The lack of clarity impacts the possibilities to discuss many issues related to the initiative regarding the role of EU citizens, the “democratic conventions”, so our next job is to check if Macron’s speech made things any clearer.

Sovereign, united, democratic Europe

Tuesday, 26 September 2017, the French president Emmanuel Macron spoke at the Sorbonne about overhauling and and relaunching political Europe, based on a strategic vision, an Initiative for Europe: a sovereign, united, democratic Europe.

The text of the marathon speech is complemented by French and English four-page summaries of the proposals. The hashtags #InitiativeEurope and #FutureOfEurope provide opportunities to follow the ongoing discussion about our common future.

Despite a lot of French twists, rarely have the leaders of the member states offered the citizens of the European Union lucid analysis packed with as many practical steps to take as Macron presented in his speech, proposals the current EU27 leaders are going to hear this evening. With enthusiasm, Macron has made the right choice between Myopia and Utopia.  

Macron wants to make democracy the essence of the European project. He wants willing governments to launch “democratic conventions” as an open, free, transparent and European debate, in order to relaunch the European project, but he did not add much organisational clarity to his earlier speeches:

C’est pourquoi, si nous voulons avancer à nouveau, je souhaite que nous passions par des conventions démocratiques qui feront partie intégrante de la refondation européenne. Je souhaite qu’une fois que nous aurons défini des termes simples d’une feuille de route partagée par les principaux gouvernements qui seront prêts à aller dans ce sens, nous puissions, pendant six mois, l’année prochaine, dans tous les pays qui le souhaitent, organiser autour des mêmes questions un vaste débat pour identifier les priorités, les préoccupations, les idées qui nourriront notre feuille de route pour l’Europe de demain. Remettre les choses dans le bon ordre, au lieu de demander, en fin de course, perclus de fantasmes et d’incompréhension, si c’est oui ou si c’est non, sur un texte illisible, écrit dans le secret, organisons un débat ouvert, libre, transparent, européen pour construire ce projet qui donner enfin un contenu et un enjeu à nos élections européennes de 2019.  

The directly elected European Parliament should become the heart of the European project, in part through transnational lists.

The “democratic conventions”, without democratic legitimacy but with potential for some interaction, seem to boil down to town hall meetings in willing EU member states. However, the substantial reforms require a stronger democratic role for EU citizens through the European Parliament.

Ralf Grahn

Future of Europe: idea of democratic conventions

Our latest blog posts have looked at the citizens of the European Union as passengers or participants on the EU reform and Future of Europe bus.

In this article we are going to track the idea of democratic citizens’ conventions meant to rebuild political Europe, ahead of the informal discussion among EU27 heads of state or government this evening in Tallinn.

Democratic conventions?

In the State of the Union 2017 brochure section Letter on the Roadmap for a more united, stronger and more democratic Union (page 105), president Juncker addressed the presidents of the European Parliament and the European Council, as well as the leaders of the current and following presidency countries of the Council of the European Union until the elections to the European Parliament in June 2019: Estonia, Bulgaria, Austria and Romania.

Juncker recalled that he set out his intentions for the Commission Work Programme (CWP 2018) in his State of the Union 2017 speech, but also addressed the medium to long term of their Union. The leaders should use the current window of opportunity and engage in a broader reform of their Union, advancing like this:

I would like to work together with you to ensure that this Roadmap is discussed, developed and pursued jointly with all EU27 Heads of State or Government, all EU Institutions and the national Parliaments of our Member States. I support the idea of President Macron to organise democratic conventions across Europe in 2018 to accompany this important work on our common future. These democratic conventions could build on the experience of the Commission in organising more than 300 Citizens’ Dialogues over the past three years.

I would welcome an initial discussion on the future of Europe and on this concrete Roadmap at our informal dinner in Tallinn on 28 September. Additional EU27 meetings during 2018 and 2019 may also provide appropriate occasions for further deepening our common work.

En marche !

Le Monde reported generally on Emmanuel Macron’s launch 4 October 2016 of his En marche ! movement in Strasbourg, the French city with the aura of European institutions.  

In other words Macron had not yet become an official presidential candidate, but he already laid out plans to ‘bring European democracy to life’. For our own purposes,  we are better served by  Euractiv with an interest in European affairs; here a link to the original Euractiv story in French: Macron veut refonder la représentativité, y compris européenne.   

Macron’s proposals included offering the seats formerly occupied by the UK’s MEPs to members elected from a pan-European list. For him it was essential to bring European democracy to life, to give it a strong foundation and vitality. He wanted his followers to survey people door-to-door all over Europe. EU reform should not be decided behind closed doors, but by organising democratic conventions in every country in Europe to try to come up with a shared vision for Europe. Macron stressed the need for Europe to be built on new foundations (refondée) and for democratic participation.

Congrès de Versailles

Macron has returned to the theme of democratic conventions. Experiencing trouble with the search function on the Elysée website, I found that BFMTV provides us with the text of his address on the plans for his 5-year presidency to the joint session of both chambers of parliament on 3 July 2017: Le discours d’Emmanuel Macron au Congrès de Versailles, where he stressed the necessity of the European project for our future and the launch of democratic citizens’ conventions.

But what are these democratic conventions? Euractiv.fr tells us in the report Macron relance l’idée de conventions démocratiques en Europe (3 July 2017):

La formule de ces conventions devrait être très souple, en fonction des différents pays, l’idée étant de faire remonter des idées des Européens, comme le mouvement En Marche a pu le faire lors de sa propre campagne. Un marketing itinérant sur la base du porte à porte qui avait bien fonctionné en France.

In this video excerpt Macron argues that the remake of Europe shall begin through first principles and democratic conventions.

Pnyx hill in Athens  

In Athens on 7 September 2017 president Macron continued the theme of remaking Europe in a speech delivered in Athens:

Ceux qui aiment l'Europe doivent pouvoir la critiquer pour la refaire, pour la corriger, pour l'améliorer, pour la refonder !

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Alors oui, c'est pour parler de ces espérances, de ces trois espérances, de souveraineté, de démocratie et de confiance que je suis là ce soir.

There is an English version of the speech after the French text; the translations come from there:

Those who love Europe should be able to criticize Europe to rebuild it, correct it, improve it, rebuild it!

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Indeed, I am here tonight to talk about these hopes, these three hopes of sovereignty, democracy and confidence.

(Both refaire and refonder have been translated by rebuild in the same sentence.)

European sovereignty, democracy and confidence are necessary, they require institutional reform and Macron promised to present a roadmap during the coming weeks. This requires courage to regain the road of democracy:

Cela passera d'abord par une autre méthode pour refonder l'Europe, voilà pourquoi je souhaite que cette feuille de route que je veux proposer à l'ensemble des États membres de l'Union européenne, cette feuille de route pour construire l'avenir de notre Europe sur les dix années qui viennent, je ne propose pas que ce soit un traité négocié en catimini, que ce soit un texte discuté derrière des portes dans une salle obscure à Paris, Bruxelles ou Berlin, non je propose que nous essayons une méthode nouvelle, que d'ici la fin de l'année, nous puissions construire les grands principes de la démarche, ce vers où nous voulons emmener notre Europe, de définir nos objectifs de manière claire et que nous puissions à partir du début de l'année prochaine les soumettre aux peuples européens. Que partout où les dirigeants choisiront de suivre cette voie, et je le souhaite avec ardeur, dans chacun des Etats membres, nous puissions pendant six mois organiser des consultations, des conventions démocratiques qui seront le temps durant lequel partout dans nos pays nos peuples discuteront de l'Europe dont ils veulent.  

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Alors oui par ces conventions démocratiques durant six mois, débattons de cette feuille de route que les gouvernements auront construite dans ses principes et retrouvons-nous six mois plus tard pour en faire la synthèse et sur cette base, débattue, partagée par des débats sur le terrain, par des débats numériques partout en Europe, construisons ce qui sera le fondement d'une réinvention de notre Europe pour les dix ans, les quinze ans, qui viennent, construisons les termes de ce que nous voulons vraiment ensemble. C'est cette ambition que je veux en méthode pour les mois qui viennent !

The English translation:

That will require, first and foremost, a new method to overhaul Europe. That is why I want this roadmap that I intend to propose to all EU Member States – this roadmap to build the future of our Europe over the next decade – not to involve a treaty negotiated sneakily behind closed doors in Paris, Brussels or Belin. No, I propose that we try a new method: that by the end of the year, we sketch out the major principles of our approach, where we want to take our Europe, and define our objectives clearly. We can then, at the beginning of next year, submit those principles and objectives to the peoples of Europe. I propose that wherever leaders choose to take this path – something I hope for most earnestly – in each of the Member States, we organize six months of consultations, democratic conventions that will be an opportunity for our peoples, throughout our countries, to discuss the Europe they want to see.

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So yes, through these six months of democratic conventions, we should debate this roadmap, the principles for which the governments will have designed, and then we can meet again to reconcile them and, on that basis, after debate, including grassroots debate locally and digital debates across Europe. Then we can build what will be the foundations for an overhaul of Europe for the coming ten, fifteen years, we can build the terms of what we really want together. That is the ambition I want to see as a method in the coming months.

At this stage we see the contours of the idea: heads of state or government or  ministers agreeing this autumn on some sort of roadmap for EU reform discussion, followed by six months of national ‘democratic conventions’ plus an (EU-wide?) online debate about the future of Europe ten or fifteen years hence. Is it correct this far?

Next, we have to check if president Macron made any clarifications when he spoke at the Sorbonne.

Ralf Grahn