Many of the biggest anti-ACTA demonstrations yesterday took place in Germany. It is therefore only fair to begin with two German influencers of digital politics. Digitale Gesellschaft @digiges works for democratic participation in the digital world. Netzpolitik @netzpolitik is a blog and a political platform for freedom and openness on the Internet.
FFII (Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure) is a global network of associations campaigning for open standards and patent systems less detrimental to competition. Follow @FFII on Twitter or proceed to the web pages for more.
Glyn Moody @glynmoody is a prolific twitterer and writer, with four updates about ACTA and much else you can find through his blog.
Cory Doctorow @doctorow has a larger following than the vast majority of the politicians called on to ratify or reject ACTA. He yesterday sent the message through BoingBoing that Today is the day to kill ACTA.
The tech journalist David Meyer @superglaze has written a number of illuminating articles about ACTA.
These are some of the organisations, pundits and communicators I recommend following on digital policy (with more recommendations to come).
Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU digital policy and law
P.S. For better or for worse, between the global issues and the national level, the European Union shapes our digital future and online freedoms. More than 900 euroblogs are aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Is your blog already listed among them? Are you following the debates which matter for your future?
Showing posts with label civil society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label civil society. Show all posts
Sunday, 12 February 2012
Monday, 6 February 2012
ACTA: 1.717 million ”misinformed” citizens to ignore
I was reminded by @alexanderhanff on Twitter that the EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht asked members of the European Parliament to disregard public opposition to ACTA (Infojustice). In my view De Gucht's attitude (letter at La Quadrature du Net) is enough to deserve rejection of the Anti-Counterfeiting (and much more) Trade Agreement ACTA (Grahnlaw).
Despite the Commission's efforts [by now legendary] to ”provide all the relevant facts”, according to De Gucht ”the action they take is based on misinformation, or possibly even worse, on wilful misinterpretation of the content of the agreement. This is all the more striking given the fact that ACTA does not change existing EU rules in this area” (letter at La Quadrature du Net).
A few moments ago, there were 1.717 million of these ”misinformed” or ”wilfully misrepresenting” citizens for the MEPs to ignore, as documented by the number of signatures on the Avaaz petition to the European Parliament (and the national parliaments) to reject ACTA.
Admittedly, many citizens are only now awakening to how far EU and national legislation has already incorporated the views of IPR rightholders and to the promised ACTA blessings of ”state-of-the-art provisions on the enforcement of IPR, including provisions on civil, criminal, border and digital environment enforcement measures, robust cooperation mechanisms among ACTA Parties to assist in their enforcement efforts, and the establishment of best practices for effective IPR enforcement” (ACTA proposal).
Civil society is just telling the politicians that voters want an end to IPR fundamentalism and a new start based on equitable rules.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Between the global issues and the national level, the European Union shapes of our digital future and online freedoms. Is your blog already listed among the more than 900 euroblogs aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu? Are you following the debates which matter for your future?
Despite the Commission's efforts [by now legendary] to ”provide all the relevant facts”, according to De Gucht ”the action they take is based on misinformation, or possibly even worse, on wilful misinterpretation of the content of the agreement. This is all the more striking given the fact that ACTA does not change existing EU rules in this area” (letter at La Quadrature du Net).
A few moments ago, there were 1.717 million of these ”misinformed” or ”wilfully misrepresenting” citizens for the MEPs to ignore, as documented by the number of signatures on the Avaaz petition to the European Parliament (and the national parliaments) to reject ACTA.
Admittedly, many citizens are only now awakening to how far EU and national legislation has already incorporated the views of IPR rightholders and to the promised ACTA blessings of ”state-of-the-art provisions on the enforcement of IPR, including provisions on civil, criminal, border and digital environment enforcement measures, robust cooperation mechanisms among ACTA Parties to assist in their enforcement efforts, and the establishment of best practices for effective IPR enforcement” (ACTA proposal).
Civil society is just telling the politicians that voters want an end to IPR fundamentalism and a new start based on equitable rules.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Between the global issues and the national level, the European Union shapes of our digital future and online freedoms. Is your blog already listed among the more than 900 euroblogs aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu? Are you following the debates which matter for your future?
Monday, 6 September 2010
European Commission: Start by publishing Reding’s ‘communication revolution’ plan!
The information leaked to EurActiv remains the main basis for the public discussion about the communication ‘revolution’ planned by commissioner Viviane Reding for the European Commission, but the information is far from complete.
The College of commissioners has discussed Reding’s communication proposals on 1 to 2 September 2010, but we have seen no further information about how the plans were received or what the next steps are going to be.
How the Commission communicates = interacts with 501 million citizen-stakeholders is much more than a matter of internal organisation; it is a fundamental question, especially in the wake of the latest Eurobarometer poll of public opinion in the European Union.
More mundane matters than the Commission’s relationship with the citizens it has been appointed to serve are routinely discussed at length: published in press releases, highlighted in speeches, augmented by independent studies and stakeholder seminars, published for public consultations and later refined as policy proposals.
Tuesday morning 7 September 2010, the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, should use his first “state of the union address” to explain how the European Commission intends to start interacting with the citizens of the European Union in new and better ways, including full disclosure of its approach to communication.
Before any policy or administrative decisions are taken, a public consultation on Reding’s communication plan is an important first step to re-engage with civil society.
Naturally, a wise Commission would then take sensible advice on board.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. The purpose of the European Day of Languages on 26 September 2010 is to inspire you to learn a foreign language.
In this context the European Commission in the UK arranges a Day of Multilingual Blogging, as described by Antonia Mochan on the Euonym blog (Talking about the EU). The UK Representation is joined by the multilingual aggregator Bloggingportal.eu and individual Eurobloggers.
Besides being fun and enriching for your soul, languages are an important business, an advantage when you trade and crucial for landing EU jobs, Antonia tells her British compatriots. (The same goes for other EU countries.)
On the event page on Facebook, 122 European bloggers have already signed up to participate in the pan-European Day of Multilingual Blogging, and 109 may be attending. Join the event!
The Twitter hashtag is #babel.
Have you noticed the multilingual blog aggregator, where you can find the posts from blogs related to EU affairs?
It is called Bloggingportal.eu, and it has grown to collect the entries by 662 Euroblogs. You can access the page with all the new posts or the front page selection, subscribe to RSS feeds for all posts or editors’ choices (front page), and subscribe to the daily and weekly newsletter.
Reading foreign language Euroblogs offers you two benefits: You become better informed about European affairs and you have fun learning languages.
One example: Even without the Day of Multilingual Blogging, I practice multilingual blogging by occasional posts on my Finnish blog Eurooppaoikeus and my Swedish blog Grahnblawg, in addition to more frequent posting on Grahnlaw (in English).
The College of commissioners has discussed Reding’s communication proposals on 1 to 2 September 2010, but we have seen no further information about how the plans were received or what the next steps are going to be.
How the Commission communicates = interacts with 501 million citizen-stakeholders is much more than a matter of internal organisation; it is a fundamental question, especially in the wake of the latest Eurobarometer poll of public opinion in the European Union.
More mundane matters than the Commission’s relationship with the citizens it has been appointed to serve are routinely discussed at length: published in press releases, highlighted in speeches, augmented by independent studies and stakeholder seminars, published for public consultations and later refined as policy proposals.
Tuesday morning 7 September 2010, the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, should use his first “state of the union address” to explain how the European Commission intends to start interacting with the citizens of the European Union in new and better ways, including full disclosure of its approach to communication.
Before any policy or administrative decisions are taken, a public consultation on Reding’s communication plan is an important first step to re-engage with civil society.
Naturally, a wise Commission would then take sensible advice on board.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. The purpose of the European Day of Languages on 26 September 2010 is to inspire you to learn a foreign language.
In this context the European Commission in the UK arranges a Day of Multilingual Blogging, as described by Antonia Mochan on the Euonym blog (Talking about the EU). The UK Representation is joined by the multilingual aggregator Bloggingportal.eu and individual Eurobloggers.
Besides being fun and enriching for your soul, languages are an important business, an advantage when you trade and crucial for landing EU jobs, Antonia tells her British compatriots. (The same goes for other EU countries.)
On the event page on Facebook, 122 European bloggers have already signed up to participate in the pan-European Day of Multilingual Blogging, and 109 may be attending. Join the event!
The Twitter hashtag is #babel.
Have you noticed the multilingual blog aggregator, where you can find the posts from blogs related to EU affairs?
It is called Bloggingportal.eu, and it has grown to collect the entries by 662 Euroblogs. You can access the page with all the new posts or the front page selection, subscribe to RSS feeds for all posts or editors’ choices (front page), and subscribe to the daily and weekly newsletter.
Reading foreign language Euroblogs offers you two benefits: You become better informed about European affairs and you have fun learning languages.
One example: Even without the Day of Multilingual Blogging, I practice multilingual blogging by occasional posts on my Finnish blog Eurooppaoikeus and my Swedish blog Grahnblawg, in addition to more frequent posting on Grahnlaw (in English).
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
Language barriers challenge online campaigning in Europe
The grass root campaigners for a PES Primary we are following have to shovel away without explicit endorsement from the Party of European Socialists (PES) or the formidable resources of its member parties at national level. Lacking a seal of approval from various party headquarters, they also have to overcome general attitude problems among party faithful who wait for a cue. The civil society actors have to surpass inertia and hostility.
In this blog post we look at another critical issue for pan-EU online campaigns: languages.
While an EU-wide campaign can use social media to pass mental barriers and cross national borders, languages are an obstacle and a challenge for civil society actors wanting to get their message across. Babel is a fact of life in Europe.
Without great organisations on their side, the civil society campaigners have to work themselves, build functioning networks through social media, and rely on other volunteers to spread the word in different languages and to drum up support.
The Campaign for a PES Primary has managed to get a helping hand from some Eurobloggers and socialist networks.
The French socialist collective 27roses.eu calls for people to join the Facebook group, as well as to act within their own party at national level.
In German, Martin on Europaeum finds that a primary would bring both the Party of European Socialists and the election to the European Parliament more publicity. Thus it would strengthen the EP.
In Romanian, Dan Luca has posted on the Casa Europei Cluj-Napoca (Europe House) blog, outlining a timetable for an EU-wide primary election for the candidate for the post of Commission President.
Francesca Barca wrote on Europa451.it, contrasting the lack of courage in the 2009 EP election with the level of energy the activists are aiming for in 2014.
I described the campaign on my Swedish blog, Grahnblawg, especially mentioning the Nordic social democratic parties and the competing Europarties being challenged by the PES activists.
On my Finnish blog, Eurooppaoikeus, I told the main things about the PES campaign and how to join it.
The Social Democratic Party in Finland will contribute to the future decision by the Party of European Socialists, but at this stage in Finland as elsewhere, the main question is to reach as many party activists in as many languages as possible, everywhere in the European Union.
The Campaign for a PES Primary is certainly working hard. Desmond O’Toole has just added new posts to the campaign blog, highlighting my entries on attitude obstacles and the presentation in Swedish as well as an entry that the French progressive think tank Eurocité has picked up the 27roses.eu article.
Overcoming linguistic diversity requires much work, but one small step at the time the online campaign is becoming known among socialists, social democrats and labour party members in the European Union.
New members have joined the Facebook campaign page, bringing the number of supporters to 935. The Twitter campaign page @PESPrimary is updated regularly, so social media are in play.
Still we may wonder if the networking efforts of an EU-wide social media campaign can really lift off before the big mainstream media players all over Europe start showing serious interest in this innovative and potentially transformative campaign.
The experiences of this campaign will be relevant for the civil society organisations and networks keen to test the citizens' initiative, when the implementing legislation is in place.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Comments relevant to the topic discussed in each Grahnlaw blog post are most welcome. However, the number of spam comments has skyrocketed. This is the sad reason for comment moderation, so it may take a while before your valued comment appears.
It is easier to understand a language than to use it correctly. As Eurobloggers we could and should promote interaction among Europeans across borders and between linguistic communities. Grahnlaw has adopted a multilingual comment policy:
I do my best to read comments in Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish or Swedish, even if the Grahnlaw blog and my possible replies are in English.
Antonia on the Euonym blog (Talking about the EU) tells us that the European Commission in the UK arranges a Day of Multilingual Blogging on 26 September 2010, and the UK Representation has been joined by the multilingual aggregator Bloggingportal.eu and individual Eurobloggers. Join the event page on Facebook, spread the word through social media and personal contacts, begin preparing your blog posts and start learning a new language.
In this blog post we look at another critical issue for pan-EU online campaigns: languages.
While an EU-wide campaign can use social media to pass mental barriers and cross national borders, languages are an obstacle and a challenge for civil society actors wanting to get their message across. Babel is a fact of life in Europe.
Without great organisations on their side, the civil society campaigners have to work themselves, build functioning networks through social media, and rely on other volunteers to spread the word in different languages and to drum up support.
The Campaign for a PES Primary has managed to get a helping hand from some Eurobloggers and socialist networks.
The French socialist collective 27roses.eu calls for people to join the Facebook group, as well as to act within their own party at national level.
In German, Martin on Europaeum finds that a primary would bring both the Party of European Socialists and the election to the European Parliament more publicity. Thus it would strengthen the EP.
In Romanian, Dan Luca has posted on the Casa Europei Cluj-Napoca (Europe House) blog, outlining a timetable for an EU-wide primary election for the candidate for the post of Commission President.
Francesca Barca wrote on Europa451.it, contrasting the lack of courage in the 2009 EP election with the level of energy the activists are aiming for in 2014.
I described the campaign on my Swedish blog, Grahnblawg, especially mentioning the Nordic social democratic parties and the competing Europarties being challenged by the PES activists.
On my Finnish blog, Eurooppaoikeus, I told the main things about the PES campaign and how to join it.
The Social Democratic Party in Finland will contribute to the future decision by the Party of European Socialists, but at this stage in Finland as elsewhere, the main question is to reach as many party activists in as many languages as possible, everywhere in the European Union.
The Campaign for a PES Primary is certainly working hard. Desmond O’Toole has just added new posts to the campaign blog, highlighting my entries on attitude obstacles and the presentation in Swedish as well as an entry that the French progressive think tank Eurocité has picked up the 27roses.eu article.
Overcoming linguistic diversity requires much work, but one small step at the time the online campaign is becoming known among socialists, social democrats and labour party members in the European Union.
New members have joined the Facebook campaign page, bringing the number of supporters to 935. The Twitter campaign page @PESPrimary is updated regularly, so social media are in play.
Still we may wonder if the networking efforts of an EU-wide social media campaign can really lift off before the big mainstream media players all over Europe start showing serious interest in this innovative and potentially transformative campaign.
The experiences of this campaign will be relevant for the civil society organisations and networks keen to test the citizens' initiative, when the implementing legislation is in place.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Comments relevant to the topic discussed in each Grahnlaw blog post are most welcome. However, the number of spam comments has skyrocketed. This is the sad reason for comment moderation, so it may take a while before your valued comment appears.
It is easier to understand a language than to use it correctly. As Eurobloggers we could and should promote interaction among Europeans across borders and between linguistic communities. Grahnlaw has adopted a multilingual comment policy:
I do my best to read comments in Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish or Swedish, even if the Grahnlaw blog and my possible replies are in English.
Antonia on the Euonym blog (Talking about the EU) tells us that the European Commission in the UK arranges a Day of Multilingual Blogging on 26 September 2010, and the UK Representation has been joined by the multilingual aggregator Bloggingportal.eu and individual Eurobloggers. Join the event page on Facebook, spread the word through social media and personal contacts, begin preparing your blog posts and start learning a new language.
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Online campaign challenges in Europe: Inertia and hostility
Online media, or social media, potentially cross national and linguistic borders, but both attitudes and languages present formidable challenges for Europe-wide campaigns.
Here we take a look at attitudes.
In a blog post on Europaportalen, the Swedish researcher Jakob Larsson, who works in the Institute for Futures Studies (Institutet för framtidsstudier), yesterday wondered at how sluggish media attention given to EU issues is during the run-up to the parliament election on 19 September 2010, despite their obvious importance.
Sweden is not unique. In practically all member states of the European Union political parties and media deal with political and policy issues in a national framework. This reflects voter perceptions, but it also fails to educate the public.
During the Enlightenment, some philosophers managed to propagate new ideas beyond national borders, although most people continued to toil in local communities unaware of the paradigm shift taking place.
Despite great technological advances, Europe remains almost in the same situation. European affairs are still the domain of a minority of well-informed and alert people, who understand the interdependence and interaction between politics and issues at EU level and national level. Attitudes are passive and they change slowly.
Then there are the flat-earthers who actively keep digging deeper trenches, exemplified by EUReferendum. The Battle of Britain drones on, now into its 45th day. This could be an understandable mix of history and nostalgia, were it not based on unadulterated hostility towards everything which binds Europeans together:
A political online campaign for Europe has to contend with two attitude challenges: inertia and prejudice (even hatred).
The Campaign for a PES Primary is an example of an EU-wide political campaign, where party activists have to overcome both tardiness and hostility in order to gain wide enough support.
The Facebook campaign page has now gathered 921 members, and the grass root campaigners hope to reach 1,000 supporters by the end of August.
Not a bad start for a pioneering effort, but what (else) can civil society actors learn from the campaign?
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Comments relevant to the topic discussed in each Grahnlaw blog post are most welcome. However, the number of spam comments has skyrocketed. This is the sad reason for comment moderation, so it may take a while before your valued comment appears.
It is easier to understand a language than to use it correctly. As Eurobloggers we could and should promote interaction among Europeans across borders and between linguistic communities. Grahnlaw has adopted a multilingual comment policy:
I do my best to read comments in Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish or Swedish, even if the Grahnlaw blog and my possible replies are in English.
Antonia on the Euonym blog (Talking about the EU) tells us that the European Commission in the UK arranges a Day of Multilingual Blogging on 26 September 2010, and the UK Representation has been joined by the multilingual aggregator Bloggingportal.eu and individual Eurobloggers. Join the event page on Facebook, spread the word through social media and personal contacts, begin preparing your blog posts and start learning a new language.
Here we take a look at attitudes.
In a blog post on Europaportalen, the Swedish researcher Jakob Larsson, who works in the Institute for Futures Studies (Institutet för framtidsstudier), yesterday wondered at how sluggish media attention given to EU issues is during the run-up to the parliament election on 19 September 2010, despite their obvious importance.
Sweden is not unique. In practically all member states of the European Union political parties and media deal with political and policy issues in a national framework. This reflects voter perceptions, but it also fails to educate the public.
During the Enlightenment, some philosophers managed to propagate new ideas beyond national borders, although most people continued to toil in local communities unaware of the paradigm shift taking place.
Despite great technological advances, Europe remains almost in the same situation. European affairs are still the domain of a minority of well-informed and alert people, who understand the interdependence and interaction between politics and issues at EU level and national level. Attitudes are passive and they change slowly.
Then there are the flat-earthers who actively keep digging deeper trenches, exemplified by EUReferendum. The Battle of Britain drones on, now into its 45th day. This could be an understandable mix of history and nostalgia, were it not based on unadulterated hostility towards everything which binds Europeans together:
Fifty years of European political integration is not uniting us – it is dividing us, turning us back into enemies.
As Frenchmen, Germans, Italians, Spaniards and the rest, they are our friends and allies, and deserve our respect. As "Europeans", they are Frogs, Huns, Ities, Dagos and the rest. They become our enemies and rivals. They get our enmity.
The "colleagues" need to wake up to this before it is too late. Leave us be, without trespassing on the "nooks and crannies" of our daily life and we are friends. Interfere and threaten us, and we are enemies. And they really don't want that. Look what happened last time.
A political online campaign for Europe has to contend with two attitude challenges: inertia and prejudice (even hatred).
The Campaign for a PES Primary is an example of an EU-wide political campaign, where party activists have to overcome both tardiness and hostility in order to gain wide enough support.
The Facebook campaign page has now gathered 921 members, and the grass root campaigners hope to reach 1,000 supporters by the end of August.
Not a bad start for a pioneering effort, but what (else) can civil society actors learn from the campaign?
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Comments relevant to the topic discussed in each Grahnlaw blog post are most welcome. However, the number of spam comments has skyrocketed. This is the sad reason for comment moderation, so it may take a while before your valued comment appears.
It is easier to understand a language than to use it correctly. As Eurobloggers we could and should promote interaction among Europeans across borders and between linguistic communities. Grahnlaw has adopted a multilingual comment policy:
I do my best to read comments in Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish or Swedish, even if the Grahnlaw blog and my possible replies are in English.
Antonia on the Euonym blog (Talking about the EU) tells us that the European Commission in the UK arranges a Day of Multilingual Blogging on 26 September 2010, and the UK Representation has been joined by the multilingual aggregator Bloggingportal.eu and individual Eurobloggers. Join the event page on Facebook, spread the word through social media and personal contacts, begin preparing your blog posts and start learning a new language.
Friday, 4 December 2009
Eurosphere, Euroblog Meet-up and Bloggingportal.eu
Here are some thoughts about the Eurosphere (European public space) after the Euroblog Meet-up initiated by Joe Litobarski, leading to some suggestions concerning limited, but concrete action to improve Bloggingportal.eu by attracting new blogs with a European perspective.
Afterthoughts
Reading this the morning after, the Google Wave discussion got started when I was already at sleep.
I think there were some good ideas, which can grow into something. Nosemonkey's suitably realistic thoughts are a counterweight to pie in the sky.
Social get-togethers between eurobloggers, through Wave, Twitter, Skype and face to face are all good to promote a sense of community.
Small, but concrete
With regard to practical work and possible achievements, I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to do something limited and concrete, rather than create new systems. (These will appear, if the euroblogosphere becomes bigger and more dynamic.)
"Keep it simple, stupid!" tells me that Bloggingportal.eu already exists, and that there is room for new blogs from the EU member states.
Since the idea behind Bloggingportal.eu is to promote discussion on EU themes, or with a European dimension, one natural ally would be to ask the European organisations (Young Federalists, European Movement) to spread the word:
They may have more official blogs, but there are also bloggers among their activists and members.
In my view, these are natural links between national and pan-EU debates on European issues.
***
There is nothing wrong in presenting and discussing the EU institutions:
First of all, I'm guilty as charged, and there are considerable numbers of students engaged in various EU studies (politics, law, economics, communication).
Secondly, the general lack of knowledge about how the European Union is set up and how it works is astounding. (Otherwise the anti-EU part of British media would never get away with their distortions, and the comments sections would not look like crude caricatures of war time propaganda.)
But there are European aspects to practically every area of life, and almost all national level organisations have someone who is engaged with EU level questions or EU projects.
The list is almost endless: Sports, culture, education, business, women...
EU structural funds, agriculture (CAP), fisheries, research, student exchange (Erasmus)...
***
Languages: Someone wrote that all these discussions lead to the issue of languages. Why make it into a problem? Bloggingportal.eu already is multilingual.
(By the way, the greatest unrecognised language in the EU is Russian [not unimportant outside, either]. Could it be added?)
The bloggers themselves are free to choose. Some want to discuss in English (or one of the more widely spoken languages), others in their mother tongue.
I think it's a great system, offering freedom of choice.
If Bloggingportal.eu manages to attract more bloggers, in various languages, the readers have the opportunity to read blogs in other languages, too, which means crossing borders mentally.
Many times more people are able to read one or more foreign languages, than are able to write for publication.
There are also about 10 million intra-EU expats, who live in cross-border situations culturally.
Even if there are expat forums, which are country-specific, I think there would be room for bloggers who specialise in EU level issues related to living in another member state.
More generally, when comparing the host of EU Council meetings these last days and the serious under-reporting in national media (except for a few headline-grabbing dramas) and in blogs, I find that there is an awful lot of room for blogs with some sort of focus on a certain policy area, or even an aspect of one.
Questions and suggestions
1. Should Bloggingportal.eu do something to attract more bloggers, from different EU member states?
2. If so, what can be done?
3. If something can be done: How?
Ralf Grahn
Afterthoughts
Reading this the morning after, the Google Wave discussion got started when I was already at sleep.
I think there were some good ideas, which can grow into something. Nosemonkey's suitably realistic thoughts are a counterweight to pie in the sky.
Social get-togethers between eurobloggers, through Wave, Twitter, Skype and face to face are all good to promote a sense of community.
Small, but concrete
With regard to practical work and possible achievements, I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to do something limited and concrete, rather than create new systems. (These will appear, if the euroblogosphere becomes bigger and more dynamic.)
"Keep it simple, stupid!" tells me that Bloggingportal.eu already exists, and that there is room for new blogs from the EU member states.
Since the idea behind Bloggingportal.eu is to promote discussion on EU themes, or with a European dimension, one natural ally would be to ask the European organisations (Young Federalists, European Movement) to spread the word:
They may have more official blogs, but there are also bloggers among their activists and members.
In my view, these are natural links between national and pan-EU debates on European issues.
***
There is nothing wrong in presenting and discussing the EU institutions:
First of all, I'm guilty as charged, and there are considerable numbers of students engaged in various EU studies (politics, law, economics, communication).
Secondly, the general lack of knowledge about how the European Union is set up and how it works is astounding. (Otherwise the anti-EU part of British media would never get away with their distortions, and the comments sections would not look like crude caricatures of war time propaganda.)
But there are European aspects to practically every area of life, and almost all national level organisations have someone who is engaged with EU level questions or EU projects.
The list is almost endless: Sports, culture, education, business, women...
EU structural funds, agriculture (CAP), fisheries, research, student exchange (Erasmus)...
***
Languages: Someone wrote that all these discussions lead to the issue of languages. Why make it into a problem? Bloggingportal.eu already is multilingual.
(By the way, the greatest unrecognised language in the EU is Russian [not unimportant outside, either]. Could it be added?)
The bloggers themselves are free to choose. Some want to discuss in English (or one of the more widely spoken languages), others in their mother tongue.
I think it's a great system, offering freedom of choice.
If Bloggingportal.eu manages to attract more bloggers, in various languages, the readers have the opportunity to read blogs in other languages, too, which means crossing borders mentally.
Many times more people are able to read one or more foreign languages, than are able to write for publication.
There are also about 10 million intra-EU expats, who live in cross-border situations culturally.
Even if there are expat forums, which are country-specific, I think there would be room for bloggers who specialise in EU level issues related to living in another member state.
More generally, when comparing the host of EU Council meetings these last days and the serious under-reporting in national media (except for a few headline-grabbing dramas) and in blogs, I find that there is an awful lot of room for blogs with some sort of focus on a certain policy area, or even an aspect of one.
Questions and suggestions
1. Should Bloggingportal.eu do something to attract more bloggers, from different EU member states?
2. If so, what can be done?
3. If something can be done: How?
Ralf Grahn
Bloggers of Europe, unite!
I, Resolved to add a few thoughts to the Euroblog Meet-up initiated by Joe Litobarski,
Drawing inspiration from the historic rallying call of the Communist Manifesto,
Recalling the amusement provided by the creation and propagation of the EUSSR myth,
Confirming my attachment to the vision of a vibrant Eurosphere,
Confirming my attachment to the languages of the European Union,
Desiring to encourage bloggers to read and discuss European issues of common concern,
Desiring to facilitate communication by and with EU citizens living in another member state,
Resolved to promote unity in diversity among Eurobloggers,
Have, with the sole voice of a citizen, in good and due form, decided to call on organisations and individuals active in European affairs to list their blogs on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu.
Done at leisure on the fourth day of December in the year two thousand and nine.
List of signatory reproduced: Ralf Grahn, EU citizen
Drawing inspiration from the historic rallying call of the Communist Manifesto,
Recalling the amusement provided by the creation and propagation of the EUSSR myth,
Confirming my attachment to the vision of a vibrant Eurosphere,
Confirming my attachment to the languages of the European Union,
Desiring to encourage bloggers to read and discuss European issues of common concern,
Desiring to facilitate communication by and with EU citizens living in another member state,
Resolved to promote unity in diversity among Eurobloggers,
Have, with the sole voice of a citizen, in good and due form, decided to call on organisations and individuals active in European affairs to list their blogs on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu.
Done at leisure on the fourth day of December in the year two thousand and nine.
List of signatory reproduced: Ralf Grahn, EU citizen
Saturday, 28 November 2009
EU & USA: SWIFT agreement ─ Euroblogs and civil society
Is the proposed SWIFT financial data transfer agreement between the European Union and the United States of America an example of how civil society and Euroblogs take up important societal issues, where our governments are less than forthcoming?
I have not traced the matters to their roots, but I suspect that without active citizens and bloggers neither main stream media nor governments would have reacted. (Correct me if I am wrong.)
Before we see what happens Monday on the Swedish EU Council presidency watch, here are some examples of active Euroblogs, which at least have contributed to raising public awareness of privacy, data protection and fundamental rights concerns in relation to the SWIFT agreement.
Euroblogs
Netzpolitik.org
As far as I understand, Netzpolitik.org – a blog and platform for freedom and openness in the digital age – has been active in making the secretive SWIFT deal public. See, under the tag “swift”, for instance the following blog posts (in German). Without going back the whole way, here are some examples, including leaked documents and assessments of their quality:
SWIFT: Bundesregierung ist umgekippt (25 November 2009)
Geheimes Dokument zeigt die schmutzigen Tricks bei den SWIFT-Verhandlungen (24 November 2009)
Bundesregierung kippt bei SWIFT (24 November 2009)
Einigung bei Bankdatenübermittlung an die USA? (11 November 2009)
SWIFT-Debatte im EU-Parlament (16 September 2009)
Brussels Blogger
I was only vaguely aware of the SWIFT agreement preparations, until i read Brussels Blogger: SWIFT – EU to grant USA nearly unlimited access to all EU banking data (26 November 2009) and 5 reasons why the SWIFT deal is very bad for Europe (27 November 2009).
Julien Frisch took up the issue in EU to hand all banking details of Europeans to the US. A rapidly growing Facebook group demands that the deal is stopped.
Blogosphere
Now that I have noticed the shady procedure and less than forthright official communication about the proposed SWIFT deal, I have stumbled across other blog posts about the issue. Here are a few examples:
Zero Hedge, Marla Singer: Pull a SWIFT one (27 November 2009) refers to Brussels Blogger and notes that for the United States there is all take and no give.
Der Spiegelfechter: SWIFT-Abkommen – Showdown in Berlin (27 November 2009) alleges that the German federal government wanted to adopt the SWIFT agreement “soundlessly”, but unexpectedly the Bundesrat – the second chamber representing the Länder – has vetoed the accord, which requires unanimity between EU member state governments.
Ralphs Piratenblog: [PM] Geheime Tricks bei der Durchsetzung des SWIFT-Abkommens (26 November 2009) notes that the German Pirate Party is opposed to the agreement. As it is, through US based servers the United States have wider powers in Germany than the German security services. There are document references to Netzpolitik.
***
We have seen active citizens stand up for open and democratic procedures and Euroblogs championing fundamental rights across national borders and language barriers.
In my humble view, there is an emerging Eurosphere, or European public sphere, despite the national media traditions and perspectives, and the pesky Euroblogosphere is a small, but growing part of it.
My own conclusion from the SWIFT agreement debacle would be the following wish to the EU institutions and public administrations in the member states: Be open to us and deal fairly; we will be more reasonable and trustful in return.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Do you find EUSSR myths fascinating? Are we EU citizens worth a better European Union? Educate yourself! There are already 487 Euroblogs aggregated on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. You can access all the posts or concentrate on the editors’ choice. On most of the blogs you can comment and discuss our common European future.
I have not traced the matters to their roots, but I suspect that without active citizens and bloggers neither main stream media nor governments would have reacted. (Correct me if I am wrong.)
Before we see what happens Monday on the Swedish EU Council presidency watch, here are some examples of active Euroblogs, which at least have contributed to raising public awareness of privacy, data protection and fundamental rights concerns in relation to the SWIFT agreement.
Euroblogs
Netzpolitik.org
As far as I understand, Netzpolitik.org – a blog and platform for freedom and openness in the digital age – has been active in making the secretive SWIFT deal public. See, under the tag “swift”, for instance the following blog posts (in German). Without going back the whole way, here are some examples, including leaked documents and assessments of their quality:
SWIFT: Bundesregierung ist umgekippt (25 November 2009)
Geheimes Dokument zeigt die schmutzigen Tricks bei den SWIFT-Verhandlungen (24 November 2009)
Bundesregierung kippt bei SWIFT (24 November 2009)
Einigung bei Bankdatenübermittlung an die USA? (11 November 2009)
SWIFT-Debatte im EU-Parlament (16 September 2009)
Brussels Blogger
I was only vaguely aware of the SWIFT agreement preparations, until i read Brussels Blogger: SWIFT – EU to grant USA nearly unlimited access to all EU banking data (26 November 2009) and 5 reasons why the SWIFT deal is very bad for Europe (27 November 2009).
Julien Frisch took up the issue in EU to hand all banking details of Europeans to the US. A rapidly growing Facebook group demands that the deal is stopped.
Blogosphere
Now that I have noticed the shady procedure and less than forthright official communication about the proposed SWIFT deal, I have stumbled across other blog posts about the issue. Here are a few examples:
Zero Hedge, Marla Singer: Pull a SWIFT one (27 November 2009) refers to Brussels Blogger and notes that for the United States there is all take and no give.
Der Spiegelfechter: SWIFT-Abkommen – Showdown in Berlin (27 November 2009) alleges that the German federal government wanted to adopt the SWIFT agreement “soundlessly”, but unexpectedly the Bundesrat – the second chamber representing the Länder – has vetoed the accord, which requires unanimity between EU member state governments.
Ralphs Piratenblog: [PM] Geheime Tricks bei der Durchsetzung des SWIFT-Abkommens (26 November 2009) notes that the German Pirate Party is opposed to the agreement. As it is, through US based servers the United States have wider powers in Germany than the German security services. There are document references to Netzpolitik.
***
We have seen active citizens stand up for open and democratic procedures and Euroblogs championing fundamental rights across national borders and language barriers.
In my humble view, there is an emerging Eurosphere, or European public sphere, despite the national media traditions and perspectives, and the pesky Euroblogosphere is a small, but growing part of it.
My own conclusion from the SWIFT agreement debacle would be the following wish to the EU institutions and public administrations in the member states: Be open to us and deal fairly; we will be more reasonable and trustful in return.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Do you find EUSSR myths fascinating? Are we EU citizens worth a better European Union? Educate yourself! There are already 487 Euroblogs aggregated on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. You can access all the posts or concentrate on the editors’ choice. On most of the blogs you can comment and discuss our common European future.
Sunday, 15 November 2009
President of the European Council vote
Eurobloggers have actively spread the word about the vote arranged by Fondation Robert Schuman between some of the personalities officially in the running or presumed to be candidates for the new post of president of the European Council, to be decided by the heads of government or state on 19 November 2009.
Here are some of the blog posts about the vote on the president of the European Council:
Eurosocialist(e): The best of the web: vote for the European Council President (11 November 2009)
European Union Law, Vihar Georgiev: Now You Can Choose the President of the European Council (13 November 2009)
Grahnlaw, Ralf Grahn: Final ratification of EU Lisbon Treaty – finally (14 November 2009)
Grahnlaw, Ralf Grahn: Your vote for the(ir) President of the European Council! (14 November 2009)
The European Citizen, Conor Slowey: You shouldn’t get to vote for the President of the European Council (14 November 2009)
***
The European Citizen
Most of the blog posts mentioned encourage EU citizens to express their opinion, by voting between the candidates on offer (NB Not all candidates are there).
The European Citizen discusses the new post in terms of principles: The chairman of the European Council should not be directly elected, but open election procedures are called for. Arguing for opaqueness is ridiculous.
Openness
I broadly agree with The European Citizen, although I see the (s)election procedures as a sad illustration of intergovernmental cooperation. This is what you get, if you want a European Union of “freely cooperating, sovereign nation states”.
But for those, like The European Citizen, who want a (more) democratic European Union, the official black-out concerning candidates and most member states’ preferences, as well as the priority given to the sensitivities of our national leaders are a disgrace. The secrecy makes a mockery out of the basic Lisbon Treaty principle of a union “in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen”.
The first acts under the Lisbon Treaty run contrary to its basic aims.
At national level, politicians have to endure the rigours of election campaigns. How can it be right that at European level their feelings should be spared?
It is as if the winner of the national football cup should be allowed to participate in the European cup without publicity, in order not to hurt the team’s feelings, if it happens to lose. Why is it impossible to continue playing at national level, come Monday?
Wrong model
Valéry Giscard d’Estaing’s presidential ambitions for this post make it an anomaly, as if we needed a French presidential democracy in the EU. France is the exception, not the rule, in European traditions of representative democracy.
Anything beyond a chairman complicates the structure of the European Union, potentially leading to turf wars between the president of the European Council, the high representative and the president of the Commission.
When the time for reform comes, it is not a presidential democracy, but a parliamentary system, built on proportional representation, which is the right model. In this I agree with The European Citizen.
The Commission is the germ of the future government, based on the results of the European Parliament elections.
***
Participate in the poll
Even if there is little reason to enhance the role of the president of the European Council, the poll arranged by the Fondation Robert Schuman is important in its own way.
Lively participation shows that EU citizens are interested and engaged, and that is a sign of health.
I see this vote as a wake-up call for a better union, where the citizens set the course for government.
The Holy Alliance is not the model for the future European Union in the 21st century, and our leaders should finally begin to accept that.
I strongly urge all EU citizens to participate in the Fondation Robert Schuman poll.
***
The candidates
The candidates on offer in the Fondation Robert Schuman poll are, in alphabetical order: Jan Peter Balkenende, Tony Blair, Jean-Claude Juncker, Herman Van Rompuy and Vaira Vike-Freiberga.
The president of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, has openly declared that he is in the running to become either president of the European Council or high representative, but he is not among the listed candidates.
According to Javno, the president of the European Parliament, Poland’s Jerzy Buzek, yesterday called for José Maria Aznar, the conservative former prime minister of Spain, to become the new president of the European Council.
***
My suggestion is: Show the engagement of civil society by voting for one of the candidates on offer, or show your support for another candidate by commenting on blogs or using other suitable means.
Participation does not preclude you from advocating a sounder structure for the future union.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Do you find EUSSR myths fascinating? Are we EU citizens worth a better European Union? Read the Euroblogs aggregated on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, and discuss our common future.
Here are some of the blog posts about the vote on the president of the European Council:
Eurosocialist(e): The best of the web: vote for the European Council President (11 November 2009)
European Union Law, Vihar Georgiev: Now You Can Choose the President of the European Council (13 November 2009)
Grahnlaw, Ralf Grahn: Final ratification of EU Lisbon Treaty – finally (14 November 2009)
Grahnlaw, Ralf Grahn: Your vote for the(ir) President of the European Council! (14 November 2009)
The European Citizen, Conor Slowey: You shouldn’t get to vote for the President of the European Council (14 November 2009)
***
The European Citizen
Most of the blog posts mentioned encourage EU citizens to express their opinion, by voting between the candidates on offer (NB Not all candidates are there).
The European Citizen discusses the new post in terms of principles: The chairman of the European Council should not be directly elected, but open election procedures are called for. Arguing for opaqueness is ridiculous.
Openness
I broadly agree with The European Citizen, although I see the (s)election procedures as a sad illustration of intergovernmental cooperation. This is what you get, if you want a European Union of “freely cooperating, sovereign nation states”.
But for those, like The European Citizen, who want a (more) democratic European Union, the official black-out concerning candidates and most member states’ preferences, as well as the priority given to the sensitivities of our national leaders are a disgrace. The secrecy makes a mockery out of the basic Lisbon Treaty principle of a union “in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen”.
The first acts under the Lisbon Treaty run contrary to its basic aims.
At national level, politicians have to endure the rigours of election campaigns. How can it be right that at European level their feelings should be spared?
It is as if the winner of the national football cup should be allowed to participate in the European cup without publicity, in order not to hurt the team’s feelings, if it happens to lose. Why is it impossible to continue playing at national level, come Monday?
Wrong model
Valéry Giscard d’Estaing’s presidential ambitions for this post make it an anomaly, as if we needed a French presidential democracy in the EU. France is the exception, not the rule, in European traditions of representative democracy.
Anything beyond a chairman complicates the structure of the European Union, potentially leading to turf wars between the president of the European Council, the high representative and the president of the Commission.
When the time for reform comes, it is not a presidential democracy, but a parliamentary system, built on proportional representation, which is the right model. In this I agree with The European Citizen.
The Commission is the germ of the future government, based on the results of the European Parliament elections.
***
Participate in the poll
Even if there is little reason to enhance the role of the president of the European Council, the poll arranged by the Fondation Robert Schuman is important in its own way.
Lively participation shows that EU citizens are interested and engaged, and that is a sign of health.
I see this vote as a wake-up call for a better union, where the citizens set the course for government.
The Holy Alliance is not the model for the future European Union in the 21st century, and our leaders should finally begin to accept that.
I strongly urge all EU citizens to participate in the Fondation Robert Schuman poll.
***
The candidates
The candidates on offer in the Fondation Robert Schuman poll are, in alphabetical order: Jan Peter Balkenende, Tony Blair, Jean-Claude Juncker, Herman Van Rompuy and Vaira Vike-Freiberga.
The president of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, has openly declared that he is in the running to become either president of the European Council or high representative, but he is not among the listed candidates.
According to Javno, the president of the European Parliament, Poland’s Jerzy Buzek, yesterday called for José Maria Aznar, the conservative former prime minister of Spain, to become the new president of the European Council.
***
My suggestion is: Show the engagement of civil society by voting for one of the candidates on offer, or show your support for another candidate by commenting on blogs or using other suitable means.
Participation does not preclude you from advocating a sounder structure for the future union.
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Do you find EUSSR myths fascinating? Are we EU citizens worth a better European Union? Read the Euroblogs aggregated on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, and discuss our common future.
Sunday, 19 April 2009
European Union: Organised civil society programme
The advisory European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) consists of representatives of organised civil society, and the provisions are found in Articles 257 to 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC).
The EESC (or ESC) has adopted and launched A Programme for Europe: proposals of civil society.
On 40 pages the organised interest groups of European society have defined their views on the economic recovery and the upcoming European elections.
The EESC hopes to contribute to the development of an inclusive and mutually supportive European model, which must lead to stronger coordination between economic and political rules based on cooperation and integration strategies.
Participatory democracy
The EESC sees participatory dialogue as a complement to representative democracy. The Committee – not surprisingly – emphasises the role of representative civil society, and it proposes an institutional platform for civil dialogue as a contribution to its development.
The EESC does not propose reforms with regard to EU level representative democracy.
Ralf Grahn
The EESC (or ESC) has adopted and launched A Programme for Europe: proposals of civil society.
On 40 pages the organised interest groups of European society have defined their views on the economic recovery and the upcoming European elections.
The EESC hopes to contribute to the development of an inclusive and mutually supportive European model, which must lead to stronger coordination between economic and political rules based on cooperation and integration strategies.
Participatory democracy
The EESC sees participatory dialogue as a complement to representative democracy. The Committee – not surprisingly – emphasises the role of representative civil society, and it proposes an institutional platform for civil dialogue as a contribution to its development.
The EESC does not propose reforms with regard to EU level representative democracy.
Ralf Grahn
Saturday, 1 March 2008
EU TFEU: Openness, transparency and access to documents
It looks like a contradiction in terms: The intergovernmental conference, in secret, produces inaccessible amending treaties for the European Union, but meant to improve good governance, legislation in public, the participation of civil society, as well as openness and transparency.
The Council then refuses to publish readable, consolidated versions of the Lisbon Treaty, to further underline the chasm between principles and practices.
Whatever it is, I fear European leaders even when they bring gifts.
***
Let nobody deny the intergovernmental conference a keen sense of humour. In the Treaty of Lisbon (ToL) the IGC 2007 documented its determination to promote good governance, the participation of civil society, openness and transparency as follows (Official Journal 17.12.2007 C 306/49-50):
28) An Article 16 A shall be inserted, with the wording of Article 255; it shall be amended as
follows:
(a) paragraph 1 shall be preceded by the following text, paragraph 1 being renumbered 3 and paragraphs 2 and 3 becoming subparagraphs:
‘1. In order to promote good governance and ensure the participation of civil society, the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies shall conduct their work as openly as possible.
2. The European Parliament shall meet in public, as shall the Council when considering and voting on a draft legislative act.’;
(b) in paragraph 1, renumbered 3, which shall become the first subparagraph of paragraph 3, a change shall be made to the French which does not concern the English version. The words ‘European Parliament, Council and Commission documents’ shall be replaced by ‘documents of the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies, whatever their medium’ and the words ‘paragraphs 2 and 3’ shall be replaced by the words ‘this paragraph’;
(c) in paragraph 2, which shall become the second subparagraph of paragraph 1, renumbered 3, the words ‘by means of regulations’ shall be inserted after ‘shall be determined by the Council’ and the words ‘within two years of the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam’ shall be deleted;
(d) in paragraph 3, which shall become the third subparagraph of paragraph 1, renumbered 3, the words ‘referred to above shall elaborate’ shall be replaced by ‘shall ensure that its proceedings are transparent and shall elaborate’, the words ‘, in accordance with the regulations referred to in the second subparagraph’ shall be inserted at the end of the subparagraph and the following two new subparagraphs shall be added:
‘The Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the European Investment Bank shall be subject to this paragraph only when exercising their administrative tasks.
The European Parliament and the Council shall ensure publication of the documents relating to the legislative procedures under the terms laid down by the regulation referred to in the second subparagraph.’.
***
The amended Article is based on of the current Article 255 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC), so the missing link is found in the latest consolidated version of the treaties in OJ 29.12.2006 C 321 E/156-157:
Article 255 TEC
1. Any citizen of the Union, and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State, shall have a right of access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, subject to the principles and the conditions to be defined in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3.
2. General principles and limits on grounds of public or private interest governing this right of access to documents shall be determined by the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 within two years of the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam.
3. Each institution referred to above shall elaborate in its own Rules of Procedure specific provisions regarding access to its documents.
***
A few moments of happy tinkering are needed to open up the noble intentions of the IGC 2007, and to produce a consolidated version of the new Article 16a of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU ToL). Under Part One Principles, Title II Provisions having general application, we should have the following new or amended provision, although it is extremely easy to miss a horizontal amendment or to make some other mistake:
Article 16a TFEU (ToL), after renumbering Article 15 TFEU
1. In order to promote good governance and ensure the participation of civil society, the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies shall conduct their work as openly as possible.
2. The European Parliament shall meet in public, as shall the Council when considering and voting on a draft legislative act.
3. Any citizen of the Union, and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State, shall have a right of access to documents of the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies, whatever their medium, subject to the principles and the conditions to be defined in accordance with this paragraph.
General principles and limits on grounds of public or private interest governing this right of access to documents shall be determined by the European Parliament and the Council by means of regulations, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure.
Each institution, body, office or agency shall ensure that its proceedings are transparent and shall elaborate in its own Rules of Procedure specific provisions regarding access to its documents, in accordance with the regulations referred to in the second subparagraph.
The Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the European Investment Bank shall be subject to this paragraph only when exercising their administrative tasks.
The European Parliament and the Council shall ensure publication of the documents relating to the legislative procedures under the terms laid down by the regulation referred to in the second subparagraph.
***
The European Convention, in Part I, Title VI The democratic life of the Union, proposed the following Article I-49 of the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (OJ 18.7.2003 C 169/20):
Article 49 Draft Constitution
Transparency of the proceedings of Union Institutions
1. In order to promote good governance and ensure the participation of civil society, the Union Institutions, bodies and agencies shall conduct their work as openly as possible.
2. The European Parliament shall meet in public, as shall the Council of Ministers when examining and adopting a legislative proposal.
3. Any citizen of the Union, and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State shall have a right of access to documents of the Union Institutions, bodies and agencies in whatever form they are produced, in accordance with the conditions laid down in Part III.
4. A European law shall lay down the general principles and limits which, on grounds of public or private interest, govern the right of access to such documents.
5. Each Institution, body or agency referred to in paragraph 3 shall determine in its own rules of procedure specific provisions regarding access to its documents, in accordance with the European law referred to in paragraph 4.
***
In addition, Article III-305 of the draft Constitution, under Part III The policies and functioning of the Union, Title VI The functioning of the Union, Section 4 Provisions common to Union institutions, bodies and agencies, is of interest (OJ 18.7.2003 C 169/85):
Article III-305 Draft Constitution
1. The Institutions, bodies and agencies of the Union shall recognise the importance of transparency in their work and shall, in application of Article I-49, lay down in their rules of procedure the specific provisions for public access to documents. The Court of Justice and the European Central Bank shall be subject to the provisions of Article I-49(3) when exercising their administrative tasks.
2. The European Parliament and the Council of Ministers shall ensure publication of the documents relating to the legislative procedures.
***
For easy comparison we take retrieve the main corresponding provisions of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. First, in Part I, Title VI The democratic life of the Union, Article I-50 (OJ 16.12.2004 C 310/35):
Article I-50 Constitution
Transparency of the proceedings of Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies
1. In order to promote good governance and ensure the participation of civil society, the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies shall conduct their work as openly as possible.
2. The European Parliament shall meet in public, as shall the Council when considering and voting on a draft legislative act.
3. Any citizen of the Union, and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State shall have, under the conditions laid down in Part III, a right of access to documents of the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies, whatever their medium.
European laws shall lay down the general principles and limits which, on grounds of public or private interest, govern the right of access to such documents.
4. Each institution, body, office or agency shall determine in its own rules of procedure specific provisions regarding access to its documents, in accordance with the European laws referred to in paragraph 3.
***
Second, we fetch Article III-399 of the Constitutional Treaty, in Part III The policies and functioning of the Union, Title VI The functioning of the Union, Chapter I Provisions governing the institutions, Section 4 Provisions common to the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies (OJ 16.12.2004 C 310/172):
Article III-399 Constitution
1. The institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union shall ensure transparency in their work and shall, pursuant to Article I-50, determine in their rules of procedure specific provisions for public access to their documents. The Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the European Investment Bank shall be subject to the provisions of Article I-50(3) and to this Article only when exercising their administrative tasks.
2. The European Parliament and the Council shall ensure publication of the documents relating to the legislative procedures under the terms laid down by the European law referred to in Article I-50(3).
***
Having served you the drafting history from the current TEC, through the draft Constitution and the Constitution, to the Lisbon Treaty, I leave it to you to compare the stages and to draw your own conclusions on how the principles of openness and transparency, including the right of access to documents, are going to advance according to the Lisbon Reform Treaty.
After all the self-congratulatory words by EU notables on the Lisbon Treaty, I prefer to ruminate on the vote this week of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) not to publish even a censored version of the internal audit report on a sample of MEPs’ expenses.
Ralf Grahn
The Council then refuses to publish readable, consolidated versions of the Lisbon Treaty, to further underline the chasm between principles and practices.
Whatever it is, I fear European leaders even when they bring gifts.
***
Let nobody deny the intergovernmental conference a keen sense of humour. In the Treaty of Lisbon (ToL) the IGC 2007 documented its determination to promote good governance, the participation of civil society, openness and transparency as follows (Official Journal 17.12.2007 C 306/49-50):
28) An Article 16 A shall be inserted, with the wording of Article 255; it shall be amended as
follows:
(a) paragraph 1 shall be preceded by the following text, paragraph 1 being renumbered 3 and paragraphs 2 and 3 becoming subparagraphs:
‘1. In order to promote good governance and ensure the participation of civil society, the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies shall conduct their work as openly as possible.
2. The European Parliament shall meet in public, as shall the Council when considering and voting on a draft legislative act.’;
(b) in paragraph 1, renumbered 3, which shall become the first subparagraph of paragraph 3, a change shall be made to the French which does not concern the English version. The words ‘European Parliament, Council and Commission documents’ shall be replaced by ‘documents of the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies, whatever their medium’ and the words ‘paragraphs 2 and 3’ shall be replaced by the words ‘this paragraph’;
(c) in paragraph 2, which shall become the second subparagraph of paragraph 1, renumbered 3, the words ‘by means of regulations’ shall be inserted after ‘shall be determined by the Council’ and the words ‘within two years of the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam’ shall be deleted;
(d) in paragraph 3, which shall become the third subparagraph of paragraph 1, renumbered 3, the words ‘referred to above shall elaborate’ shall be replaced by ‘shall ensure that its proceedings are transparent and shall elaborate’, the words ‘, in accordance with the regulations referred to in the second subparagraph’ shall be inserted at the end of the subparagraph and the following two new subparagraphs shall be added:
‘The Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the European Investment Bank shall be subject to this paragraph only when exercising their administrative tasks.
The European Parliament and the Council shall ensure publication of the documents relating to the legislative procedures under the terms laid down by the regulation referred to in the second subparagraph.’.
***
The amended Article is based on of the current Article 255 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC), so the missing link is found in the latest consolidated version of the treaties in OJ 29.12.2006 C 321 E/156-157:
Article 255 TEC
1. Any citizen of the Union, and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State, shall have a right of access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, subject to the principles and the conditions to be defined in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3.
2. General principles and limits on grounds of public or private interest governing this right of access to documents shall be determined by the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 within two years of the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam.
3. Each institution referred to above shall elaborate in its own Rules of Procedure specific provisions regarding access to its documents.
***
A few moments of happy tinkering are needed to open up the noble intentions of the IGC 2007, and to produce a consolidated version of the new Article 16a of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU ToL). Under Part One Principles, Title II Provisions having general application, we should have the following new or amended provision, although it is extremely easy to miss a horizontal amendment or to make some other mistake:
Article 16a TFEU (ToL), after renumbering Article 15 TFEU
1. In order to promote good governance and ensure the participation of civil society, the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies shall conduct their work as openly as possible.
2. The European Parliament shall meet in public, as shall the Council when considering and voting on a draft legislative act.
3. Any citizen of the Union, and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State, shall have a right of access to documents of the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies, whatever their medium, subject to the principles and the conditions to be defined in accordance with this paragraph.
General principles and limits on grounds of public or private interest governing this right of access to documents shall be determined by the European Parliament and the Council by means of regulations, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure.
Each institution, body, office or agency shall ensure that its proceedings are transparent and shall elaborate in its own Rules of Procedure specific provisions regarding access to its documents, in accordance with the regulations referred to in the second subparagraph.
The Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the European Investment Bank shall be subject to this paragraph only when exercising their administrative tasks.
The European Parliament and the Council shall ensure publication of the documents relating to the legislative procedures under the terms laid down by the regulation referred to in the second subparagraph.
***
The European Convention, in Part I, Title VI The democratic life of the Union, proposed the following Article I-49 of the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (OJ 18.7.2003 C 169/20):
Article 49 Draft Constitution
Transparency of the proceedings of Union Institutions
1. In order to promote good governance and ensure the participation of civil society, the Union Institutions, bodies and agencies shall conduct their work as openly as possible.
2. The European Parliament shall meet in public, as shall the Council of Ministers when examining and adopting a legislative proposal.
3. Any citizen of the Union, and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State shall have a right of access to documents of the Union Institutions, bodies and agencies in whatever form they are produced, in accordance with the conditions laid down in Part III.
4. A European law shall lay down the general principles and limits which, on grounds of public or private interest, govern the right of access to such documents.
5. Each Institution, body or agency referred to in paragraph 3 shall determine in its own rules of procedure specific provisions regarding access to its documents, in accordance with the European law referred to in paragraph 4.
***
In addition, Article III-305 of the draft Constitution, under Part III The policies and functioning of the Union, Title VI The functioning of the Union, Section 4 Provisions common to Union institutions, bodies and agencies, is of interest (OJ 18.7.2003 C 169/85):
Article III-305 Draft Constitution
1. The Institutions, bodies and agencies of the Union shall recognise the importance of transparency in their work and shall, in application of Article I-49, lay down in their rules of procedure the specific provisions for public access to documents. The Court of Justice and the European Central Bank shall be subject to the provisions of Article I-49(3) when exercising their administrative tasks.
2. The European Parliament and the Council of Ministers shall ensure publication of the documents relating to the legislative procedures.
***
For easy comparison we take retrieve the main corresponding provisions of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. First, in Part I, Title VI The democratic life of the Union, Article I-50 (OJ 16.12.2004 C 310/35):
Article I-50 Constitution
Transparency of the proceedings of Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies
1. In order to promote good governance and ensure the participation of civil society, the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies shall conduct their work as openly as possible.
2. The European Parliament shall meet in public, as shall the Council when considering and voting on a draft legislative act.
3. Any citizen of the Union, and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State shall have, under the conditions laid down in Part III, a right of access to documents of the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies, whatever their medium.
European laws shall lay down the general principles and limits which, on grounds of public or private interest, govern the right of access to such documents.
4. Each institution, body, office or agency shall determine in its own rules of procedure specific provisions regarding access to its documents, in accordance with the European laws referred to in paragraph 3.
***
Second, we fetch Article III-399 of the Constitutional Treaty, in Part III The policies and functioning of the Union, Title VI The functioning of the Union, Chapter I Provisions governing the institutions, Section 4 Provisions common to the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies (OJ 16.12.2004 C 310/172):
Article III-399 Constitution
1. The institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union shall ensure transparency in their work and shall, pursuant to Article I-50, determine in their rules of procedure specific provisions for public access to their documents. The Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the European Investment Bank shall be subject to the provisions of Article I-50(3) and to this Article only when exercising their administrative tasks.
2. The European Parliament and the Council shall ensure publication of the documents relating to the legislative procedures under the terms laid down by the European law referred to in Article I-50(3).
***
Having served you the drafting history from the current TEC, through the draft Constitution and the Constitution, to the Lisbon Treaty, I leave it to you to compare the stages and to draw your own conclusions on how the principles of openness and transparency, including the right of access to documents, are going to advance according to the Lisbon Reform Treaty.
After all the self-congratulatory words by EU notables on the Lisbon Treaty, I prefer to ruminate on the vote this week of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) not to publish even a censored version of the internal audit report on a sample of MEPs’ expenses.
Ralf Grahn
Friday, 28 December 2007
EU Treaty of Lisbon: participatory democracy
Representative democracy is the basic rule of EU governance (Article 8a amended TEU), although only partially developed. Citizens’ participation in addition to European and national elections is complementary.
The Convention proposed a new Article on participatory democracy. Much of the contents are codified practice, enshrined in secondary legislation and evolved within the framework of improved governance. Still, giving these practices of information, dialogue and consultation treaty status is an improvement.
***
The citizens at large are mainly offered the possibility to express their opinions, but this at least presupposes that information on legislative proposals and planned actions is freely available.
Representative associations and (organised) civil society is given a somewhat more privileged position, including open, transparent and regular dialogue. Selectivity and means to participate can influence the conduct of such dialogues.
Interestingly, Article 8b(1)-(2) places an obligation on all the EU institutions, although it is difficult to see how the intergovernmental European Council and Council as well as the European Central Bank have acted on or plan to fulfil their obligations. Traditionally, they deal behind closed doors and only report the results after the fact.
Are we going to experience a miracle when the Lisbon Treaty is in force, the Treaty itself being a prime example of how not to communicate?
***
The European Commission has an obligation to consult stakeholders (parties concerned). Since the European Parliament is usually involved as a co-legislator, there are some checks on selectivity and partiality.
The fundamental questions concerning the basic structure of the European Union, the content of the Treaties, resources and expenditure as well as foreign, security and defence policy remain outside the effective reach of the European Commission, the European Parliament, citizens, civil society and “stakeholders”. Intergovernmentalism remains the black hole until later reforms.
***
The real innovation of the Convention was the pan-European citizens’ initiative. It can be seen as a safety valve, giving active groups of citizens the possibility to mobilise in order to demand EU legislation on a certain topic.
One would suppose that the European Commission has at least the obligation to give a reasoned reply, if it has received more than a million signatures from a sufficient number of member states.
At the same time, the citizens’ initiative is severely limited, since it is restricted to questions within the powers of the European Commission. Treaty matters and intergovernmental areas, which actually could mobilise citizens, are excluded.
For instance, the One seat campaign concerning the waste caused by the European Parliament’s regular exoduses to its formal seat in Strasbourg, was not only raised before there was a Treaty clause on citizens’ initiatives. The seats of the institutions have been fought over and decided by the governments of the member states, annexed to the Treaties and subject to veto powers. The Commission has no powers to legislate.
But citizens and NGOs are creative and active. Let us wait and see what they will present as citizens’ initiatives when the Treaty of Lisbon is in force.
***
Drafting history: The draft Treaty of the Convention introduced a new Article I-46 on participative democracy, which with a slightly altered fourth paragraph became Article I-47 of the Constitutional Treaty with the headline The principle of participatory democracy.
In the Lisbon Treaty, the three first paragraphs and the first subparagraph of paragraph 4 of Article 8b have the same wording as the Constitution, except for the fact that the “Commission” is called the “European Commission”.
Article 8b(4) TEU second subparagraph builds on the end of the Constitution Article I-47(4) and concerns the legislative procedures and conditions required for a citizens’ initiative, referring to Article 21 TFEU.
***
The Treaty of Lisbon (OJ 17.12.2007, C 306/1) introduces a new Article 8b:
Article 8b
1. The institutions shall by appropriate means, give citizens and representative associations the opportunity to make known and publicly exchange their views in all areas of Union action.
2. The institutions shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society.
3. The European Commission shall carry out broad consultations with parties concerned in order to ensure that the Union’s actions are coherent and transparent.
4. Not less than one million citizens who are nationals of a significant number of Member States may take the initiative of inviting the European Commission, within the framework of its powers, to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the Union is required for the purpose of implementing the Treaties.
The procedures and conditions required for such a citizens’ initiative shall be determined in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 21 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
***
The following look at the Treaty of Lisbon is going to concern the role of National Parliaments.
Ralf Grahn
The Convention proposed a new Article on participatory democracy. Much of the contents are codified practice, enshrined in secondary legislation and evolved within the framework of improved governance. Still, giving these practices of information, dialogue and consultation treaty status is an improvement.
***
The citizens at large are mainly offered the possibility to express their opinions, but this at least presupposes that information on legislative proposals and planned actions is freely available.
Representative associations and (organised) civil society is given a somewhat more privileged position, including open, transparent and regular dialogue. Selectivity and means to participate can influence the conduct of such dialogues.
Interestingly, Article 8b(1)-(2) places an obligation on all the EU institutions, although it is difficult to see how the intergovernmental European Council and Council as well as the European Central Bank have acted on or plan to fulfil their obligations. Traditionally, they deal behind closed doors and only report the results after the fact.
Are we going to experience a miracle when the Lisbon Treaty is in force, the Treaty itself being a prime example of how not to communicate?
***
The European Commission has an obligation to consult stakeholders (parties concerned). Since the European Parliament is usually involved as a co-legislator, there are some checks on selectivity and partiality.
The fundamental questions concerning the basic structure of the European Union, the content of the Treaties, resources and expenditure as well as foreign, security and defence policy remain outside the effective reach of the European Commission, the European Parliament, citizens, civil society and “stakeholders”. Intergovernmentalism remains the black hole until later reforms.
***
The real innovation of the Convention was the pan-European citizens’ initiative. It can be seen as a safety valve, giving active groups of citizens the possibility to mobilise in order to demand EU legislation on a certain topic.
One would suppose that the European Commission has at least the obligation to give a reasoned reply, if it has received more than a million signatures from a sufficient number of member states.
At the same time, the citizens’ initiative is severely limited, since it is restricted to questions within the powers of the European Commission. Treaty matters and intergovernmental areas, which actually could mobilise citizens, are excluded.
For instance, the One seat campaign concerning the waste caused by the European Parliament’s regular exoduses to its formal seat in Strasbourg, was not only raised before there was a Treaty clause on citizens’ initiatives. The seats of the institutions have been fought over and decided by the governments of the member states, annexed to the Treaties and subject to veto powers. The Commission has no powers to legislate.
But citizens and NGOs are creative and active. Let us wait and see what they will present as citizens’ initiatives when the Treaty of Lisbon is in force.
***
Drafting history: The draft Treaty of the Convention introduced a new Article I-46 on participative democracy, which with a slightly altered fourth paragraph became Article I-47 of the Constitutional Treaty with the headline The principle of participatory democracy.
In the Lisbon Treaty, the three first paragraphs and the first subparagraph of paragraph 4 of Article 8b have the same wording as the Constitution, except for the fact that the “Commission” is called the “European Commission”.
Article 8b(4) TEU second subparagraph builds on the end of the Constitution Article I-47(4) and concerns the legislative procedures and conditions required for a citizens’ initiative, referring to Article 21 TFEU.
***
The Treaty of Lisbon (OJ 17.12.2007, C 306/1) introduces a new Article 8b:
Article 8b
1. The institutions shall by appropriate means, give citizens and representative associations the opportunity to make known and publicly exchange their views in all areas of Union action.
2. The institutions shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society.
3. The European Commission shall carry out broad consultations with parties concerned in order to ensure that the Union’s actions are coherent and transparent.
4. Not less than one million citizens who are nationals of a significant number of Member States may take the initiative of inviting the European Commission, within the framework of its powers, to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the Union is required for the purpose of implementing the Treaties.
The procedures and conditions required for such a citizens’ initiative shall be determined in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 21 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
***
The following look at the Treaty of Lisbon is going to concern the role of National Parliaments.
Ralf Grahn
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
EU transparency test
The Reform Treaty or Lisbon Treaty itself of the European Union is going to be the main test of its democratic principles, especially transparency. It is generally known that it is impossible to get a general picture of the EU if you read only the amendments included in the amending treaties. Therefore, you have to compare the existing treaties with the amending treaties, paragraph by paragraph; a tedious task.
This is putting an unfair burden on interested citizens (and experts). I have called for instant publication on the web of the entire updated treaties, consolidated versions, to be made accessible to every citizen of the EU, in all the official languages.
The main responsibility lies with the Council. The following alternative (if the Commission or the European Parliament does not step in) is publication by the individual governments of the member states. If even that fails, we have to hope for civic-minded action by think-tanks and scientific research institutes.
***
The new EU Treaty should inspire the Council to do its utmost to satisfy all calls for relevant information:
“Every citizen shall have the right to participate in the democratic life of the Union. Decisions shall be taken as openly and as closely as possible to the citizen.” (proposed article 8a paragraph 3)
“The institutions shall, by appropriate means, give citizens and representative associations the opportunity to make known and publicly exchange their views in all areas of Union action.” (proposed article 8b paragraph 1)
“The institutions shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society.” (proposed article 8b parargraph 2)
***
The same spirit of openness permeates the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union:
“In order to promote good governance and ensure the participation of civil society, the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies shall conduct their work as openly as possible.” (proposed article 15 paragraph 1)
***
We have seen the commendable principles the governments have endorsed on behalf of the European Union and themselves.
Consolidated versions of the new treaties are sorely needed. When do we get them? Who publishes them?
Ralf Grahn
This is putting an unfair burden on interested citizens (and experts). I have called for instant publication on the web of the entire updated treaties, consolidated versions, to be made accessible to every citizen of the EU, in all the official languages.
The main responsibility lies with the Council. The following alternative (if the Commission or the European Parliament does not step in) is publication by the individual governments of the member states. If even that fails, we have to hope for civic-minded action by think-tanks and scientific research institutes.
***
The new EU Treaty should inspire the Council to do its utmost to satisfy all calls for relevant information:
“Every citizen shall have the right to participate in the democratic life of the Union. Decisions shall be taken as openly and as closely as possible to the citizen.” (proposed article 8a paragraph 3)
“The institutions shall, by appropriate means, give citizens and representative associations the opportunity to make known and publicly exchange their views in all areas of Union action.” (proposed article 8b paragraph 1)
“The institutions shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society.” (proposed article 8b parargraph 2)
***
The same spirit of openness permeates the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union:
“In order to promote good governance and ensure the participation of civil society, the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies shall conduct their work as openly as possible.” (proposed article 15 paragraph 1)
***
We have seen the commendable principles the governments have endorsed on behalf of the European Union and themselves.
Consolidated versions of the new treaties are sorely needed. When do we get them? Who publishes them?
Ralf Grahn
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