More Europe Manifesto calls for European Electoral Act

After my latest post about a single seat for the European Parliament, we return to More Europe. In order to overcome the crises in the eurozone and the wider European Union, a group of Spanish eurobloggers has launched an appeal for More Europe.

You can read and sign the appeal on the More Europe blog. You can participate in the Twitter discussion @moreurope and under the hashtag #moreurope, and you can help to spread the word among citizens of the European Union.

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

After stating the need for greater European integration, their seventh proposal aims at an electoral Act for the European Parliament.

“More Europe” Statement

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

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

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7) We propose the creation of a European Electoral Act to regulate European Parliament elections. This measure will prevent European Parliament elections campaigns to develop in national key. It would also help citizens to learn about the work of their representatives in the European Parliament, it will foster public debate and participation among citizens, and promote the visibility and understanding of policies that are decided and implemented at a European level.

The platform More Europe calls citizens to support and join the defense of a greater European integration. We appeal citizens to join forces and contribute to build a bottom-up project, which will allow all of us to feel a greater identification with the common project of the European Union. This is necessary to preserve the current unity of our continent, that has historically been fragmented, and that is currently possible thanks to the process of European integration and the institutional design created by all of us.

European Parliament

The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) already had a consultative assembly from 1952, drawn from national parliaments, as a democratic embellishment, later shared with the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom).

Despite some progress, it took until 1979 for the first directly elected European Parliament to emerge.


Existing electoral rules

The (consolidated) contents of the common electoral rules have not been conveniently available to EU citizens, as I found out ahead of the EP election 2009 (but also got help).

Since the legal portal Eur-Lex still does not seem to offer (easy) access to the Act in force (consolidated), the best resource available is probably again the consolidated version in a Duff report, this time the one we discuss below. See ANNEX I – Consolidated version of the Act concerning the election of the representatives of the Assembly by direct universal suffrage annexed to the Council decision of 20 September 1976, and of the subsequent amendments thereto (pages 9-13).


AFCO report

If we jump to more current events, we find that Andrew Duff MEP has drafted a report adopted by the Constitutional Affairs Committee (AFCO) of the European Parliament, but not voted on yet by the plenary.

The proposal would attribute an added 25 seats in the EP to candidates proposed by the European political parties (Europarties) throughout the 27 member states. These members would be elected in a pan-EU constituency from transnational lists.

Every elector would have two votes - one for the national or regional list and one for the transnational, pan-European list:

Committee on Constitutional Affairs: DRAFT SECOND REPORT on a proposal for a modification of the Act concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage of 20 September 1976; 20.9.2011, rapporteur: Andrew Duff

You can follow the next steps of the procedure under 2009/2134(INI).


Weaknessess

The descriptive part highlights some of the existing weaknesses worth mentioning:

H. popular recognition of Parliament's democratic function remains limited, political parties at European level are still in the early stages of development, electoral campaigning remains more national than European, and media reporting of Parliament's proceedings is irregular,

I. overall turnout in the elections to Parliament has fallen steadily from 63 per cent in 1979 to 43 per cent in 2009,

The low proportion of women candidates is mentioned.

The Duff report offers an introductory view of the state of EP electoral rules and a number of proposed amendments and points to negotiate with the member states. I invite my readers to evaluate and to discuss these issues as well.


European Electoral Act

The More Europe Manifesto seems to have set its sight slightly higher, by calling for a European Electoral Act, more than some ad hoc amendments and principles.

The shorter name would be an improvement in itself.

The initiators want to make the European Parliament election campaigns more European, make the work of the European Parliament better known, foster public debate and participation among citizens, and promote the visibility and understanding of policies that are decided and implemented at a European level.

In a union based on its citizens, the vote of each elector should have roughly the same weight. However, the existing rule of ”degressive proportionality” may prove a hard nut to crack, both within the European Parliament and especially among the member states (unanimity twice).

Even the cautious step of an extra EU-wide vote is seen by some as diluting national representation, instead of as a step forward towards real and lively participation by EU citizens at the European level.

Here, progressive member states need to show leadership by forming a reform group.


More Europe proposals

I have mentioned the positive More Europe initiative of the Spanish eurobloggers in earlier posts: announcement, free movement, EU symbols and education about European integration, fiscal and social harmonisation in the eurozone, EU-wide constituencies and the next Commission president to emerge with a clear political mandate from the voters in the elections to the European Parliament, as well as the call for a single seat for the European Parliament.

The More Europe proposals are worth discussion among citizens and politicians. Read and sign the appeal on the More Europe blog, participate in the Twitter discussion @moreurope and under the hashtag #moreurope. Read, think and share in Europe 2.0 mode.



Ralf Grahn

More Europe Manifesto: single seat for European Parliament

After my latest post about the More Europe Manifesto I wanted to compress the conclusions about EU or eurozone level democracy into Twitter mode:

#Euro crisis Everything else has failed - why not try EU #democracy

#Euro Alternatives are #Merkozy or #democracy leading #eurozone

Citizens for Europe

But let us return to More Europe. In order to overcome the crises in the eurozone and the wider European Union, a group of Spanish eurobloggers has launched an appeal for More Europe.

You can read and sign the appeal on the More Europe blog. You can participate in the Twitter discussion @moreurope and under the hashtag #moreurope, and you can help to spread the word among citizens of the European Union.

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

After stating the need for greater European integration, their sixth proposal aims at bringing the so called travelling circus of the European Parliament to an end.

“More Europe” Statement

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

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

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6) We believe it is essential to set only one seat for the European Parliament, either in Brussels or Strasbourg, in order to reduce costs and duplication of duties. We believe that this austerity measure will bring the institutions closer to citizens. If Brussels is chosen as the only headquarters, we suggest that Strasbourg remains as a symbol of the creation of the EU and become a peace and common history museum.

One seat

Before the Treaty of Lisbon officially introduced the citizens' initiative (ECI) – in Article 11(4) TEU – the campaign collected signatures for locating the European Parliament solely in Brussels. When I looked, 1,270,847 persons had signed the One Seat initiative, said to save about 200 million euros annually if enacted.


European Citizens' Initiative (ECI)

The ordinary legislative procedure applies to the provisions for the ECI procedures and conditions (Article 24 TFEU).

Even if the principle is clear, a lot of ECI details are laid down in a Regulation, available in all 23 official EU languages; in English:

REGULATION (EU) No 211/2011 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 16 February 2011 on the citizens’ initiative; OJEU 11.3.2011 L 65/1

The Regulation 211/2011 will apply only from April Fools' Day 2012 (officially 1 April).

The European Economic and Social Committee EESC) has published a brochure for organisers and the wider public:

Your Guide to the European Citizens' Initiative (2011; 24 pages; available in 22 languages)

The admissibility criteria seem to point in the direction of more or less normal legislative issues, within the Commission's powers to make proposals, not high politics concerning the nature of the EU itself or even Treaty details.

Article 2(1) limits the admissibility in the the following manner:

Article 2
Definitions

For the purpose of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply:

1. ‘citizens’ initiative’ means an initiative submitted to the Commission in accordance with this Regulation, inviting the 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, which has received the support of at least one million eligible signatories coming from at least one quarter of all Member States;

Intergovernmental cooperation

Like most of the really important matters in the European Union, the seats of the institutions have been agreed between the governments of the member states (”owners”). Protocol (No 6) annexed to the Lisbon Treaty states:

Sole Article

(a) The European Parliament shall have its seat in Strasbourg where the 12 periods of monthly plenary sessions, including the budget session, shall be held. The periods of additional plenary sessions shall be held in Brussels. The committees of the European Parliament shall meet in Brussels. The General Secretariat of the European Parliament and its departments shall remain in Luxembourg.

Officially, Strasbourg is the seat of the European Parliament, a fact opponents often glide over, although most of the work of the MEPs, most of the time is done in Brussels.

As a Treaty level provision, the seat of the EP is behind two unanimity locks: agreement by all the governments of the member states and ratification by all the members (national parliaments).

The seat of the European Parliament is an example of the outcomes with ”freely cooperating sovereign nation states”, a principle cherished by the government of the United Kingdom, to name just one prime proponent of sub-optimal outcomes.


French opposition

Despite public outcry and a majority of MEPs coming out in favour of one seat (Brussels), including an impact assessment 'A tale of two cities' and the @SingleSeatEU campaign, the French government continues its adamant opposition to any change. Some governments have come out in favour of one seat, too.

The More Europe Manifesto is slightly more cautious than the one seat campaign, the MEPs' vote and the Single Seat campaign, but the tenor is the same. They even want to offer Strasbourg compensation, should Brussels emerge as the sole seat.

I suppose that all the initiatives would like to see the General Secretariat joining the rest of the Parliament in its future single location.

Somehow the sensible solution would be to let the European Parliament decide on its own location and organisation. Now the EP is seen as wasteful, without the powers to change the obviously unsatisfactory state of affairs in this respect.


More Europe proposals

I have mentioned the refreshing More Europe initiative of the Spanish eurobloggers in earlier posts: announcement, free movement, EU symbols and education about European integration, fiscal and social harmonisation in the eurozone, as well as EU-wide constituencies and the next Commission president to emerge with a clear political mandate from the voters in the elections to the European Parliament.

Read and sign the appeal on the More Europe blog, participate in the Twitter discussion @moreurope, hashtag #moreurope, and help to spread the word. The More Europe proposals are worth discussion among citizens and politicians.

***

Citizens of the European Union are entitled to express their opinions and to help forming public opinion in favour of reform.

Gutta cavat lapidem...



Ralf Grahn

More Europe Manifesto: pan-European lists and elected Commission president

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

You can read and sign the appeal on the More Europe blog. You can participate in the Twitter discussion @moreurope and under the hashtag #moreurope, and you can help to spread the word among citizens of the European Union.

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

After stating the need for greater European integration, their fifth proposal aims at bringing real democracy a step closer at the European level.

“More Europe” Statement

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

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

-----

5) We believe it is very important to increase the participation of citizens in the European decision making process. With that aim we suggest the direct election of the European Commission’s President through the creation of supranational European Parliament electoral slates.

Pan-European lists

Andrew Duff MEP has drafted a report adopted by the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, but not voted on yet by the plenary.

The proposal would attribute an added 25 seats in the EP to candidates proposed by the European political parties (Europarties) throughout the 27 member states. These members would be elected in a pan-EU constituency from transnational lists.

Every elector would have two votes - one for the national or regional list and one for the transnational, pan-European list:

Committee on Constitutional Affairs: DRAFT SECOND REPORT on a proposal for a modification of the Act concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage of 20 September 1976; 20.9.2011, rapporteur: Andrew Duff

You can follow the next steps of the procedure under 2009/2134(INI).

The election procedure is one of the rare legislative issues where the right of initiative belongs to the European Parliament. However, the dismal progress of EP electoral law during more than 30 years is due to the lack of political will and the unanimity requirement in the Council (government representatives) and at member state level (ratification by every national parliament).

The proposal means that the political parties at European level would finally have to do what they are meant to do: become active in the election campaign, putting forward their best candidate for president of the European Commission and their political programme for the next five years.


PES primary

Activists in the Party of European Socialists (PES) have proposed that the top candidate, the possible president of the European Commission, should be elected through a primary.

This would set activists going earlier, engender publicity and possible adherents and give the chosen front runner a firmer claim on democratic legitimacy.

The PES has promised to study the proposal (and the practical implications).

It is going to be interesting to see how the EPP, the Liberals, the Greens and the other Europarties are going to take up the challenge.


President of the Commission

Through pan-European debates and media coverage, the election campaign would bring European issues to the fore, instead of the comatose Europarties and 27 national campaigns on mainly domestic issues we have seen this far.

We have to assume that the European Council would not only take into account the elections to the European Parliament, but actually carry out the will of the people when proposing the Commission president to the European Parliament.

The reform would be one step forward on the road towards a functioning representative democracy at EU level, which should entail a parliamentary system of accountable government based on the votes of the citizens.

However, it falls short of truly representative government, if the rest of the commissioners are still essentially nominated by the governments of the member states, not as a coalition government resulting from the EP election.

Even if only a step in the right direction, the More Europe Manifesto calls for electoral reform to give the EU citizens more voice in union affairs.


Democratic European Union?

About sixty years into European integration (Council of Europe, Schuman declaration, European Coal and Steel Community ECSC) the institutions of the European Union have democratic embellishments, but democracy has not arrived at the European level.

With political leaders half paralysed and citizens increasingly despairing, I think we have reached the point of no return. Either the failures continue to pile up, or we establish democracy and sufficient powers where the issues and challenges are: at the level of the European Union or the eurozone.

I recommend reading the following two articles thoughtfully.

Stefan Collignon wrote a column for the Social Europe Journal, where he discusses European level democracy in plain words. Citizens are the sovereign, not states, and they have a common interest in controlling their government, he says in European Catharsis.

A democratic union (eurozone) or disintegration? Ulrike Guérot of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) discusses the crisis in the eurozone and the need for democracy: Germany in Europe: the politics of disintegration.

More ”comprehensive solution” failures, or a new beginning? Our leaders owe us some answers, but citizens need to raise the questions as well.


More Europe proposals

I have mentioned the refreshing More Europe initiative of the Spanish eurobloggers in earlier posts: announcement, free movement, EU symbols and education about European integration, as well as fiscal and social harmonisation in the eurozone.


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

***

Popular sovereignty is the essence of citizenship; so it should be for the EU citizenship we have in name. We have to start claiming our rights.



Ralf Grahn

More Europe Manifesto proposes fiscal and social harmonisation

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

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

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

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

“More Europe” Statement

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

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

-----

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

***

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

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

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

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


More Europe proposals

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



Ralf Grahn

More Europe Manifesto proposes education on European integration

A group of Spanish eurobloggers has launched an appeal for More Europe, in order to overcome the crises in the eurozone and the wider European Union. I have mentioned their initiative to start a virtuous circle of development for the citizens of the union: announcement, free movement, EU symbols.

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

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

After stating the need for greater European integration, their third proposal aims at improving education about the European Union in all schools, by introducing a new subject.

“More Europe” Statement

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

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

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3) We encourage public authorities to implement a common subject on European Union in all European educational systems. The subject will include EU history, its operation and its significance in the national and international society today.

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Originally the Treaty of Rome, signed in 1957, set the European Economic Community (EEC) on the road to build a common market between the six founding member states. Since then the European Union has come into existence and the membership has grown to 27 states with a total population of 502.5 million.

Well beyond technical standards for businesses, today the EU acts, with various degrees of intensity, in many areas of politics and policies with direct and indirect implications for its citizens.

It is increasingly hard to understand domestic politics, without realising the interaction between the European and the national level.

However, citizens are not always well aware of how the European Union operates and what it does. Sadly, the EU is an overly complex creature, with finely chiseled powers and obscure ways, not governed in a comprehensible manner through elections leading to politically accountable government. Even a basic understanding of the hybrid construction EU requires some work.

My subjective view is that objectively Europeans should be better informed about European integration and the European Union.

Of course there are quality media for those who are already informed and willing to learn, but the signatories of the More Europe Manifesto realise that in democratic countries all citizens (and future voters), not only the privileged ones, need basic knowledge about the society they live in; and Europe is very much part of that framework.



Ralf Grahn

More Europe Manifesto: EU symbols represent values

As I mentioned here and here, a group of Spanish eurobloggers has launched an appeal for More Europe, in order to overcome the impending catastrophe in the eurozone and the wider European Union and to start a virtuous circle of development for the citizens of the union.

You can join the appeal on the More Europe blog and you can participate in the Twitter discussion @moreurope, hashtag #moreurope.

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

After stating the need for greater European integration, they see the symbols of the European Union as important expressions of our shared values.

“More Europe” Statement

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

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

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2) The symbols and the flag of the EU are not just objects. Otherwise they represent our values as a community, which are fundamental to the progress and democracy of the European society.

***

In a declaration (52), attached to the Treaty of Lisbon, sixteen of the member states expressed similar sentiments. They are Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Hungary, Malta, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic.

They declared that the flag with a circle of twelve golden stars on a blue background, the anthem based on the ‘Ode to Joy’ from the Ninth Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, the motto ‘United in diversity’, the euro as the currency of the European Union and Europe Day on 9 May will for them continue as symbols to express the sense of community of the people in the European Union and their allegiance to it.

The Europa portal offers you information about the symbols of the EU and additional links. Wikipedia broadens the scope to our continent Europe, with symbols from myth, history and art.

This makes me think of the Deutsches Historisches Museum, which published a catalogue with a magnificent collection of art depicting the idea of Europe (Idee Europa) through the ages, for an exhibition in 2003. I wish that every European family could have a DHM book of its own.

The appeal from the eurobloggers on the More Europe blog and on Twitter @moreurope reminds us that our common cultural roots and our shared destiny go much deeper than mere material advantages.



Ralf Grahn

More Europe Manifesto for free travel

As I mentioned yesterday, a group of Spanish eurobloggers has launched an appeal for More Europe, in order to overcome the impending catastrophe in the eurozone and the wider European Union.

You can join the appeal on the More Europe blog and you can participate in the Twitter discussion @moreurope.

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

After stating the need for greater European integration, the first concrete accomplishment they want to safeguard is the right to free movement.

“More Europe” Statement

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

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

1) The Schengen area of free movement is the result of the political and social work of a generation knowing the devastating consequences of World War II. The Schengen area guarantees equality, security, communication, cooperation and, to sum up, freedom between European citizens. This statement supports the defense of the EU area as a whole. Any exception on this means unequal rights among European citizens and residents.

***

The Schengen Agreement was later incorporated into the EU Treaties. The Schengen Area of free travel now comprises 25 countries, with some 400 million people, and four more countries are heading towards membership in the area of free movement.

Sign the appeal on the More Europe blog and participate in the Twitter discussion @moreurope.



Ralf Grahn

Can the euro be saved?

Can the euro be saved without democratic and robust government at European level?

This is a question every EU citizen needs to think through. Our leaders are invited to start thinking about sustainable solutions.

A group of Spanish bloggers call for a better Europe, of citizens. Check and join @moreurope on Twitter and the More Europe Manifesto, already in eight languages.


Ralf Grahn

Open Europe and Ulrich Beck

Once in a while Open Europe’s daily press summary contains a gem among the constant Jeremiads.



One example was Ulrich Beck's article in the Guardian This economic crisis cries out to be transformed into the founding of a new Europe (13 April 2009).



Recommended reading for all and sundry.

More Europe and why.


Ralf Grahn