EU: Ecofin and Annual Growth Survey 2012

The agenda of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council 30 November 2011 promises a presentation by the Commission of the Annual Growth Survey (AGS).

Here is a recent blog post about the second European Semester and AGS, with links back to the first round.

The Ecofin Council background note underlines the need for implementation of the guidelines this time around:

Annual growth survey

The Commission will present its annual growth survey, outlining priority actions to be taken by member states in order to ensure better-coordinated and more effective policies for putting Europe's economy on a path to sustainable growth (doc. 17229/11).

As the Commission's autumn economic forecasts show, economic recovery has come to a standstill and low levels of confidence are adversely affecting investment and consumption, due to a negative feedback from the sovereign debt crisis and a slowdown in the global economy. As a result, the outlook for growth in 2012 is gloomy and unemployment levels are likely to remain high. In such a situation, the Commission would have expected stronger progress in following up on last year's guidance. This year's annual growth survey therefore puts strong emphasis on the need for implementation.

For 2012, it suggests that efforts at national and EU levels concentrate on the following priorities:
- pursuing differentiated growth-friendly fiscal consolidation;
- restoring normal lending to the economy;
- promoting growth and competitiveness for today and tomorrow, with particular emphasis on the digital economy, the internal market for services and external trade, as well as better use of the EU budget;
- tackling unemployment and the social consequences of the crisis, in particular mobilising labour, supporting employment of young people and protecting the vulnerable;
- modernising public administration.

The annual growth survey constitutes the starting point for the European Semester, which involves simultaneous monitoring of the member states' fiscal policies and structural reforms, in accordance with common rules, during a six-month period every year.

The European Semester was implemented for the first time this year (it concluded in July) as part of a reform of EU economic governance. The 2012 European Semester will be the second such exercise; presentation of the annual growth survey has been brought forward this time, in order to facilitate implementation

In March, the European Council will assess implementation of country-specific recommendations made under the 2011 European Semester and will provide guidance for 2012.

Annual Growth Survey 2012

The Annual Growth Survey 2012 consists of five volumes, the AGS proper plus four Annexes (about 95 pages in all). This COM document is not available through the legal portal Eur-Lex (yet). You can probably get the best overview from the Europe 2020 web page Annual Growth Surveys - Annual Growth Survey 2012. Below in English:

Annual Growth Survey 2012 VOL. 1/5; Brussels, 23.11.2011 COM(2011) 815 final (18 pages)

Progress report on the Europe 2020 strategy VOL. 2/5 - ANNEX I; Brussels, 23.11.2011 COM(2011) 815 final (27 pages)

Macro-economic report VOL. 3/5 - ANNEX II; Brussels, 23.11.2011 COM(2011) 815 final (21 pages)

Draft joint employment report VOL. 4/5 - ANNEX III; Brussels, 23.11.2011 COM(2011) 815 final (16 pages)

Growth-friendly tax policies in member states and better tax coordination in the EU VOL. 5/5 - ANNEX IV; Brussels, 23.11.2011 COM(2011) 815 final (13 pages)

You can access the other language versions of the AGS 2012 web page through the menu in the upper right hand corner.

***

The Annual Growth Survey 2012 and its Annexes are among the most important documents from the Commission with regard to the coming year at EU level and in the member states.



Ralf Grahn

Euro Group 29 November 2011 on EFSF

Ahead of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council today, the finance ministers of the eurozone countries gathered in the informal Euro Group yesterday evening, 29 November 2011. You can watch the late press conference with the Euro Group president Jean-Claude Juncker, Commission vice-president Olli Rehn (Ecfin) and EFSF chief executive officer Klaus Regling (a little less than half an hour).

The EU Council Press Office offers a page with six documents concerning the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).

Business Insider and Bloomberg offer a condensated views of the technical work to leverage the EFSF, but the main finding is that fresh real money is not yet in sight to reach the one trillion euro goal.

The FT Alphaville blog says the problem is that it’s become more and more clear that whatever the final amount of firepower achieved through these options probably won’t be adequate. Talks are under way to involve the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Meanwhile the clock keeps ticking for the eurozone.



Ralf Grahn

EU: Ecofin G20 Cannes summit follow-up

It happened less than four weeks ago, but the daily developments during the global financial crisis and the crisis of the euro make it feel like an eternity: the G20 Cannes summit.

According to the agenda of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council 30 November 2011 and the background note, the Ecofin Council is going to follow up the G20 summit in Cannes on 3 and 4 November, on the basis of a debriefing by the Commission and by the French delegation (in its capacity as G20 presidency).

Here are the visible G20 summit outputs, which left few international and multilateral efforts unmentioned. The presenters are hopefully able to extract the gold nuggets for the EU finance ministers, on the last day of the French G20 presidency:

Communiqué G20 Leaders Summit -- Cannes -- 3-4 November 2011 (33 numbered paragraphs)

The Cannes action plan for growth and jobs and Annex with G20 members' individual commitments

Cannes summit final declaration (95 numbered paragraphs)

Appendices to these summit documents (nine appendices, twelve other reports)

Other outcomes of the Cannes summit of G20 (links to fact sheets on seventeen themes)



Ralf Grahn

Eurozone good governance, transparency and democracy

As long as the self-proclaimed leaders of the eurozone reject democratic and sufficient powers at European level, efforts and rumours will concentrate on artificial and ineffective solutions to the euro crisis.

The next European Council (summit) is coming up 9 December 2011, but our national leaders never seem to have the time for a democratic European Union, although they always have time for another eurozone failure.

Popular sovereignty, instead of state sovereignty.

Perhaps my ideas about robust structures and legitimate powers are only romantic mush, so we need to check what other euroblogs dealing with the economy and the eurozone have to say.


Ulrich Beck

Ulrich Beck has understood that the crisis of the euro is not only about money. A Europe of bureaucracy should be turned into a Europe of citizens, he says, before launching a number of test balloons.


Jean Quatremer

Jean Quatremer sees chancellor Angela Merkel as a strict disciplinarian, who refuses to budge on illimited ECB intervention, eurobonds and progress to a federation. Possible treaty negotiations at the 8 and 9 December 2011 summits will only aim for more rigorous budget discipline. On the Coulisses de Bruxelles blog, Quatremer wonders if the markets will be as equanimous as the German chancellor.


Jean Pisani-Ferry

On Bruegel, Jean Pisani-Ferry writes that it is again Germany's best interest to ensure lasting stability in Europe. However, what is likely to emerge from the current negotiations is another layer of largely ineffectual sanctions procedures. Boldness is needed: mutual guarantee and veto powers.


Place du Luxembourg

The Place du Luxembourg blog says that a break-up of the eurozone would be a bad alternative and then proceeds to calm spirits, believing that the issues will be sorted out.

For instance, Wolfgang Münchau was less serene. So are Moody's, the OECD and MarketWatch.

According to Reuters the ”EU summit on Dec. 9 [is] increasingly seen by investors as possibly the last chance to avert a breakdown of the single currency area.”


Herman Van Rompuy

The president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, sent us the following reassuring tweet:

euHvR Herman Van Rompuy 
At 9 Dec. European Council I'll present a roadmap on how to strengthen economic union of the euro area commensurate with our monetary union

I appreciate the good intentions, but wonder when the trillion dollar questions at European level will be prepared according to (at least) the standards of a municipal decision about building a public toilet, so my reply contains a few implicit questions:

RalfGrahn Ralf Grahn 
@euHvR Public would appreciate proposals to discuss and evaluate well in advance (good governance, transparency, democracy). #EUCO

Should we believe the European Economic Policy blog, which said that Euro bonds won't work without a political authority that backs them up, but continued that we have seen over the last week that the EU has no intention of establishing such a government?

Save or no save, is this sustainable?



Ralf Grahn

Merkel and Sarkozy brewing Faustian pact

A new week, and a new episode in the eurozone cliffhanger is about to begin. Only democratic and legitimate government with sufficient powers at European level can lay the robust and politically acceptable foundations needed.

Euro bonds won't work without a political authority that backs them up, says the European Economic Policy blog, but continues that we have seen over the last week that the EU has no intention of establishing such a government.


In the Wall Street Journal, Irwin Stelzer states:

One thing is certain: The euro cannot survive without a major change in the governance structure of the euro zone.

In a fairly detailed blog post Arend Jan Boekestijn wonders if it is five past twelve, instead of five to twelve for the eurozone (in Dutch).

We are still not offered any useful and open information by the German and French governments, but we see more and more reports about a new disciplinarian code among eurozone governments in the making. The Wall Street Journal article adds important details to what it calls fiscal union.

The pact, it is hoped, could liberate the ECB to intervene massively in the bond markets, something many see as necessary to prevent the eurozone from collapsing.

Have I understood correctly? If things go bad – and they already have – this intergovernmental agreement would put in place a state of emergency in individual countries, based on their prior consent. Formally democratic government would be preserved, but the policies dictated by the pact.

For all we know, these extraordinary powers could be assumed outside the political and institutional framework of the European Union (and the eurozone) with nothing in the way of transparency and public debate to influence execution.

And we still have no convincing promises of democratic European level government where the national level has failed? A Faustian pact, if I may say, dear Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy.



Ralf Grahn

Euro cliffhanger: Crashing or not?

A short while ago @NinaMariaPotts tweeted me this:

@RalfGrahn Utterly depressing. #eurozone and #eu economies about to fall off a cliff - and #EU still scrambling around in the dark #crisis

Her tweet comes quite close to what I am feeling: Each day we see one step back from the abyss, but two forward steps towards the edge of the cliff (even if steps can here cover passivity).

I found the following blog post thanks to @TeraEuro. Blick Log writes clearly and offers us a background to the impending crash (in German): Europas Staatsanleihen: Ursache und Wirkung einer Finanzkatastrophe.

@npthinking made me notice this news item from Reuters about a Franco-German initiative to cobble together a new stability pact in no time and outside the EU Treaty framework. Since the public is given little useful (or convincingly hopeful) information from official sources, every rumour has to be taken seriously until proven to be wrong.

Thanks to @TeraEuro I stumbled across this blog post on Naked Capitalism: Is a Eurofix Around the Corner? Is it still possible that the euro crash could be averted, or did it become unavoidable a while ago?

Even if effective and expedient solutions are used, the basic questions about European level democracy are left unanswered and festering.

The euro and European level democracy are hanging off a cliff. Tune in for the next episode on the screen of your choice. Happy end not guaranteed.



Ralf Grahn

Policy euroblogs: economy and eurozone

Ronny Patz made some interesting observations about policy-oriented euroblogs. He mentioned and linked to a number of interesting blogs in different policy areas.

Patz mentioned the growth of economic blogging during the ongoing crisis, even if he did not name individual blogs.

There are now 888 blogs listed on Bloggingportal.eu, the multilingual aggregator of euroblogs.

In order to pick up the thread where Ronny Patz had left off, I went back through the last few days of blog posts and marked the blogs which dealt mainly with the economy and the eurozone.

The choice is subjective, and some general euroblogs (not mentioned) manage to produce more quantity and quality in a few different fields than many specialised blogs in one.

Some of the economics blog are penned by mainstream media journalists, while others are written by individual economists and people interested in economic policies or politics more broadly.

Even if economics blogs tend to publish more during office days, I was surprised to find 32 blogs dealing mainly with the economy and the eurozone, and which had published these last days.


Here are the ones I stumbled across (with no claim to accurateness):

M.G. in progress

Protesilaos Stavrou

Arend-Jan Boekestijn (in Dutch)

I on Europe

WSJ Emerging Europe

FT Alphaville

Reinhard Bütikofer MEP (in German)

Kantoos Economics (bilingual German & English)

Open Europe blog

Lost in EUrope (in German)

Guardian Comment is free Europe (all areas)

WSJ Real Time Brussels

Berni's View (bilingual English & German)

Karpfenteich (in German)

Beyond Brussels (daily digest)

Social Europe Journal

Yanis Varoufakis

IIEA blogoshere (a number of writers)

Euro area debt crisis

Telos politique économique (in French)

French Politics

EU Weekly (bilingual French & English)

Revolting Europe

FinancialGuy

FT Brussels blog

European Welfare States

€uro-thoughts

A Fistful of Euros

Eurdemocracy

Place du Luxembourg

Crooked Timber

Coulisses de Bruxelles (economic and political issues, in French)



Ralf Grahn

UK views on eurozone decisions

What has actually been agreed in the eurozone or EU27 this far in response to the crisis in the eurozone, which has turned into a crisis of the euro itself? A while ago I collected the main documents in a blog post with brief descriptions.

A more detailed hearing has recently been published by the UK House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union: Inquiry on European Council of 23 October 2011 and the Euro Summit on 26 October 2011 (26 pages).

On 8 November 2011 David Lidington MP, Minister for Europe (Simon Manley, Director, EU Directorate, and Victoria Dean, Head of EU Strategy Department) gave evidence to the EU Committee.

Britain is one of the ten members still outside the eurozone and one of only four EU member states outside the Euro Plus Pact.

Being outside does not protect the UK economy if the euro area economy crashes, so the government of Britain hopes that the eurozone can solve the problems which require further fiscal and economic integration.

Naturally the risk of UK isolation was on the mind of the participants, so the integrity of the single market is seen as important.



Ralf Grahn

Crises of euro and democracy

Our national leaders never have the time to make the EU democratic, but they always have time for another eurozone failure.

A few days ago I asked a few basic questions about European level democracy, but instead of direct answers each ”comprehensive solution”, (mini-)summit and official statement has eliminated options, widened the distance to EU citizens and brought the crash a little closer.

Instead of popular sovereignty we have looming doom.


Jürgen Habermas

Spiegel Online International kindly serves an antidote provided by the philosopher Jürgen Habermas (in English):

Habermas spells out precisely why he sees Europe as a project for civilization that must not be allowed to fail, and why the "global community" is not only feasible, but also necessary to reconcile democracy with capitalism.

According to Habermas the citizens have been reduced to spectators in European integration:

He says that states have no rights, "only people have rights," and then he takes the final step and brings the peoples of Europe and the citizens of Europe into position -- they are the actual historical actors in his eyes, not the states, not the governments. It is the citizens who, in the current manner that politics are done, have been reduced to spectators.

Eva en Europa

The Spanish euroblogger Eva en Europa mentions Habermas, but she advances beyond that to propose a third Convention to improve the democratic legitimacy and the political future of the European Union.

As I see it, Europe needs a Convention to craft its first Basic Law, but first our domestic leaders have to understand that they must hand over ownership of the European Union to its citizens.



Ralf Grahn

PES challenges other Europarties in 2014 EP elections

The Party of European Socialists intends to field a candidate for the presidency of the EU Commission in the elections to the European Parliament in 2014. The nomination and selection procedure is going to be based on ”consultation” of the members of the national PES parties, although not necessarily one or more regular primaries.

In the 2009 elections the European social democrats lacked a coherent and clear message, according to Marita Ulvskog MEP. Just resisting Barroso was not enough to make voters enthusiastic.

The European Citizen, who covered the PES Re:New convention as a euroblogger, saw the selection procedure as a good step for European democracy. It commits the PES to a more European campaign.


Europarty response?

Ahead of the EP elections 2014 the PES challenges the other Europarties: the European People's Party EPP, the European Liberal and Reform Party ELDR and the European Green Party. Are they going to field top candidates selected through open procedures?



Ralf Grahn

PES candidate for EU Commission president through ”consultation”

The Party of European Socialists (PES) has taken a step forward with regard to the next elections to the European Parliament, by adopting a resolution on the selection of the PES candidate for president of the European Commission:

PES Resolution: Selecting our common candidate in 2014; Adopted by the PES Council on 24 November 2011

The procedure set out from the second page of the resolution is described as open and transparent, and the process is divided into nomination, verification and decision-making.

The PES member parties can consult their members either directly or indirectly, which means that regular primaries won't necessarily be arranged in every country.


Comments

The PES actually fields a candidate for the Commission top job in 2014 and the selection process becomes more open.

The woolly consultation alternatives hardly promise the propaganda victory the Campaign for a PES Primary was aiming for. In the end, much will depend on the national parties.

Even if the PES advances somewhat cautiously, it is enough to challenge the other constructive Europarties: the European People's Party EPP, the European Liberal and Reform Party ELDR and the European Green Party. How are they going to respond?



Ralf Grahn

Merkel denies eurozone remedies twice

In concrete terms the French president Nicolas Sarkozy and the German chancellor Angela Merkel accepted the invitations from the Italian prime minister Mario Monti to visit Rome in a near future.

At the mini-summit in Strasbourg (Elysée video) president Sarkozy repeated the promise of treaty modification proposals from France and Germany ahead of the European Council 9 December 2011. He did not offer any concrete information about the contents.

Merkel dug in her heels, by stressing the independence of the European Central Bank and by showing no greater willingness to adopt eurobonds than before. She welcomed the Commission proposals regarding fiscal discipline, but was negative towards eurobonds which could level the bond rates in Europe.

Essentially Merkel repeated what she had said in the Bundestag debate on the German federal budget for 2012 the previous day. A short quote from the press release shows one Yes and two times No:

Den Vorschlag der Europäischen Kommission zur Einführung von Euro-Bonds lehnte die Kanzlerin ab. Vielmehr müsse es begrenzte Änderungen der EU-Verträge und eine bessere Überwachung der Euro-Stabilitätsregeln geben. Es gebe bei Verstößen gegen den Stabilitäts- und Wachstumspakt bisher keine Möglichkeit einzugreifen.

Beim Euro-Rettungsfonds EFSF müssten Leitlinien festgelegt werden, die die Investoren überzeugten. Am Mandat für die Europäische Zentralbank dürfe nichts geändert werden, so Merkel.

Monti saw the need for a fiscal union which guarantees stability. In this context eurobonds are worth exploring.

Atlantico has interviewed the French EU expert Jean-Luc Sauron, who sees the need for growth as well as for repression in the eurozone.

***

Our national leaders never have time sort out the unanswered questions about European level democracy and legitimacy.

But I wonder if there is going to be a eurozone to save by the time our national leaders get around to effective solutions, unanimously adopted and ratified within an intergovernmental framework adored by the French leadership.


Ralf Grahn

Euroblog Thanksgiving in the eurozone

Today I want to import the Thanksgiving tradition in the USA to express my gratitude to some posts on the 890 euroblogs aggregated by Bloggingportal.eu.

The spectre of eurozone breakup seems to advance faster than the mini-summits Fabien l'Européen finds insufficient. Moral hazard pales in comparison with eurozone breakup, writes Susan Fuchs, who discusses the need for Germany to act.

The danger of gaullist regression is ever present in France, says Arnaud Leparmentier. Le Taurillon interviews professor Philippe Martin, who points in the opposite direction: The European Central Bank needs to become a lender of last resort, which requires a change of the ECB statute. The eurozone demands much deeper fiscal integration.

Place du Luxembourg offers a solid and factual roundup of the eurozone during November. Coulisses de Bruxelles discusses the eurobond proposal from the Commission, but in the short term the ECB needs to intervene in the bond markets without limit.



Ralf Grahn

Olli Rehn on Annual Growth Survey, stability culture and eurobonds

In January 2011 the European Commission started the more integrated economic planning round known as the European Semester (Ecofin conclusions), by publishing the first Annual Growth Survey (AGS), the cornerstone document for better economic policy and governance in the European Union.

The Commission was able to start the second European Semester much earlier. The next AGS has now been published, although the Commission's Green Paper on eurobonds and other economic governance proposals stole the limelight.

Olli Rehn, who is now presented as vice-president of the European Commission and member of the Commission responsible for economic and monetary affairs and the euro, sketched the background in Berlin, Tuesday (SPEECH/11/782, English only):

Fiscal consolidation is a necessary but not sufficient condition to bring Europe back on track. Tomorrow, the Commission will present its view which reforms should be taken as a matter of urgency in our Annual Growth Survey, which kicks off the second annual cycle of economic policy coordination in the Union. First, of course, we address fiscal consolidation and the financial sector. We also outline which structural reforms are most necessary to jobs and growth, in particular as regards human capital, and how to make public administration more effective.

After discussing stability culture as the core principle of economic governance, in both monetary and fiscal policy, Rehn announced two proposals for the following day, aiming at further stability to fiscal policy of the euro area:

The first proposal underpins national stability culture by requiring numerical fiscal rules on the budget balance, in line with medium-term budgetary objectives of the Stability and Growth Pact. Such rules shall cover the whole government and be of binding, preferably constitutional, nature. You are right if this reminds you of the Schuldenbremse.

Moreover, we propose independent fiscal councils at national level to underpin robust budgetary planning. We also aim to complete the coordination of national budgetary cycles at the European level. In the so-called European Semester in the first half of each year, we evaluate the multi-annual budgetary plans at EU level. But for euro area countries, we need to make sure that the national budgets are in line with the obligations of the SGP before they are enacted. Thus the Commission should take a look at draft budgets by 15 October at the latest, and if needed issue its opinion.

Our second proposal is reserved for such euro-area countries that receive financial assistance. For them, the enhanced surveillance and the monitoring of programme conditionality will be required through law.

These proposals can be implemented within the current EU Treaties. But strengthening the Economic and Monetary Union further would require changes to the Treaty. The President of the European Council, together with the Presidents of the Commission and the Eurogroup, are now identifying what kind of changes the deepening of political and economic integration within the euro area may require in the longer term.

Rehn turned to the hotly debated eurobonds, in a manner tuned in to his German audience:

Tomorrow, the Commission will present a Green Paper on the rationale, preconditions and possible options of financing public debt through eurobonds – better called stability bonds. While the prospect of introducing stability bonds could help alleviate the sovereign debt crisis, I am also aware of the sometimes strong opposition against them.

For me, it is clear that any type of Eurobonds would have to go in parallel, hand in hand, by a substantially reinforced fiscal surveillance and policy coordination, as an essential counterpart. Stability Bonds would require that any step in the further sharing of risk would have to be balanced by provisions that ensure sustainable public finances and avoid free-riding on the consolidation efforts of others. This would have implications for fiscal sovereignty, which calls for a substantive debate in member states.

In other words, a profound reform of economic governance towards deeper policy integration is a necessary precondition for any serious move towards introducing stability bonds. Thus, the Commission's proposals tomorrow really constitute an interlinked package, which builds on the recent reform of economic governance and stability mechanisms, and at the same time outlines a roadmap towards the next stage of an ever closer and sturdier economic union, in both dimensions.

This comments offer a background to the publications the following day, and for future blog posts.



Ralf Grahn

Basic questions about democratic European Union

When people speak about democratic legitimacy at the European level, the so called community method seems to be the maximum most of them have in mind qualitatively, although materially some do not exclude a widening of the scope.

As long as the member states ”own” the European Union, the European Council defines the general political directions and the Council retains budgetary and legislative powers, as well as policy-making and coordinating functions beyond the areas of co-legislation with the European Parliament, the main character of the EU remains unchanged.

Are incremental changes (or none at all, as several member states seem to signal) enough to legitimise the European Union in the hearts and minds of the public? - Hardly.

In a rapidly changing world the European Union needs effective powers in a few new areas and a robust government, based on the elections to the European Parliament.

It is astonishing that in 21st century Europe popular sovereignty is not yet the first principle of the European Union or at least an avant-garde, in other words a normal parliamentary democracy with politically accountable government.

When the European Parliament is elected directly by the citizens of the EU, each having a vote of roughly equal weight, our next question should be if there really is a need for a second chamber.

Could someone enlighten me as to what the value added of a second chamber would be or why the citizens should share their sovereignty with the states?

Is a two chamber system worth the added complexity, cost and possible gridlock? If so, are there special areas where it should be active because it would actually contribute to the security and prosperity of EU citizens?



Ralf Grahn

PES from Poul Nyrup Rasmussen to European Parliament elections 2014

For European level democracy to get off the starting blocks, the Europarties (political parties at European level) need to get going.

The Progressive Convention of the Party of European Socialists (PES) meets in Brussels 25-26 November 2011 to discuss a fair economy and other European themes.

The PES president Poul Nyrup Rasmussen has announced that he is going to step down, so the European socialists and social democrats will be looking for a new leader to take them to the elections for the European Parliament in 2014.

The euroblogger Jon Worth has already stimulated discussion about the next leader of the PES by airing a few heavyweight names.

One of the crucial points with regard to the EU level democracy and the EP elections is the response to the Campaign for a PES primary, to elect the candidate to become the president of the European Commission if the centre-left makes a successful comeback.



Ralf Grahn

EU from Merkozy to democracy?

In the short term the Christian Democratic Union CDU of Germany wants to straitjacket the eurozone into a stability union, but long term the leading government party of chancellor Angela Merkel is prepared for a Convention to contemplate some reform steps towards economic and political union in Europe.

Eva en Europa discusses the necessity of eurobonds and of representative European institutions to express the will of European citizens (in Spanish).

After the repeated failures of intergovernmentalism – including the Merkozy tandem saving Europe every two weeks - the Spinelli Group manifesto for a democratic and federal Europe is a rallying point for a future where EU citizens set the course of government through elections to the European Parliament.



Ralf Grahn

Kosmopolito's Völkischer Beobachter School of Journalism (Updated x 5)

Always remember a (not too) subtle reference to the war.

A war trophy in full swing, the Völkischer Beobachter School of Journalism is alive and well on a remote island off Europe. Only fair, if the Americans got Dr. Strangelove.

Kosmopolito's guide to 'lazy' journalism of anti-EU propaganda (in German, in Italian, in French) struck a nerve with European readers.

Update 22 November 2011: Now in Romanian.

Second update 22 November 2011: A shortened version in Norwegian.

Third update, 24 November 2011: The Spanish version of Kosmopolito's guide.

Fourth update, 25 November 2011: Now you can read Kosmopolito's guide in Dutch.

Fifth update, 28 November 2011: When you read Kosmopolito's guide to lazy EU journalism, please compare with the real life scrutiny by Tabloid Watch of the allegations in a Daily Express on the toxic campaign trail.



Ralf Grahn

CDU's steps towards EU political union

When the leading German coalition party, the Christian Democratic Union CDU, proposes some steps towards political union, national leaders and European media are guaranteed to comment in various ways.

After the next steps in the euro crisis, how does the CDU resolution Starkes Europa – Gute Zukunft für Deutschland outline the capable, democratic and transparent political union needed?

The Christian Democratic Union quickly wants to shape a consensus [among whom?]. A Convention with a clear mandate to put this consensus into practice should then be called.


Economic and political union

The CDU sees the completion of economic and monetary union (EMU) as a new milestone on the road to political union. The party has the following aims for the Convention:

1) The stability and growth pact (SGP) has to be strengthened by automatic penalties. The SGP has to be made harder to amend through integration into the EU treaties. The CDU wants the Court of Justice of the European Union to judge breaches of the EMU and the SGP.

2) Serious breaches of the SGP require a procedure with several levels in order to get their finances back in order:
* First, advice from the Commission.
* Commission staff to support the efficient use of budget resources and the coordination of EU funds.
* If necessary, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) can offer assistance on strict financial and economic conditions.

3) A procedure for debt restructuring. Voluntary secession from the eurozone without losing EU membership.

4) Developing the ESM into a ”European Monetary Fund”.

5) The citizens of the European Union to elect the president of the Commission directly (but the rest of the commissioners to remain national government appointees).

6) A democratic system with two chambers on an equal footing: the directly elected European Parliament and the Council of Ministers representing the member states. Both chambers could initiate legislation.

7) In the medium term the allocation of seats in the European Parliament has to reflect population size better.


CDU ”compass”

The CDU presents a ”compass” or creed: France as the most privileged European partner, more Europe where needed and less petty regulation, a privileged partnership for Turkey instead of full EU membership, a common foreign, security and defence policy which eventually leads to a defence union, and a more capable, legitimate and transparent Europe for citizens.


Popular sovereignty

The Christian Democratic Union is prepared to advance a few steps in the direction of economic and political union in Europe.

The CDU has not yet adopted popular sovereignty at European level as its first principle. This would lead to a democratic union based on its citizens: representative democracy and government elected by the people of Europe.

What is the added value for EU citizens of sharing their sovereignty at EU level with the states?



Ralf Grahn

Stingy EU 2012 budget: 0.98% of GNI

The Autumn 2011 European Economic Forecast from the Commission offers sobering reading about dashed hopes and danger zone entry, but let me pick just a detail. The predicted inflation rate is 3.0 per cent this year and 2.0 per cent in 2012 (against the background of GDP growth for EU-27 of 1.6 and 0.6 per cent respectively).

As we saw, for the German chancellor Angela Merkel and the UK prime minister David Cameron the inflation rate was the limit of the growth of the budget of the European Union for 2012. Both Germany and Britain are off target with regard to the EU stability and growth pact.

The inflation rate was also the focus of the press release from the Council ahead of the Conciliation Committee with the European Parliament.

Since the early hours of Saturday morning we have the outline of the 2012 budget after conciliation, where the member states and especially the net payers railroaded the more active ambitions of the European Commission and the European Parliament:

3126th Council meeting Economic and Financial Affairs (BUDGET) and Conciliation Committee; Brussels, 18 November 2011 (provisional vision, 17016/11)

The end result in a nutshell focuses on concrete expenditure (actual payments):

The Council and the European Parliament, meeting within the Conciliation Committee, agreed to limit the total amount of payments for the 2012 EU budget to EUR 129.088 billion. This corresponds to 0.98% of the EU's Gross National Income (GNI) and represents an increase of 1.86% compared to the EU budget 2011 as amended by amending budget Nos 1-6. The agreed payments increase remains below the latest Commission inflation forecast of 2% for the EU in 2012, meaning that in real terms the agreement is tantamount to a reduction of the EU budget. The EU herewith rally to the important member states' efforts to consolidate national public finances.

The Commission and the EP had requested more on grounds of fighting the economic crisis by active means:

In its position adopted on 26 October the European Parliament requested an amount of EUR 133.139 billion in payments (+5.23% compared to the budget 2011 as amended by amending budget No 1). The Commission proposed for 2012 an amount of EUR 132.739 billion in payments, leading to an increase of 4.9%.

The Council is expected to formally adopt the 2012 budget on 30 November and the European Parliament to vote on 1 December 2011.

You find details of different budget posts in the conclusions and you can watch the video recording (25:38) of the press conference with Jacek Dominik (Polish presidency), budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski, Alain Lamassoure (EP) and Francesca Balzani (EP).

***

Accounting for less than one per cent of total production, hardly the budget of a super state, with total government spending at more than 50 per cent of GDP in the European Union.



Ralf Grahn

EU: Can expansionary budgets save us from hardship?

Should Europe spend its way out of gloom and ever slowing growth? Are there real alternatives to the so called austerity measures, actually efforts to reduce government borrowing and eventually total debt to sustainable levels?


EU government deficits

According to Eurostat, the 2010 total government deficit in the European Union was EUR 805,008 million, or 6.6 per cent of the gross national product (GDP), while 3% is the maximum prescribed by the stability and growth pact (SGP):

In 2010 the largest government deficits in percentage of GDP were recorded in Ireland (-31.3%), Greece (-10.6%), the United Kingdom (-10.3%), Portugal (-9.8%), Spain (-9.3%), Latvia (-8.3%), Poland (-7.8%), Slovakia (-7.7%), France (-7.1%), Lithuania (-7.0%) and Romania (-6.9%). The lowest deficits were recorded in Luxembourg (-1.1%), Finland (-2.5%) and Denmark (-2.6%). Estonia and Sweden (both 0.2%) registered a slight government surplus in 2010. In all, 21 Member States recorded an improvement in their government balance relative to GDP in 2010 compared with 2009, five a worsening and one remained unchanged.

EU government debt levels

The debt level allowed under the SGP is 60 per cent of GDP. At EUR 9,806,372 million, or 80.2 per cent of GDP, the EU was way above the level allowed by the SGP:

At the end of 2010, the lowest ratios of government debt to GDP were recorded in Estonia (6.7%), Bulgaria (16.3%), Luxembourg (19.1%), Romania (31.0%), the Czech Republic (37.6%), Lithuania (38.0%), Slovenia (38.8%) and Sweden (39.7%). Fourteen Member States had government debt ratios higher than 60% of GDP in 2010: Greece (144.9%), Italy (118.4%), Belgium (96.2%), Ireland (94.9%), Portugal (93.3%), Germany (83.2%), France (82.3%), Hungary (81.3%), the United Kingdom (79.9%), Austria (71.8%), Malta (69.0%), the Netherlands (62.9%), Cyprus (61.5%) and Spain (61.0%).

Budget hawks?

Let us pick two countries perceived as budget hawks by many:

With a government deficit of 10.3% the United Kingdom was firmly ensconced between the bailout cases. The UK debt level was 79.9% of GDP in 2010.

Germany, the reference country for eurozone sovereign debt, ran a public deficit of 4.3% of GDP and its debt level had climbed to 83.2%.


Avoiding hardship?

Keynesian stimulus would be welcome to avert hardship and recession, but the coffers are empty and the markets are shedding government bonds, driving up borrowing costs to ruinous levels. We are only one step away from a sovereign debt stampede.

The historic facts (2010) do not take ongoing and future consolidation efforts into account, but my sad conclusion is that the government hovercrafts are unsustainable in the present circumstances.

Austerity is less evil than disaster.



Ralf Grahn

Merkel and Cameron on EU and euro

Thursday, the German chancellor Angela Merkel met the new prime minister of Denmark, Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Friday brought the UK prime minister David Cameron to Berlin for talks about the European Union, the eurozone crisis and bilateral issues.


David Cameron

Merkel started the press conference by emphasising the common interest of Germany and the United Kingdom to make the European Union competitive. Both countries want the internal market to succeed. The EU budget for 2012 should acknowledge the domestic consolidation efforts by keeping in line with inflation, but nothing more.

A strong eurozone is in Britain's interest. Stricter rules and enforcement require limited treaty change among the members of the eurozone, according to Merkel.

Prime minister David Cameron underlined the common aims concerning the internal market, budget discipline and the EU budget. A sustainable euro is in everyone's interest, although differences remain regarding crisis measures.

Merkel and Cameron are united on a global financial transaction tax (FTT), but not on a European one.

Cameron replied to the Bild magazine headline about what the UK is (still) doing in Europe, by stressing his country's positive role for competitiveness and productivity.

The institutions of the eurozone need to defend the currency and to take all the necessary measures, according to Cameron.

The United Kingdom remains outside the Euro Group of 17 countries, the euro summits, the ECB and the Euro Plus Pact joining 23 EU members (see EUCO paragraphs 11-12 and Annex I), but it is hard to guess how Cameron's friendly advice was received deep down by his step-by-step host.


CDU positions

Previously we have looked at some differences between Germany and Britain in European politics: the CDU party conference, European values, British Europe as an alternative, Ireland as a risk to needed treaty reform, the euro area and the EU, as well as CDU's next steps to overcome the euro crisis.



Ralf Grahn

Merkel and Thorning-Schmidt on EU and euro

The German chancellor Angela Merkel met the leaders of Denmark and the United Kingdom, the two EU member states with opt-outs from introducing the euro currency.

First a look at the press conference with the new prime minister of Denmark.


Helle Thorning-Schmidt

Denmark takes on the presidency of the Council of the European Union from the beginning of 2012, after Poland. Merkel told the Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt that even if the 17 countries of the eurozone need to solve certain problems on their own, Germany does not forget that the union of 27 belongs together and that the internal market is the foundation for the euro.

Limited treaty reform is necessary among the euro area countries, according to Merkel.

Thorning-Schmidt underlined the need for all 27 EU member states to face the crisis together, by using the community method and the EU institutions.

Merkel wanted to see the Council presidency of Denmark as a bridge between the eurozone and the rest of the member states. Denmark is committed to the stability and growth pact, as well as a competitive country.

Thorning-Schmidt said that the discussions about treaty reform continue in December, but seemed to prefer a strictly limited basis ahead of the European Council.



Ralf Grahn

Germany: CDU's next steps in euro crisis

We have looked at some of the differences between Germany and Britain in European politics: the CDU party conference, European values, British Europe as an alternative and Ireland as a risk to much more than treaty reform.

How does the CDU understand the euro crisis, and what does the party propose for the immediate future?


Stability and growth pact

After defending the European values, explaining the benefits of the European Union and the necessity of the euro currency, the resolution adopted by the Christian Democratic Union CDU proceeded to scorn the previous red-green coalition for letting Greece into the eurozone and for failing to meet the Maastricht criteria during four consecutive years, weakening the stability and growth pact (SGP) and the respect for Germany.

Some countries have lived beyond their means and become indebted. They have failed to enact structural reforms in order to become competitive, and their enterprise sectors have been too narrow, based on construction or financial services.


Stability union

The CDU rejoiced that first steps towards a stability union had already been taken [two years into the crisis, my addition]. These are then duly noted: advance budget control (European Semester), strenghtened SGP, rescue packages for Greece, and the establishment of the EFSF to be replaced by the permanent European Stability Mechanism ESM.


Euro Plus Pact

The CDU resolution Starkes Europa – Gute Zukunft für Deutschland underlines that solidarity requires massive reforms for stability and competitiveness in countries needing help.

The Euro Plus Pact is seen as an agreement among 17 eurozone leaders and six other EU members to strenghten the economic union in the EMU, by increasing competitiveness.


Immediate tasks

The resolution set the following immediate tasks within the framework of the Lisbon Treaty:

1) Adopting a constitutional rule for budget balance (Schuldenbremse) of the German type in every euro area member and as a requirement for eurozone entry.

2) Adherence to the rules of the stability and growth pact (SGP) by reduced spending, structural reform and sustainable growth. The structural funds should be focused even better.

3) Each state is responsible for its own finances. Rejection of transfer union and of automatic liability.

4) Rejection of eurobonds.

5) CDU defends the independence of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Deutsche Bundesbank. Strict separation of monetary policy and economic policy. EFSF reform will allow the ECB to end the purchase of state bonds.

6) The debt crisis must lead to adequate regulation of financial markets and institutions.

7) Global regulation of financial institutions is necessary.

8) CDU wants a global, EU-wide or even a eurozone-wide financial transaction tax (FTT).

9) The CDU wants the European People's Party (EPP) to field a top candidate in the election to the next European Parliament.

***

Beyond the immediate tasks, the CDU sees the need to complete the economic and monetary union (EMU).



Ralf Grahn

Ireland's Enda Kenny bane of euro?

Tomorrow, Friday 18 November 2011 (see calendar), prime minister David Cameron has an opportunity to impress chancellor Merkel in Berlin with his vision of British Europe.

More serious for the prospects of the eurozone were the statements from Enda Kenny, the prime minister of Ireland, at the press conference 16 November 2011, following talks with chancellor Merkel. Kenny thanked Germany for its help in saving the Irish economy, but he saw no chances for treaty reform.

The conflict between national referendum politics and the need for democracy, sufficient powers and leadership to meet at the European level may well earn Ireland and Enda Kenny a place in the end-of-history books, despite Kenny's confession that to unravel the euro is to unravel the EU.

For Ireland as an individual eurozone country, the painful reforms are starting to bear fruit, but what if the euro area implodes and – if we believe Kenny – the European Union?

Perhaps an Irish referendum could show the way out after the crash?



Ralf Grahn

British or European Europe?

What makes the leading government party of the biggest eurozone and EU member state tick? Despite too little, too late, Germany participates fully in all the policy areas of the European Union. For Germany, the symbols of the EU express a feeling of community in Europe.

Compare the conference of the Christian Democratic Union CDU in Leipzig – Für Europa. Für Deutschland – with the steady stream of war-like propaganda from anti-EU media and campaigners in the United Kingdom, negative public opinion, the open hostility among the political class and the efforts of successive UK governments to play as little as possible for the team, while demanding most in return.

The previous British prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown pretended that the UK was at the heart of Europe, while standing on the brake and devising opt-outs. According to David Cameron ”we sceptics have a vital point”.

Compare the European values of the CDU (and Germany) with the sovereignty cum narrow national interest discourse streaming from Westminster.

The euroblogger Jon Worth called on Labour to embrace more constructive EU politics than those expressed by the shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander. He also proposed that UK politicians should drop the indiscriminate and narrow-minded use of the 'national interest' in relation to the European Union.

For those who think that prime minister David Cameron showed great restraint and wisdom by calling for the EU to be turned into a flexible network of nation states promoting open markets, Kosmopolit wrote a long blog post on the problems of the UK's approach to the EU. Long term all the EU member states (except Britain and Denmark) are bound to join the eurozone, so where are Cameron's long term allies?

Timothy Garton Ash asks Cameron to present his vision for Europe, if he has one. At this moment Cameron's British Europe is purest waffle. Chancellor Angela Merkel's German vision for political union in Europe is still only part right, but let the European leaders choose between these alternative routes forward.



Ralf Grahn

German CDU defends European values, benefits and euro currency

The Christian Democratic Union CDU party conference adopted a resolution equating a strong Europe with the good fortunes of Germany: Starkes Europa – Gute Zukunft für Deutschland (23 pages).

What does the leading government party of the largest member state of the European Union (proportionately even bigger in the eurozone) say, when the financial, debt and growth crises in the eurozone have worsened into a crisis of the euro itself?


European values

Europe is a community of values, says the resolution, referring to the founding values of the European Union (as in Article 2 TEU) and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (enshrined in Article 6 TEU).

The CDU still rejects a unitary European state, but the EU works according to federal principles in areas of conferred powers. The European idea has brought people unprecedented peace, freedom, prosperity and social justice.


Benefits of Europe

The political and economic benefits of EU membership surpass the costs for Germany by a wide margin.

In order to master the challenges of the 21st century, the CDU wants to complete the economic and monetary union (EMU) and mould the EU into a strong political union.

In the globalised world of the 21st century, Europe needs to promote universal human rights, international law and freedom for all.

A strong Europe can shape international rules to counter climate change and protect biodiversity, as well as regulate energy and trade issues, but this requires European unity.

Despite the rise of China and the other BRICS, the 500 million people of the European Union remain the largest internal market in the world and offer the opportunity to promote democracy and the social market economy globally.


Defending the euro

The CDU wants all the 17 eurozone states to defend the common currency. The euro has brought Germany jobs - 9 million depend on the internal market – and growth (€50 billion extra in the last two years).

The euro is the safeguard of low inflation and high purchase power. The euro brings predictability to international trade and global currency policy. The euro also brings political stability.

The euro is a great community project, necessary for the good fortunes of Europe.

The CDU wants to strengthen Europe and widen the scope of action by turning the monetary union into an enduring stability union, as intended from the start. For the common euro currency to succeed, we need to stick to firm rules (stability and growth pact SGP).

The CDU is prepared to learn the lessons from the current crisis and to prepare Europe for the future challenges.

The CDU congratulates itself for having brought back financial stability and budget disciplin to Germany, and the party wants a stronger Europe to emerge from the debt crisis.

***

European values, benefits from European integration and the will to improve the euro project lay the foundation for the CDU (and Germany) in European politics.

The foundation gives the analysis focus and shapes the remedies proposed.



Ralf Grahn

CDU for Europe and Germany

Despite too little and too late, why is Germany more influential than the UK in the European Union?

Imagine the Conservative party conference in the United Kingdom under the motto: For Europe. For Britain.

In Germany the the theme of the main government party, the Christian Democratic Union CDU meeting in Leipzig is: Für Europa. Für Deutschland.


CDU 2011 Leipzig

The party conference supports the EU politics of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor and leader of the CDU, DW-World reports (in German): Verunsicherte CDU folgt Merkels Europa-Kurs.

Merkel called for a breakthrough for a new Europe, based on the values of freedom, solidarity and justice, in the framework of a social market economy. The CDU offers highlights from Merkel's speech on Europe in a press release: ”Für Deutschland. Für Europa”.

After the epoch-making accomplishments of Konrad Adenauer and Helmut Kohl, the task of the present generation is to complete the economic and monetary union (EMU) and to establish a political union, Merkel told the party delegates.

Europe has to emerge stronger from the debt crisis. This means more, not less Europe. If a country breaches the stability and growth pact (SGP), there has to be a right to intervene. All EU countries are part of the domestic politics of Europe, and they need to act responsibly. The constitutional rule of balanced budgets (Schuldenbremse) is one of the steps in this direction, according to Merkel.

With overwhelming support, the CDU party conference adopted guidelines equating a strong Europe with the good fortunes of Germany: Starkes Europa – Gute Zukunft für Deutschland (23 pages).

Far from the adoption of democracy and effective powers Europe needs, it still beats opt-outs, budget rebate, permanent obstructionism, constant criticism and general nastiness as means to win friends and influence people in Europe.



Ralf Grahn

EU: Federal Union Now – or never?

First reaction: Wow!

The Federal Committee of the Union of European Federalists (UEF) has called for a Convention to ponder changes to the EU Treaties. The resolution sees the need for a further large reform.

Read on and see that the 13 November 2011 resolution supports the conclusions of the European Council and the six-pack legislation adopted to improve economic governance in the eurozone. The UEF also asks for an EU-wide plan for growth and development (along the lines of the European Council conclusions 23 October 2011) and welcomes the ongoing programme to improve the functioning of the internal market (Single Market Act) and the recent upgrading of Olli Rehn within the European Commission, while hoping for future steps in the same direction.

There are sections on financial reform, economic government and treaty change. Naturally the questions are treated in a more positive and forward-looking manner than what we hear from the governments of the member states.

But 'a sense of popular legitimacy' is hardly the Song of Songs of popular sovereignty and the establishment of democratic and federal government at European level. Where is the forceful reminder that EU citizens are sovereign, not the states?

Only democracy is the legitimate base for the powers Europe needs, if we citizens want security and prosperity in our rapidly changing world.

Instead the demands read like Moses collecting a manual for spending the next forty years in the wilderness, possibly approaching a Promised Land he will never live in.

Despite the merits of individual proposals, wishing for a little bit more than the proponents of failed and discredited intergovernmentalism can hardly be described as either daring or effective enough, just a more pleasing order of deck chairs.

It is hard to see Europe as having chosen anything but irrelevance, if even the eurofederalist movement is just a shade more forward-looking than the representatives of the status quo.



Ralf Grahn

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:

-----

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:

-----

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.

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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