Citizens’ upsurge

“From the social standpoint, the modified Treaty won’t bring Europe consistent changes”; after all “solidarity and social progress require much more than mere institutional provisions”. The statement is part of an editorial by Pierre Defraigne, director of Eur-Ifri (French branch of the International Relations institution) who analysed the social bearing of the new European Institutional Treaty on the January issue of “Europe infos”, the monthly of Comece (Episcopates Commission of the European Community) and Ocipe (Catholic Information and initiative Bureau for Europe). What is missing, the expert said “is a spirit and political forces committed for the benefit” of weaker brackets. An authentically social Europe. According to Defraigne, in the EU-27, “neoliberalism turns market relations into the ideal social milieu” fuelling “egoistic and materialistic drifts”. Compared to society, “market growth” undermines the very foundations of the European project” while “the Treaty’s ambitions” on this subject “are modest”, especially as relates “to social and fiscal harmonization”. The EU is still “excessively intergovernmental and not enough urban, thus the social project aimed at legitimizing European integration is experiencing difficulties” which prevent it from consolidating and transferring the principle of social justice into the daily lives of the most vulnerable populations”. This negatively impacts “the values highlighted by the EU” during the course of its history: “equal dignity of all men, political and economic freedom along with social justice”. “No Treaty – Defraigne concluded – will be sufficient to terminate this drift. Only an upsurge by citizens would.” Hence a reference to the Church: “probably the only moral force which can still stand up against the neoliberal utopy”. The domestic market. “Despite the implementation of the long-awaited common market, the European Union is still marked by uncertainty”, this was the remark of Stefan Lunte to domestic market measures introduced last Fall by the EU. These “only at a first glance seem similar to the program launched in 1987 and aimed at the creation of the common market envisaged by Rome’s Treaties”. Mr. Lunte said that “the new approach envisages the introduction of very few regulations, the most significant is probably the one in the telecommunications sector”, previously adopted by the Commission and envisaging “greater consumer protection”. As relates to social policy, he remarked, “it appears to be part of a great business plan defined by the Ue.S.a. (anonymous company, ed.’s note) and that the Commission has only a restricted role”. “The noble objectives established in the Lisbon Treaty will be to no effect unless the means to achieve them are employed. Only by revitalizing the spiritual foundations of the European model will it be possible to achieve these objectives”, Mr. Lunte concluded”. Churches and lobbies. 15thousand between consultants and jurists in almost 2.600 interests groups with a permanent office in Brussels. These are the lobbyists concerned with European Commission affairs. In 2005 an initiative on transparency had been launched, and the Commission announced for next Spring the opening of a public register for the representatives of these groups – who will also have to indicate their financing sources and the names of their major clients -. Among the lobbies figure “pressure groups, professional associations, lawyer firms and Ngos”, said Joanna Lopatowska , pointing that “the idea of making the Union more transparent deserves being supported. However, the proposal’s undefined wording, especially as relates to the communication rules of financial information and the broad definition of the concept of ‘interest group’, contribute to its enfeeblement”. “Although the proposal makes no explicit reference to Churches – the expert remarked – if these are classified as Ngos they should be registered”. The problem is that “the register doesn’t include an entry responding to Churches’ description”. We must also consider that the nature of their relations with institutions is expressed in Declaration 11 annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam. Furthermore, when the project of the Lisbon Treaty will be ratified, the recognition of the identity and of the Church’s specific contribution will have cogent power and will supply them with a specific statute”. “The project’s vitality greatly depends on the initiatives of local communities”, said Noël Treanor and Frank Turner in the editorial of “Europe Infos” issue n. 100 which for the occasion has a special section devoted “to a number of similar initiatives implemented in European local Churches”.