People for Europe

Without the fundamental approval and active support of civil society, the process of European unification could not have developed its own dynamics nor could it have successfully led to entry into the European Union of an ever increasing number of peoples and nations of the continent and the fact that others also want to join. What happened in Europe from the end of the forties in the context of this peace movement as a reply to the war, was not just the work of statesmen and diplomats. The decisive energies for the creation of the Council of Europe (May 1949) was the result of an initiative taken by personalities who were committed and responsible, coming from the worlds of politics, culture, science, economics and work. They did not work on behalf of governments but rather on personal initiative, when the organized the Congress of The Hague (May, 1948) and at the time gathered within the European Movement with the support of the most diverse social groups and associations. The Congress of The Hague, whose 60th anniversary was recently celebrated (May 23 and 24) by the international European Movement, in its historical place, The Hague, paved the way for the governments of the free States of Europe. This Congress not only led to the constitution of the Council of Europe, which was the first organization of cooperation that united almost all the countries of Western Europe, basically working with their cultural and legal sectors, but also created the psychological premises for the preparations for and institution of the European Community (from 1950). The international European Movement, which was the outcome of the Congress of The Hague, has since then, in a critical style, accompanied the European politics of national governments and supranational institutions, and has always intervened in debates by promoting and supporting the road of justice. At the end of May, another anniversary was also celebrated in Brussels: the fiftieth year of the foundation of the European Economic and Social Committee. All this is due to civil society and its contribution to European unity. The mass media regard this institution as being on the political margins of the European Union, even though its functions are of fundamental importance to the creation of consensus and therefore to the success of its policies and its projects. The European Economic and Social Committee is the assembly of the living social forces of the member States. Its structures unite the representatives of the associations of employers, of unions, and other important organizations of society of a cultural, social or charitable nature, who aim at advising the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council of Ministers, in the context of their legislative processes. In this manner, one tries systematically and with a great sense of responsibility towards the common good , to find meeting points for the interests and the often divergent viewpoints of the single components of civil society, through solid compromises in order to submit the recommendations, on this basis, to the organisms that have legislative powers. The European Commission, which, in accordance with treaties, takes initiatives and formulates proposals for laws and directives, willingly accepts these recommendations in the certainty that its proposals, if formulated on the basis of the latter, will be accepted by the social forces, in particular those of employers and workers. And Parliament too, in its capacity of representing citizens, as well as the Council of Ministers, in its capacity of representing the States, will benefit from the contribution of civil society.