Responsible thinking

Citizenship, asylum rights, biofuels: these are some of the themes addressed in the February issue of Europe Infos, along with a report on the initiatives of the external action service for the defense of religious freedom and the joint declaration of French and German bishops for the 50th anniversary of Franco-German reconciliation. The ope-ed by Michael Kuhn, "Tisma’s dog", is also the editorial of SIR Europe n. 10 (click here).2013 European Year of Citizens. "EU citizenship is conferred on every national of a Member State and is additional to, while not replacing, national citizenship", explains Alessandro Calcagno (COMECE Secretariat) in his contribution on the European Year of Citizens. EU citizenship entails a wide range of rights that include rights to vote and to stand as a candidate at EP elections as well as at municipal elections, the right to good administration, the right of access to documents, the right of freedom of movement and of residence. This year’s objective is "to stimulate as much debate as possible on the issue of EU citizenship and its related rights and responsibilities". For Calcagno, freedom of circulation is an "unquestionable priority" and it is necessary to reflect on the ensuing rights (like residence in another country) and on persistent obstacles preventing their full performance, like those concerning social security. The reflection focuses also on "the need to further strengthen democratic accountability, as well as the transparency, of the EU institutions vis-à-vis EU citizens". Civic duties and the responsibilities linked to European citizenship are equally crucial, on which it will be necessary to concentrate efforts. "The quality of the European Year and its impact depends on the way stakeholders and the EU itself invest in ‘making the most of it’ during these twelve months".A common European asylum system. Every year some 300 thousand people filed an asylum application within EU borders. But apart from the expected increase in requests from countries at war, such as Syria, figures highlighted an exceptional increase in the case of Balkan countries "which shows a probable abuse of the system, whereby genuine asylum seekers could be adversely affected by fake applications", said José Luis Bazán (COMECE Secretariat). This shows that regulations drawn up in the 1990s need to be revised and concertedly decided at European level, also regarding reception conditions, "legal guarantees, and fairness in terms of human rights". Conflicting approaches between Member States should be avoided to prevent multiple applications for asylum submitted by the same person in several Member States, or only in those States ensuring the best reception conditions, creating unbalances. The commitment to establish a Common European Asylum System in 2012 was not fulfilled, exception made for the directive on the Qualification Directive and on the Long-Term Residence Directive. It’s important that "asylum seekers receive a fair and humane treatment, before, during, and after the decision of the national body concerning his or her application".EU biofuels policy and food insecurity in Africa. "In recent years EU and US biofuels mandates have contributed to food price volatility, which harms particularly the poorest consumers on the planet. Biofuels mandates have motivated large-scale land acquisitions by EU-companies diverting cropland away from family farmers in Africa" explained Gino Brunswijck (Policy officer AEFJN -Africa Europe Faith and Justice Network). Food prices have increased incessantly since 2008, harming poor family farmers who have no access to the large market, as well as consumers. The EU 2020 Strategy foresees a reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions of 20%, but biofuels were promoted as a green solution to reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and dependency on fossil fuels. "The land grabs by the EU biofuel industry incentivized by public support schemes pose a serious burden on the environment in Africa (deforestation, destruction of biodiversity, intensive exploitation of water resources…); the agrofuels from deforested areas leave a higher carbon footprint on our planet than fossil fuels", Brunswijck said. Fertile land (in terms of food and water resources) grabbed from local communities increases food insecurity. "Recently the EU has recognized partly the negative consequences of their biofuels policy with a draft directive of the Commission stipulating a roof of 5% sourced from food-crops based biofuels", which however, doesn’t eliminate competition. And "it remains to be seen whether EU member states will accept the 5% target as proposed by the Commission".