What future?

What future lies in store for the EU? What institutional reforms are needed in Strasbourg and Brussels to make the Community more cohesive and efficient? What will be the Union’s role in tomorrow’s world? These are recurrent questions that have been posed in recent months. Public meetings, seminars, publications, articles in the press and television debates have proliferated to tackle them. Not always unprejudiced or open-minded, they are often conducted in an emotional fashion or in ways reflecting the political debate within the individual member states.Conferences, studies, publications. The imminent elections for the European Parliament have stirred the waters. But, more generally, it may be noted that the many challenges that Europe is having to face are urging updated and convincing responses. Various think tanks and research institutes have produced documents on the Lisbon Treaty, the role of the Union on the international scene, relations with the USA and the emerging protagonists of the world economy. Studies devoted to particular sectors are devoted instead to agricultural, regional, infrastructural or energy policies. Nor is there any shortage of “appeals” by various European personalities aimed at increasing the democratic level within the EU’s decision-making process, bringing citizens closer to the institutions or more simply urging electors to vote in the upcoming European elections on 4-7 June.The appeal of former Presidents. For example, an appeal to the electors of the 27 member states for the election of the European Parliament has been made by ten personalities, all of whom have in the past filled the role of President of the EP in Strasbourg: more precisely, Enrique Baron Crespo, Josep Borrell, Emilio Colombo, Pat Cox, Nicole Fontaine, José Maria Gil Robles, Klaus Hansch, Egon Klepsch, Henry Plumb, and Simone Veil. The text of their appeal, released in recent days, says that “the former Presidents have witnessed a progressive growth of democratic responsibilities in the EU decision-making process”. They therefore invite citizens “to participate in this ballot”, because it is “of capital importance that citizens should exercise their democratic right” and that the European Parliament “should play a crucial role in the decisions that involve the daily life of each of the 500 million Europeans”. The ten political figures also underline “the need that can be postponed no longer for a Treaty that would give to the EU the means to tackle the challenges of the twenty-first century”. The voice of civil society. The latest initiative comes from the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), consultative organ of the Union which brings together representatives of the various categories of production, employers and trades unions, and various exponents of civil society. The Committee is due to meet in Brussels on 15 April to discuss a “strategic long-term document” – as it is called by the EESC -, adopted during the last plenary in March, “on the current political debate and the future challenges” of the EU. In this document (downloadable on the website http://eesc.europa.eu), and under the title “A programme for Europe: the proposals of civil society”, the Committee presents the EU institutions (Parliament, Commission, Council) with “a package of concrete measures necessary to overcome the economic crisis and contribute to sustainable development in the years ahead”. Intervening on the European elections, the EESC further urges “the other institutions, member states and interested parties to act to ensure that questions of European, and not just national, interest are discussed in the electoral campaign”. and under the title “A programme for Europe: the proposals of civil society”, the Committee presents the EU institutions (Parliament, Commission, Council) with “a package of concrete measures necessary to overcome the economic crisis and contribute to sustainable development in the years ahead”. Intervening on the European elections, the EESC further urges “the other institutions, member states and interested parties to act to ensure that questions of European, and not just national, interest are discussed in the electoral campaign”.Four themes. The chairman of the Committee, Mario Sepi, declares in this regard: “In this difficult period of crisis, and as the time for the renewal of the institutions draws near, this manifesto of civil society indicates how we can advance in all the sectors in which the EU is active”. The document presents a series of recommendations on four major themes: economic recovery, fundamental rights and social model, sustainable development, and governance. Staffan Nisson, who chairs the miscellaneous activities group within the EESC, expresses the hope that “the long-term vision contained in the document would trigger a debate in the run up to the elections and thus help to boost voter turnout, which was intolerably low during the last elections” for the EP. The employees’ representative, Henri Malosse, makes the point: “The Union has a need for a new political project and precisely this is the character of the document we are presenting”. Georgios Dassis, chair of the EESC workers’ group, emphasises “the exceptional quality and consensual character of the Programme for Europe”. “The concrete measures it contains have been approved by the representatives of all sectors of European society”. The representatives of four political groups in the European Parliament will also participate in the debate in mid-April: Othmar Karas for the European People’s Party, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen of the Social Democrats, the Liberal Democrat Graham Watson and the Green Monica Frassoni.