Daniel Freund takes over the Presidency of the Spinelli Group in the European Parliament
Dear
everyone interested, Dear journalists,
As of 1 November, Greens/EFA MEP
Daniel Freund will take over the presidency of the Spinelli Group from
Social-Democrat (S&D) MEP Brando Benifei. The Spinelli Group is a network
of 72 federalist-minded Members of the European Parliament aiming to
reinvigorate the endeavour for strengthening and democratisation of the
European Union.
Daniel Freund, new President of
the Spinelli Group, comments:
“I would like to thank
Brando Benifei for his great work as the president, pushing for a more federal
Europe. As Spinelli Group we want to use the Conference on the Future of Europe
to inoculate our continental democracy with strong reforms against overstretching
in next crises. We want strong reforms for truly European elections, EU
investments in a digital and climate friendly future, a Europe that speaks with
one voice in the world. We invite all to join our campaign to make Europe
stronger by making it more democratic!
The EU is being held back by
antiquated decision making processes. We need to get rid of unanimity in the EU
Council and we have to push for own initiative rights for the European
Parliament. With a European second vote for transnational lists we could make
sure citizens have a stronger say which lead candidate is the next Commission
president in 2024. We have to make clear that more democracy is the answer to
the current crises rocking the European Union.“
Named after Altiero Spinelli (1907–1986), founder of the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and a founding father of the European integration, the Spinelli Group was founded on 15 September 2010 in the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels by former Belgium prime minister and current MEP Guy VERHOFSTADT, former co-chair of the Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) Group in the European Parliament Daniel COHN-BENDIT, former MEPSylvie GOULARD (ALDE) and former European Parliament Vice-President Isabelle DURANT (Greens/EFA). UEF Secretariat
“We should support those citizens who want to move forward and that are openly discussing in the CoFoE with no taboos. We should reform the treaties to ensure a new sovereign, democratic and federal Europe.” – MEP Brando Benifei, outgoing President of the Spinelli Group.
THE TIME IS NOW, UEF’s fortnightly newsletter on the Conference on the Future of Europe! Issue 10/2021
Learn more about the Conference’s latest news and activities related to rebuilding the EU!
This past weekend, the
Conference Plenary discussed reports from the European Citizens’ Panels,
national panels and events, the EYE and the Platform.
This Conference Plenary
meeting represented two major milestones in the context of the Conference. On
the one hand, the 80 representatives of the European Citizens’ Panels that have
been selected from the pool of 800 that convened in Strasbourg in September and
October took their seats. On the other hand, for the first time, the Plenary discussed
citizens’ contributions stemming from the different components of the
Conference as they currently stand, while deliberations, events, and online
debate continue.
The Plenary comprises
representatives from the European Parliament (108), the Council (54, or two per
member state) and the European Commission (3), as well as from all national
Parliaments (108) on an equal footing, and citizens (108). As part of the
citizens’ component, representatives from the European Citizens’ Panels (80),
representatives of national events or national citizens’ panels (27, or one per
member state) and the President of the European Youth Forum take part in the
deliberations. In addition, representatives from the Committee of the Regions
and the European Economic and Social Committee (18 from each), elected
representatives from regional and local authorities (6 from each), and
representatives of the social partners (12) and civil society (8) participate
as members. For the first time, representatives from the Western Balkans
participated as key partners.
On Friday, the Plenary
working groups, composed of representatives from all components of the
Conference Plenary (incl. MEPs, national parliamentarians, government
representatives, the Commission, social partners, civil society, and citizens)
met for a constitutive meeting. On Saturday, the Plenary meeting was opened by
the Co-Chairs of the Conference’s Executive Board, Guy Verhofstadt (European
Parliament), State Secretary Gašper Dovžan on behalf of the Slovenian Presidency
of the Council of the EU and European Commission Vice-President Dubravka Šuica.
The discussions revolved around:
a presentation with first impressions from the European Citizens’ Panels by representatives from each Panel and by the Co-Chairs;
a report by the representatives from national panels and events;
a presentation by the Co-Chairs of the interim reports and state of play on the Multilingual Digital Platform.
The
Co-Chairs of the Conference made the following statements from Strasbourg:
Guy Verhofstadt (European
Parliament), said: “The enthusiasm in the Citizens’ Panels is great,
expectations are high, the formula is working. Now the Plenary has to find
answers to the issues raised, in the form of a shared vision of Europe’s future
and concrete deliverables on how we reform the European Union. EU politics have
to rise to the occasion.”
Gašper Dovžan (Presidency of
the Council) commented that: “Tens of thousands of citizens continue to discuss
the future of Europe in the European and national panels and events, as well as
on the Platform. The Plenary will debate and bring forward their
recommendations in the areas that matter most to them, without a predetermined outcome.
This is the first Plenary under the Slovenian Presidency of the Council and we
were very pleased to welcome representatives from our Western Balkans partners
as key stakeholders with whom we share responsibility for the future of the
EU.”
Dubravka Šuica
(Vice-President of the European Commission) stated: “This is a historic
moment where, for the first time, citizens deliberate on a par with their
elected representatives at all levels. Bringing citizens to the core of
European policymaking will reinforce our representative democracies, as we set
sail towards our common future.”
A little less positive was
the balance drawn by the citizens who participated in the plenary, who
complained about the lack of concreteness of the working groups – with the
exception of the one on health, chaired by European Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič
and judged very positive – and to have known only the previous day what the
order of business would be.
The plenary itself was the
subject of criticism, due to the shorter time allowed for speeches by citizens
compared to those of politicians – many of whom, moreover, did not participate
in the afternoon session – and the generic nature of many of the speeches heard
in the classroom. The complaints were expressed directly in the hemicycle
through the words of a Dutch delegate, who asked for more space to speak and
received the applause of all present.
A position that Verhofstadt seems to have taken into account. In the press conference at the end of the assembly, the representative of the EU Parliament said that “the central role of citizens will become even more evident in the next plenaries, when they present their recommendations and proposals and others will be able to react on the proposals”. Verhofstadt added that “the most important novelty of the Conference is the active part of citizens in decision-making processes”, and that the mechanism used could “become permanent”, as a demonstration “of the fact that participatory and representative democracy can work together”.
2. UEF IN THE PLENARY
UEF was represented in the
Plenary of the CoFoE with our President and MEP Sandro GOZI, Vice-President and
MEP Doménec RUIZ DEVESA and Secretary General Anna ECHTERHOFF.
“Citizens are asking for a
more federal and social Europe. They are calling to remove the veto in theEU
Council, to strengthenEP
powers, a Pan-European constituency, etc. Let’s do not disappoint europeans.”
said UEF Vice-President and MEP Doménec RUIZ DEVESA in the Plenary.
“We must strengthen European
democracy by granting more powers to the EP. We need: a uniform electoral law,
the creation of transnational lists leading to the formation of real European
parties and legislative initiative for the EP.” highlighted UEF Secretary
General Anna ECHTERHOFF
“We should support those
citizens who want to move forward and that are openly discussing in the CoFoE
with no taboos. We should reform the treaties to ensure a new sovereign,
democratic and federal Europe.” added MEPBrando
Benifei, outgoing President of the Spinelli Group.
“We all share responsibility
for making the#CoFoE
its Platform known. We need to develop a common consciousness to have the
Conference awaken, focusing on a few concrete proposals to ensure greater
effectiveness for Europe & its values.” said European Union
Deutschland Secretary General Christian MOSS.
3. SPINELLI GROUP CAUCUS
The Spinelli Group (SG) caucus meeting took Place last Friday in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The caucus should serve to coordinate and defend the federalist and pan-European interests in a transversal way in all the WGs, and make them ambitious, with concrete proposals and conclusions. To this end, the SG distributed a Manifesto defending the main federalist ideas. As a cross-cutting group with different ideas, the SG will join forces to focus on the points in common and to ensure that the inclusiveness of the group is strengthened, without neglecting coordination between the political groups. This is the strength of the GS, the only cross-party, transnational and pan-European group. During the caucus meeting, the change of the Spinelli Group rotatory Presidency took place. We’re happy to announce that Daniel Freund will be the new President of the Spinelli Group on behalf of Greens/EFA. UEF thanks Brando Benifei for his amazing work this year as our first President for this mandate!
4. UEF LIVESTREAM INTERVIEW
Right after the 2nd CoFoE Plenary, a Live Stream analysis from a federalist perspective was scheduled with the President of UEF, MEP Sandro GOZI. The interview was conducted by Nana WALZER. The President shared his impression of the Plenary commented on the topics and working priorities the Federalists addressed in over the weekend session.
5. ANGELA MERKEL AND THE CoFoE
The Conference on the Future of
Europe, which now-outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested could be
the place to solve Poland’s rule of law issues, has been paid little attention.
But that does not mean those attending have not been busy.
“The Conference on the Future of
Europe is actually a good place to discuss,” said Merkel as she entered the
European Council on Thursday (21 October).
She also suggested that the CoFoE
is a good place to talk about “how the individual members envisage the European
Union”. Despite this, even though the conference had its second plenary on 23
October, it failed to make many waves.
6. NEXT STEPS
The next two meetings of the
Plenary will be held on 17-18 December and 21-22 January to discuss the
recommendations of the four European citizens’ panels that will wrap up their
work by then. Co-chair Verhofstadt underlined that these sessions will have a
different setup, with more time for the representatives of the panels to
present their conclusions and a debate with other Plenary members on the
concrete topics.
In the meantime, citizens’
contributions to the Conference will continue to flow in:
the European Citizens’ Panels will meet online in November, and the first two will finalise their recommendations and present them in Plenary in December;
the Multilingual Digital Platform remains available for citizens’ ideas and events, which will become part of the third report due for December, and which will feed into the last sessions of European Citizens’ Panels and the upcoming meetings of the Conference Plenary;
*Feel
free to contact UEF Secretariat if you may have any questions on the CoFoE or
the Digital Platform: secretariat@federalists.eu
Une opinion de Jean Marsia et Domenico Rossetti di Valdalbero,Union des Fédéralistes Européens. Opinion cosignée par Nezka Figelj, Michele Ciavarini Azzi, François Mennerat, Giorgio Clarotti et Robert Verschooten, Union des Fédéralistes Européens.
Les États membres de l’Union avaient envoyé près de 100 000 hommes en Afghanistan et ce pays était le premier récipiendaire de l’aide au développement européenne.
UEF is
delighted to support also this year the Jean Monnet Prize for European
Integration. This initiative aims at honouring Jean Monnet’s memory and life
achievements. It does so by rewarding talented individuals or groups having
contributed to supporting or strengthening European Integration through a
project they designed and implemented. The winning project receives a €1,500
grant.
EuropeanConstitution.eu set up
the Jean Monnet Prize for European Integration to honour Jean Monnet’s life and
dedication to European integration by rewarding projects that support this
ideal in a concrete and apolitical manner for European citizens. The Award is
under the patronage of the European Parliament and is supported by the
following partners in addition to the UEF: College of Europe, Democracy
International, Alliance4Europe, Schwarzkopf Foundation, Friends of Europe,
European Student’s Union, Spinelli Group, EU40, BBE, European University
Association, European Democracy Lab, The Good Lobby, European
Alternatives. Where other prizes may reward public figures of high
standing, the Jean Monnet Prize focuses on citizens’ personal engagement for
Europe and activities that impact the day-to-day life of Europeans.
The Jean Monnet Prize is an open competition. It can reward any project contributing to the strengthening of European integration and of the European spirit. The Jean Monnet Prize does not reward projects that have yet to be implemented or that seek funding in order to start their implementation, this is to meant to improve the assessment of the project’s concrete impact for citizens.
There are no criteria imposed on the applicants and UEF encourages all to apply, in particular young people, women and disenfranchised groups. The application process is entirely free, and no expenses are asked of participants at any point.
2021 edition of the Prize
The call for applications will
be open from 9 September to 9 October, and the results unveiled on 9 November —
the anniversary of Jean Monnet’s birth.
No paper or email applications will be considered. Given the promising mobilisation for the Conference on the Future of Europe, we are convinced that 2021 will be a tremendous year for citizens’ engagement. For any further information you can contact EuropeanConstitution.eu at: jeanmonnetprize@europeanconstitution.eu
La règle de l’unanimité donne un pouvoir surdimensionné au “non”, estime le secrétaire général des fédéralistes européens, pour qui il faut permettre à un noyau dur d’ouvrir la voie à une intégration plus poussée.
Dear Delegates,
Dear Members of the Federal Committee,
Dear Members of the Executive Bureau,
Dear Presidents and Secretary Generals of the Sections,
Dear Federalist Friends,
In the framework of our XXVII European Congress, “Our Federal
Europe – sovereign and democratic”, we would like to kindly invite you to
the UEF SPAIN – SPINELLI GROUP hybrid discussion that will take place on Friday 2nd July 2021, 17.00-20.45 CEST
Venue: Centre Cultural La Nau – Universitat de
València, Carrer de la Universitat, 2, 46003 València, Valencia, Spain
ON THE 80th ANNIVERSARY OF THE VENTOTENE MANIFESTO TOWARDS
A FEDERAL EUROPE
16:30 Arrival of the participants
17:00
Welcome and opening statements
María Vicenta Mestre Escrivá,
Rector of the University of Valencia
Joan Calabuig Rull, Regional
Secretary for the European Union and External Relations of the
Government of Valencia
Sergi Campillo, Vice-Mayor of
Valencia
Juan González Barba, Secretary
of State for the European Union, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
European Union and Cooperation, Government of Spain
Jürgen Foecking, vice-director
European Parliament Liaison Office in Madrid
Enrique Barón Crespo, UEF Spain
President
Francisco Aldecoa, president
European Movement Spain
Sandro Gozi, UEF President,
Member of the European Parliament and member of the Conference on the
Future of Europe
18.00 Panel 1: The Federalist strategy in the
Conference of the Future of Europe
Moderator: Enrique Barón Crespo, UEF Spain President
Domènec Ruiz Devesa, Member of
the European Parliament, S&D Group, Vice- President of UEF,
member of the Conference
Danuta Hübner, member of the
European Parliament, EPP Group, Member of the Conference
Katalin Cseh, Member of the
European Parliament, RENEW Group, member of the Conference – tbc
Dimitrios Papadimoulis,
Vice-president of the European Parliament, The Left, member of the
Conference
Fabio Massimo Castaldo,
Vice-President of the European Parliament, Non-Attached, member of
the Conference
19:00 Panel 2: The role of MEPs and national
parliamentarians in the Conference on the Future of Europe
Moderator: Francisco Aldecoa, president European Movement Spain
Héctor Gómez Hernández, member
of the Spanish Parliament (PSOE) and member of the Conference.
Maite Pagazaurtundúa, Member of
the European Parliament, RENEW Group
Jordi Sebastiá i Talavera,
Former Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA Group
Inmaculada Rodríguez Piñero,
Member of the European Parliament, S&D Group
20:00 Closing remarks
Susana Sumelzo, Chair of the
Joint Committee on European Affairs Congress-Senate, Spain – tbc
Brando Benifei, president
Spinelli Group, Member of the European Parliament and member of the
Conference on the Future of Europe
If you would like to attend this event, please register here and do not forget
to indicate if you will join physically or online.
Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. Warm federalist regards,
UEF-Belgium Secretary General, Domenico Rossetti di Valdalbero, has just launched his new book ‘La réussite de l’Europe’. Watch the video presentation of the book below.
For the Union of European Federalists, being present in a structured and effective way, as well as being recognisable on the platform with its proposals in the Conference on the Future of Europe, becomes a necessary condition both for conveying its political message and for enhancing meetings on the ground at all levels.
The aim is to be influential in order to condition future decision-making processes, to bring out the drive for federal reform of the European Treaties.
What was clearly explained during the presentation of the platform, answering specific questions in an explicit way, is that the topic of the revision of the Treaties, considered a taboo by many member states, will become unavoidable if it emerges from the debate and the requests of citizens, on the platform. From there, it can be conveyed both to the European citizens’ panels and, above all, to the plenary session. The Digital Platform will therefore be in the coming months, until the conclusion of the process of confrontation with the citizens, the only tool at our disposal to convey ideas and political messages to the Conference.
If we are to succeed in achieving our objectives, it will therefore be necessary to devise an effective strategy and to organise a careful national (and European) direction which will enable us not to disperse our messages, not to drown them in the sea of proposals which will soon fill the platform, but which, on the contrary, will enable us to dominate the debate on the future of the European Union by directing it in such a way as to bring out the consensus in support of a Europe which, in order to live up to the expectations of its citizens, must equip itself with the competences, the political decision-making mechanisms and the appropriate resources. In a word, become a federal political Union.
With a view to a debate as inclusive as possible and aimed at advancing federalist demands, we encourage the sections and regional centres to organise debates link to our political proposals on the platform, which can be attractive to a diverse audience and allow collaboration with local and regional actors. It will also be important to try to understand how the themes identified can be declined in a federalist sense.
The debate should have a format that seeks to make the participants protagonists of the discussion.
Attached you will find a summary of the indications in the user guides of the platform to help you organise your events in a federalist way.
The UEF Secreatariat (secretariat@federalists.eu) is at your disposal for information, help and collaboration.
Nous avons le plaisir de vous inviter à l’Assemblée Générale (AG) annuelle de notre association qui se tiendra le samedi 5 juin 2021 de 10h00 à 11h40. Pour des raisons sanitaires (Covid-19), notre AG se tiendra de façon virtuelle (via Zoom).
Première partie de l’AG: Questions statutaires et rapports de 10h00 à 10h40
Au-delà des questions statutaires, nous souhaiterions que cette réunion soit aussi un moment de réflexion politique sur l’Europe et sur l’action des fédéralistes européens. Nous avons invité à cet effet le Député européen et Président du Mouvement européen Belgique, Tom Vandenkendelaere à intervenir et à dialoguer avec nous sur le thème de l’avenir de l’Europe.
En espérant vous voir participer nombreux et nombreuses, merci de confirmer votre présence par courrier électronique, téléphone ou SMS (0460.76.01.84). En cas d’empêchement, merci d’avance de nous envoyer une procuration de vote par courrier électronique.
Avec nos meilleures salutations,
Domenico Rossetti di Valdalbero Michele Ciavarini Azzi Secrétaire général Président
Programme de l’Assemblée Générale du 5 juin 2021
Approbation des comptes au 31.12.2020 et décharge aux
administrateurs (1.1.2020-31.12.2020)
Rapport d’activité du
Secrétaire général
Rapport politique du
Président
Présentation des
candidatures et élection du nouveau Conseil d’Administration*
Débat avec Tom
Vandenkendelaere, Député européen
Divers
* Les candidatures (postes à pourvoir : président,
vice-président, administrateur délégué, secrétaire général, trésorier,
responsable communication) doivent être adressées au Président, M. Ciavarini
Azzi, par courriel à Michele.Ciavarini-Azzi@ec.europa.eu)
avant le 29 mai 2021. Tous les membres en ordre de cotisation ont un droit de
vote. Un membre absent peut se faire représenter en donnant une procuration de
vote à un représentant.
Moreover, as a partner
of JEF Europe in the Y-FED project, we would
also like to flag you the Y-FED Large-Scale Model Simulation.
Please, find below the details of each event and project. You are all
invited to attend!
IMAGINING THE FUTURE OF EUROPE: PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
In which Europe would you
like to live in 10 or 20 years’ time?
The Conference on the Future of Europe will begin on May 9,
Europe Day, to define the direction that the European Union should take.
Citizens
and civil society will be able to give their opinion on the Europe they want
and thus contribute to shaping its future in the medium and long term through a
participatory forum.
UEF and Xul Foundation invite
you to participate in this process with Crossroads Europe, a European funded
project, to collect proposals and opinions on the Europe we want in the field
of participatory democracy and representation. These contributions will be
collected in a document of policy recommendations to be submitted to the
Conference on the Future of Europe.
If you want to get involved and contribute, if you wonder how to develop participatory processes in times of pandemic, if you want to broaden your knowledge on citizen participation, if you want to contribute to the construction of Europe and to give your opinion on the challenges it faces and its future, we are counting on you. Do you want to rethink Europe with us? We have planned a series of virtual workshops that will take place ONLINE on April 20 and 21, 2021.
2021 marks the 30th anniversary of the return to freedom and
democracy to Central and Eastern Europe and of Estonia’s restoration of
independence.
The project “Democracy
is Europe” aims to raise awareness on the centrality of the European
ideals in the transitions and peaceful revolutions of 1989-1991 in Central and
Eastern Europe and the Baltic States and to encourage debate and reflection on
the impact of such ideas in today’s Europe.
The Estonian session of
“Democracy is Europe” is organized in cooperation with and locally managed by
the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies of the University of Tartu.
The Estonian grass-root event
consists of two days of activities. On April 23, two panel sessions will be
held to discuss the historical context of Estonia’s Singing Revolution and its
significance for nations struggling for democracy and freedom nowadays. The
panels will be open to everyone interested. On April 24, the registered
participants, grouped in virtual teams, will work on different creative
projects that capture the significance of Estonia’s experience for today’s
Europe and its fundamental contribution to the process of integration. The day
will be concluded by a keynote speech of Visiting Prof. Toomas Hendrik Ilves,
former president of Estonia (2006-2016).
The full programme of the
event is available at the following link and the Facebook event can be
found here.
Registration is REQUIRED to participate in the event and is available at
the following link (open until April 22).
Y-FED
The project “Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it” aims to bring the EU closer
to its young citizens by developing a proposal for an improved institutional
framework of the Union in line with the European Youth Goals. The initiative,
supported by an Erasmus+ “European Youth Together” grant, will be implemented
between January 2020 and July 2021 through a series of capacity-building
training courses, public policy hackathons, a large-scale simulation of a
reformed EU and advocacy actions. The project partners comprise 18 civil
society organisations as well as 2 networks of European and regional
decision-makers.
About the Large-scale
Model Simulation, 14 – 19 June, 2021
The large-scale simulation is the main event of the nearly 2
years long project “Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it” that will gather more
than 100 young people from all over Europe in an online and physical
environment for 5 days.
As the cherry on the top, the model simulation is none like any
other simulations out there (MUNs, MEUs). It follows its own methodology
recreating a European Union of the future that is more youth-led, more
inclusive, more efficient and closer to its citizens. The model is inspired by
the first edition of Y-FED in 2019 and the hackathon solutions based on the
European Youth goals.
The event is going to be a blended activity with an online and offline
(in Strasbourg, France) settings and the current call is for the participants who will join
the event physically in Strasbourg under the roles of members of “The House of
Citizens” and “The European Senate”. For the rest of the roles
who will through online participation, there will be a call launched in May. The
goal will be to create a synergy between the participants in Strasbourg under
the 2 roles of members of “The House of Citizens” and “The European Senate” and
the journalists, lobbyists and citizens who will join online.
