Thinking Federalist

Simon Hix on Democracy in Europe and a brief Comment

Why do the losers of decision making processes accept the outcome as legitimate in a democracy? Does this also apply for decisions made on the European level? And what does that reveal about the real or perceived democratic deficit within EU decision making processes? Starting out from those questions, Simon Hix gave a brief presentation of his most recent research findings on Democracy in the European Parliament and the EU in general at the Dahrendorf Symposium 2011.

Thursday 10 November 2011

More democracy at European level is needed to face the crisis: a European federation starting from the Eurozone Countries!

The umpteenth breakdown of the stock markets shows again two uncomfortable truths. The first is that the crisis is far from being resolved. Without a clear European project that combines recovery and austerity with a plan for employment and economic development in the long term there is no (...)

Thursday 3 November 2011

Towards the Federation of Europe

At the initiative of the Permanent Forum of European Civil Society, created in 1995 around a draft Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, citizens from several Member States met on 1 October 2011. The theme of the meeting - held in Houjarray (Yvelines) in Jean Monnet House – was to revive the (...)

Saturday 8 October 2011

JEF for a visa-free Europe!

Thousands of youth from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Ukraine and Turkey still waste time and money to receive their visa to follow a training, seminar, conference or university studies in the EU or just to travel to meet up with friends and family. The Young European (...)

Thursday 29 September 2011

This Season’s top trend – Federalism making a comeback

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso emphasised in the European Parliament last week that Europe needs «a new, unifying impulse, a new federalist moment». He argued that the solution to the crisis would have to involve the “Community method” - implying more democratic and accountable (...)

Monday 26 September 2011

Federalism as a moral and rational necessity

Many analysts believe that the unfolding euro debt crisis has put the EU in a historic crossroads, which can result in a productive outcome or on the contrary, in a collapse with unpredictable consequences for the rest of the world on a multidimensional level. Since the outburst of the Greek (...)

Saturday 17 September 2011

The European Citizens’Initiative : from a long claim to a wonderful opportunity!

A long claim... The participation of citizens in European decision-making is a long-standing demand of the Federalists and of JEF-Europe. Already during the Convention, federal organizations conducted intense lobbying that led to the introduction of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) in (...)

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Me, Myself and I - A European complement to national Identities

The article provides definitions of the terms Identity and Nation to make the reader think about them in a new way. It will be shown as well, that and how a European identity is possible and that it does not conflict with a national identity.

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Merkel, Sarkozy...Time for the new Federalists ?

It is in times of crisis when the EU makes the biggest steps towards integration. Once again it is proven that the European integration is driven by necessity and not by intelectual curiosity. We are living the times of faster economic integration since the Maastricht treaty . During the last (...)

Friday 19 August 2011

Federalism in Action?

The European Union. It’s a nice idea. It’s got some great aspects, it’s got some cuddly bits, and like any other grand idea it’s got the bits which simply don’t work on a practical level. Not for the want of trying but simply because sometimes the compromises just aren’t viable. As young people (...)

Monday 15 August 2011

2014: Awakening Europe

The first half of the twentieth century was marked by two European civil wars, the deadliest that history has seen, and for forty years, one of the side effects of these wars has been the division of the continent of Europe into two antagonistic blocs. The second half, on the contrary, has (...)

Monday 18 July 2011

Economic Federalism will save the Euro... and Europe!

Noëlle Lenoir, former French Minister of European Affairs, takes a stance on the future of the euro that is currently in the midst of crisis in Greece. For her, economic federalism is the solution. Here is her opinion. After the crisis of private debt, a crisis of sovereign debt It was the (...)

Friday 8 July 2011
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