All the attempts to tackle the crisis using the normal instruments and institutions have failed. Without a major European project capable of bringing about continent-wide growth and development, the sacrifices at national level that are necessary in order to address the debt crisis will not be sufficient to win back the confidence of the markets and the rest of the world. Neither is it possible to go on evading the crucial question of democratic legitimacy, thereby perpetuating a situation in which a few governments and national parliaments are required to make decisions for other countries, which in turn, wait until the decisions have been taken before calling them into question, in this way stripping them of all credibility, effectiveness and timeliness.
The European federalists thus appeal to the men and women of the national and European institutions, parties, political movements and civil society, reminding them:
- that a new political initiative on the part of the Eurogroup countries is urgently needed in order to lay the foundations for the creation of a European federation, through a democratic constituent method: it is necessary to show the Europeans and the rest of the world that the European political project can be resumed and that there exists the will to govern democratically and at supranational level the exit from the current crisis;
- that politics must waste no time in indicating the timeframe and modalities of this transition, and the institutional architecture through which it will be possible to manage the co-existence of the future Federation (which must be open to all those wishing to join it) with the other EU member states that will not want to, or will not yet be able to, be part of it.
- that efforts must be made immediately to promote all forms of mobilisation of public opinion in favour of a European “New Deal” and in support of real transfers of power from national to European level in the fields of taxation, budget, economic policy and foreign and security policy, first of all by using the European Citizens’ Initiative instrument provided for under the current Treaties.
The extraordinary gravity of the present historical moment leaves no time or excuses: we must act now before it is too late.
An appeal by: Andrew Duff (President of UEF), Pauline Gessant (President of JEF Europe), Philipp Agathonos (Vice-President of UEF), Michele Ciavarini Azzi (President UEF Belgium), Paul Frix (Vice-President UEF Belgium), Lucio Levi (President MFE Italy), Franco Spoltore (Secretary MFE Italy), Jean Francis Billion (Vice-President UEF France), Alain Reguillon (Secretary UEF France), Yves Lagier (former UEF France President), François MENNERAT (Member of UEF France)
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