The Future of Europe - the perspective of civil society
Bratislava, 18 April 2017
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Ladies and gentlemen,
I stand before you today, just five days before the first round of the French Presidential elections, to discuss the future of Europe;
I mention the French Presidential elections, because most political commentators agree that these elections in particular, are key for the future direction of the EU;
But will citizens vote for Marine Le Pen on 23 April, the charismatic leader of the Front National, whose campaign slogan is 'In the name of the people', "The little people…the downtrodden, the trashed, the ripped off, the humiliated"?
Or will the majority select the young leader of the liberal pro-European movement En Marche, who seeks to bring a new role for centrism to French politics?
Or perhaps they will prefer an old leftist leader who is very critical of the EU, Jean-Luc Mélenchon?
What the three candidates have in common is that they are all from outside the traditional political spectrum;
The question is important, as the French elections are the clearest example yet, of a global trend: that the old divide between left and right is growing less important. Instead, there is a new divide between 'open' and 'closed';
The reverberations of the French choice will move far beyond France's borders – it could either revitalise the EU or result in its implosion;
Even more so when we consider that according to the respected polling group Pew, the percentage of French who see the EU favourably dropped from 69% in 2004, to 38% in 2016 – this makes the EU less popular in France that it is in the UK!
Over the last five years, a similar 'earthquake' has happened in the Italian public opinion regarding the EU;
Evidently, from the perspective of European citizens, national and European politics continue to be in crisis and are very far from their concrete daily lives;
Indeed, at the EU level, despite a great deal of progress, very few of the complex crisis which have rocked the EU since 2008 have been sustainably overcome and it can be argued that the EU is suffering from cumulative damage;
We see this in the distrust and divisions among Member States, in what the former Commissioner Lázlό Andor calls the double division - between on the one hand, East and West, welfare and wages and on the other hand, between North and South, fiscal policy and growth;
We see it in the social and political cleavages, in the widespread frustration among citizens!
Generally speaking, there is a lack of confidence, a lack of trust in the future, both of which feed into fears;
The reality is that today, EU governments do not share a common analysis of the problems, nor a shared view of how to overcome them;
And if we look to the EC White Paper on the Future of the EU that was published last month, I understandthat among the Member States there is no agreement on which of the five scenarios should be followed;
On the other hand, we have the Rome Declaration of 25 March, which states that 'Our Union is undivided and indivisible…(that) Europe is our common future (and that) ….we will act together, at different paces and intensity where necessary, while moving in the same direction as we have done in the past";
Personally, I believe that the Rome Declaration will remain an important EU reference and the symbolic signature of this declaration by the 27 Member States does give it weight;
The timing of both the EC White Paper and the Rome Declaration are important, as several legislative proposals will follow in the next few weeks: at the end of April there will be the EC reflection paper on the Social Dimension of Europe, at the end of May the EC reflection paper on deepening EMU and at the beginning of June the EC reflection paper on the future of European defence;
Personally, I strongly hope that these will not remain only 'Reflections'!
For we are at a pivotal time in the thinking, in the identity and in the future direction of the EU;
Even more so, if we recall the financial impact that Brexit will have on the EU – one has to be naïve not to appreciate that there will be a negative impact on the EU, resulting from the disappearance of one of the EU's net contributors';
Changes will most definitely come;
And now is the time for direction, decisions and actions;
At this point, we come across the very significant problems that we must face;
Firstly, there is a deep necessity for reforms, but reforms and change imply risk;
Secondly, in our societies there is a growing aversion to risk and we end up in a spiral of non-decision-making or diluting implementation;
To my regret, the EC White Paper on the Future of the EU only mentions civil society once (page 3) and civil society is not mentioned at all in the Rome Declaration – although 'citizens' are referred to five times;
Clearly, as President of the Various Interests Group of the EESC, I believe full-heartedly in the important role and contribution of civil society to the future of the EU;
For this reason, at our last plenary session, the EESC decided to organise national debates in all EU Member States, to discuss directly with civil society on what the future of the EU should entail, going beyond the five scenarios presented in the EC White Paper.
From the perspective of civil society, there is an evident necessity to honestly face and with a determined strategy, the polycrisis that we have lived through over the last eight years;
The financial crisis versus the economic and the social ones, the challenges of managing the influx of refugees and migrants, of dealing with terrorism and security issues, Brexit and nationalism, as well as finding the balance between the democratic legitimacy of national and EU Institutions versus populism;
These five crisis have amplified three older ones: that of an ageing society with increasing pressures on welfare systems and the social welfare pact; rapid advances in technology and industrial change; a shift from a system of 'cooperative' international competition to one of international confrontation, imperialist power games and even wars;
Moreover, there is an evident growing clash between movers and stayers, the modern and the traditional, the centre versus the periphery, urban versus rural, high skilled versus low skilled;
Hence, there is a great need for a new, strong and dynamic balance between stability and change;
This could be achieved by a concrete agenda which responds to the principal demands of citizens: firstly, to protect and to care (in terms of security, defence and social protection);
Secondly, to be open to the future (to new growth strategies, sustainable development, industry 4.0, the EU's Energy Union, the Digital Agenda…);
Thirdly, a stronger EU role on the international scene (in terms of trade, external relations, development cooperation, peace-building and peace-keeping, and a particularly active role for the EU in Africa and in the Mediterranean);
In my opinion, this is the Agenda of Rome: that United we Stand and Divided we Fall;
In other words, the necessity for a new balance with intergovernamentalism, but also a role for national parliaments and a role for civil society organisations;
Ultimately, we need leadership, to move from planning, to announcements and action.
In addition to this commitment, I would like to put to you two proposals which in my view should become the epicentre of the Europe of the Future;
The first, relates to the sustainable development agenda of 2030 and the necessity to strategically place sustainable development, in its economic, social and environmental dimensions, at the heart of the Europe of tomorrow. This is a clear unifying agenda for the future;
We must wake up to the reality of change and transition and render sustainable development a positive narrative for Europe, in which civil society and local communities play key roles as allies and partners;
Working together to imagine a new economic model which values growth beyond GDP;
Working together to defend our European added value for the future;
Secondly, I would like to make a plea for a greater role for Culture in our European identity and future;
Culture as an instrument of both diversity and cohesion, of civil engagement, of creative and sustainable growth, for our neighbourhoods, our cities and our regions;
Culture as a positive unifying force which respects differences and commonalities in our societies;
Cultureas a civil force for a new positive narrative in the post ideological era, capable of giving a senseto our future and a common sense of belonging to a shared system of values.
Ladies and gentlemen, before I end my presentation, I would like to pay tribute to the important role of Central and Eastern European countries, like Slovakia, in keeping the EU united;
Your experiences in the years since the European Community was established in 1957, are very different to those in the West, e.g. in Italy, from where I am from;
This was perfectly illustrated by Mr Tusk, President of the Council of the EU during his speech at the Rome celebrations last month;
I must congratulate Mr Tusk for a seminal speech. I found it extremely honest, moving and inspiring;
For as he stated "Our Union is a guarantee that freedom, dignity, democracy and independence are no longer our dreams, but our everyday reality. …I lived behind the Iron Curtain for more than half of my life, where it was forbidden to even dream about those values";
Mr Tusk drew on very personal experiences of growing up in war-torn Gdańsk, where he walked to school every day through the ruins of the burnt city. As he reflects "For me, the Second World War is not an abstraction";
And based on those experiences and on the values of the EU, he called on EU leaders to "Prove today that they are the leaders of Europe, that you care for this great legacy we inherited";
This legacy is the de facto true European architecture, it is the one that we live in;
In speaking about architecture, we are not only referring to geometry or design, but also to the ways to foster human relationships in both the private and public spheres;
Certainly today, we are all aware that the architecture of Europe is questioned;
So let us work together to renew and adapt this architecture. We must not destroy it and leave the chaos, the Brexit, etc;
We must also prove that we want to maintain our democratic system of the rule of law and free speech, where the social market economy and citizens' welfare are both valued and respected;
But for this, we must stop talking and start acting;
We simply need to follow the three main principles of architecture recommended by the great Roman architect Vitruvius;
Firstly, durability: there should be a good condition in the long term;
Secondly, utility: it should function well for the people using it;
Thirdly, beauty: it should delight people and raise their spirits;
So let us be politicians, civil society, all together, the good architects of our time. This is the only way we can live. This will be a reasonable future for our Europe.
Thank you for your attention.
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