PES Manifesto

In search of a European public: PES Group in the CoR debate on European Democracy and Diversity

Published Friday, May 23, 2008 at 15:24
by Editor (964 views and 0 comments)

The second day of the extraordinary Turin meeting of the PES group in the Committee of the Regions started with a roundtable on European democracy and diversity. Four highly interesting speeches put forward some very precise ideas for the PES manifesto 2009.

The panel was moderated by PES Group Coordinator Karl-Heinz Klär, first Vice-President of the PES Group in the Committee of the Regions and State Secretary of Rhineland-Palatinate.

"To strengthen European democracy, we should create a new instrument, the European referendum, to be held simultaneously in all Member States on major European political issues", he argued, underlining that this would strengthen the creation of a true “European public". According to Klär, "the key challenge for the EU is to integrate diversity in Europe into a common framework of democratic rules." It is up to the local and regional authorities – as the democratic level closest to the citizens – to build on the diverse cultural foundations and traditions of the European citizens.

Costas Simitis, former Greek Prime Minister and Member of the Amato high level group on the future of Europe, explained that Europe was facing some serious problems which could hardly be solved with the current coordinating mechanisms. He underscored that bolstering democracy requires a lot more attention to public debate and the creation of a “European public forum”. The Lisbon treaty would certainly help a new Europe to develop, but attempts to create democracy by a top-down process will not succeed unless accompanied by broad public participation in European political procedures. Public participation however is most likely to emerge when it comes to the discussion of concrete policy problems like inflation, interest rates, or the directive on services (Bolkestein Directive). In that sense, it’s the democratic decision making process as such that fosters a European public. As for diversity, Mr. Simitis insisted that its preservation is linked with the deepening of EU democracy.

Jo Leinen, Member of the European Parliament and President of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, affirmed that the future of the European Union lies with European political parties, which are the best way to give substance to multi-level democracy. It has always been the mission of the parliamentary left to champion democracy and social standards on a national level. But there is a democratic deficit on the European level that needs to be tackled. What if voters would have two votes at the European elections: One for national representatives and one for a transnational list (with 10% of the MEPs to be elected)?

Michel Delebarre, first CoR Vice-President, recalled that, being a socialist means believing that democracy and the fight against injustice is continuous process which requires constant attention. Moreover, he urged the Party of European Socialists to come forward with a concrete diversity and migration agenda. However, the PES manifesto must not focus only on some traditional socialist themes: we cannot afford to leave the environment to the greens, the issue of civil rights to the liberals or security issues to the conservatives, he explained. Therefore the PES under Poul Nyrup Rasmussen is taking the right approach in developing a very comprehensive program for the European elections.

What do you think about European referenda, common European symbols, the strengthening of European parties and transnational lists for the European elections? How can we win the “hearts of Europeans”, as one participant in the discussion panel put it?

Tags: citizens, democracy, EU, justice