Approved by the Direzione Nazionale of MFE on 15-09-2012
Europe is at a crossroads: either it completes the process of its political unification or the present crisis will culminate in the collapse of the whole European edifice.
To avert the disastrous prospect of Europe’s disintegration it is necessary to find a way of bridging the gap that currently separates the European citizens from the European institutions, so as to recover consensus for the European project, and also create the conditions that will allow full trust to be restored between the eurozone countries. To achieve this, the EU must, first of all, show that it is capable of promoting growth and employment; it must also take steps to usher in the knowledge economy. Because Europe has an integrated economy and a single currency it is misleading to look to national solutions. The EU, or the eurozone at least, must undertake to promote a broad and detailed European sustainable development plan that would be funded by European own resources representing at least 1% of the European GDP – resources generated partly through the issuing of euro-project bonds and partly through the introduction of a European tax on financial transactions and a carbon tax.
The struggle to bring about the transfer of new resources to European level, sufficient to make the European government independent of the national governments and capable of boosting development, must be accompanied by the start of a broader programme of European institutional reforms: these reforms are crucial in order to confer a new, supranational, democratic legitimacy on Europe and create the conditions necessary for strengthening, with the support of the citizens, solidarity but also mutual obligations.
Therefore, with a view to the forthcoming European Council and eurozone summits, and in the light of the Treaty revision proposals already on the table, namely the convening of a convention and the holding of popular referenda on Europe, the European Federalist Movement (MFE) calls upon the Italian government, with absolute commitment, to:
- support the objective of creating a European federation, starting with the eurozone countries;
- establish the time frame of and stages in this process, which must culminate in the convening, by the end of 2013, of a constituent assembly/convention, responsible for drawing up the constitution of the new federation. This constitution must be ratified through a referendum, to be held simultaneously with the 2014 European elections in the countries that participated in its drafting. It will enter into force following its approval by a majority of the states that participated in its drafting, representing the majority of the citizens;
- indicate the institutional reforms necessary to allow the creation of a eurozone federation – open to all the countries that should wish to be part of it – within the broader framework of the single European market. These reforms must, in particular, allow:
- the European Parliament to operate in restricted composition whenever it is required to fulfil its function as the legislative organ of the new Federation;
- the Council members of the countries joining the Federation to form a Chamber of the States; this body would be required to share legislative power with the European Parliament in restricted composition;
- the European Commission to be transformed into a democratic government elected by the European Parliament, abolishing the nomination of single commissioners by the states and the ‘one commissioner per member state’ rule;
Italy bears a huge weight of responsibility. Its continued reluctance to strive for a federal solution to Europe’s problems will spell the end of the process of European unification, which has always seen our country at the forefront of efforts to bring about a European federation. In the current crisis, any hesitation becomes a betrayal, by Italy’s politicians, of the European federalist vision that, for the past sixty years, has characterised and guided the action of Italian statesmen, institutions, and political parties, widely backed by public opinion.
We know that Italy, without Europe, has no future. And also that Europe has no future without a European federation. But we must also remember that the European Federation will never coming into being without an active contribution from Italy.
Milan, 15 September 2012
