by Pier Virgilio Dastoli
First lettre of the Permanent Forum of Civil Society to the Convention
Your Convention must become a new milestone paving the way for a real citizens'
Europe. Your work has been launched at the start of the 21st century, in a fast
and deeply changing society. The Lisbon European Council has outlined its main
themes. The Convention must give itself a vision, a project and fitting means
in a networking, knowledge-based society in order to provide everyone one with
a better quality of life, welfare and security at world and EU levels.
After ensuring an elected European Parliament, which makes the Union the sole
region in the world to be equipped with a parliament elected by universal suffrage
and enjoying law-making powers, after ensuring the adoption of the Charter of
Fundamental Rights, with this charter (incompletely) reflecting the rights enjoyed
in the Union - and guaranteed by the EU courts - , there is now a new step to
be taken in order to be able to reply to the question : "What are Europeans
expecting from Europe at the beginning of the 21st century ?"
The Convention must help us make headway towards a Union "placing people
at the core of its project" and replacing the existing gap between institutions
and citizens with a set of "synergies". It is clear with many topics
that the EU institutions are ill-adapted to cope with the new ways of interacting
in a knowledge-based society or with the globalization process taking place
in five areas : civil society, economy, tax evasion, terrorism and criminal
economy.
You must act as pioneers and innovators, lead the way forward and create the
conditions for new synergies to strengthen people's trust in the EU institutions
!
Two items need to be on the Convention's agenda first and foremost : how are
citizens to be involved in the process launched by the Laeken Declaration ?
On what topics should a citizens' Europe be built in an enlarged Union ?
Involving citizens in the Convention's work
Involving citizens in the Convention's work is a major objective set by the
Laeken Declaration. It is essential to have a clear vision of this participation
process during and after the Convention. Appointing a vice-president in charge
of relations with civil society within the Praesidium of the Convention is a
positive measure. The schemes tested during the first Convention - for the Charter
of Fundamental Rights - are unsatisfactory. In the Internet age, the Convention
has to be the forerunner of new advances on the part of the people : an Internet
conference "co-managed" by the Praesidium of the Convention and the
networks representing civil society, including the Permanent Forum of Civil
Society.
This co-management should lead, in a first stage, to setting up "permanent
structures for dialogue" and an "observatory" to identify the
topics proposed by both Convention members and European citizens and requiring
joint panels of experts or specific Internet discussions. In a second stage,
this Internet conference will make it possible to raise support for your proposals
on the part of men and women - and especially young people - throughout Europe.
You will then have to determine a consultation procedure for the population
of the Union and candidate countries about the results of the process launched
by your Convention.
Three baskets of issues to be dealt with
The 67 questions outlined by the Laeken Declaration will feed the debate between
the Convention and civil society. These questions are not exhaustive, however.
A few key ones - from the point of view of civil society - are not raised in
the Laeken Declaration. It is up to the Convention to open its scope more widely
in the form of three "baskets of issues" meeting the challenges of
the 21st century and of a networking, knowledge-based society.
First basket : the shift to a European, "representative, participatory,
parity democracy"
The Nice Charter has already failed on this point. Work must be resumed, focusing
on governance and synergies in a networking, knowledge-based society. The European
Parliament's powers must be increased and its election procedure reviewed in
the Member States, with in particular the right to vote extended to non-EU nationals.
Progress must also be made in the direction of a "parity democracy"
in which men and women are on an equal footing.
What is needed is a democracy which, apart from strengthening its representative
character, makes room for a participatory type of democracy based on provisions
already in force in the Member States and in the conventions signed by the Member
States and the European Union (such as the Aarhus Convention on access to information,
public participation and access to justice in environmental matters). There
should be a "European public enquiry" procedure in connection with
the use of structural funds as well as minimum framework provisions for participatory,
parity democracy at all levels of power. Rules should be changed as regards
people's access to the European Court of Justice.
European democracy in the 21st century has a duty to answer questions such as
the rights of future generations and - in a globalized economy - taking into
consideration the rights of peoples in non-EU countries affected by Community
policies.
Finally, this basket of issues should deal with the topic "democracy and
free trade area". Free trade cannot equal "merchandization".
The Union's participation in free trade areas - in particular the Euro-Mediterranean
area scheduled for opening in 2010 - should be made dependent on a "charter"
on democracy guaranteeing respect of citizens' rights, the shift to sustainable
development and access to a court of justice.
Second basket : a new "European social contract"
The Convention on the Charter of Fundamental Rights has left unfinished business,
as the Charter does not recognize any so-called "programmatic" rights.
The provisions of the Treaty with regard to sustainable development in its economic,
social, ecological, cultural and governance aspects, also lead to "programmatic
rights". Merely putting together the European Council's Declarations and
the conclusions of the United Nations Conferences - signed by the same leaders
- gives a clear view of the commitments which the EU Member States are accountable
for to their citizens (for example the right to a sound environment taken up
in a formal Declaration of Heads of State and Government in 1991).
This second basket of issues should also focus on appropriate provisions to
fight speculation (the "casino economy"), the criminal economy and
corruption, which are all factors that impoverish the Union.
Poverty is the greatest challenge for the European Union, today and tomorrow.
It is a fundamental issue both in the EU Member States and in candidate countries.
Eradicating poverty and exclusion is a condition for social cohesion and hence
for harmonious, sustainable development for all, respecting the dignity of every
man and woman. It is also an essential dimension of world peace in the context
of the population increase to be faced during the next decades. Finally, it
is an answer to the most acute issues linked to population ageing and public
health and to a number of causes of climate change or desertification.
For the Forum, the fight against poverty is a key for achieving cohesion in
the Union and it has become a lever for innovation and competitiveness for the
European economy on world markets.
What also needs to be done is holding discussions about the rules for a new
European entrepreneurial model. Today's key concepts are "corporate citizenship",
"stakeholder corporation", "socially responsible company",
"transparency, accountability, liability". A new "European entrepreneurial
model" should be defined, whether it is profit-making (companies) or non-profit-making
(third-sector undertakings and services of general interest), stating our values
in the face of the US model.
Third basket : "The European Union budget and financial resources"
This basket is indissociable from the second one. "Programmatic rights"
cannot be discussed without reviewing issues such as their implementation under
the subsidiarity principle, the procedure for levying tax and the introduction
of European tax systems (energy/CO2 tax, tax on financial speculation). It is
also necessary to debate about the level of the European budget with its 1.27%
ceiling and about the various types of subsidies and their adequacy in relation
to competitiveness objectives in the context of a knowledge-based economy and
the shift to an economic, social, environmental and cultural model of real sustainable
development