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28.02.2002
On
the Way to a Value-Based Community
Declaration
of all Associations of the EPP on the occasion of the first session
of the Convention on the Future of the EU
The association
of Small- and Medium sized Enterprises (SME-Union) of the EPP, the European
Union of Christian Democratic Workers (EUCDW), the association of the
Youth of the EPP (YEPP), the European Democrat Students (EDS), the EPP's
Women Association, the European Union of Seniors (ESU) and the European
Local and Regional Government Association of the EPP (ELRGA) declare
on the occasion of the first session of the Convention on the Future
of the European Union:
The Convention
on the Future of the European Union constitutes a milestone on the way
to a political union. It faces the challenge of finding institutional
answers to the main political challenges for the Union which strengthen
democracy, transparency and opportunities for action .
At European level
the course must be set for making the assumption of global authority,
the expansion to central, eastern and southern Europe and the strengthening
of the internal cohesion of our societies a success. The union and the
Member States must work together in order to increase economic strength
and competitiveness, to combat unemployment, to make sure that social
security systems financed on a basis of solidarity are able to function
properly in the long term as well as to build up supplementary, competition-orientated
systems, and to strengthen environmental protection.
The shaping of
the European economic and social area means in concrete terms inter
alia: greater implementation of the outlines for action contained in
the "European Charter for Small- and Medium sized Enterprises",
as small and medium-sized companies are an important factor for growth
and employment. Better co-ordination of guidelines for economic and
for employment policies is also necessary.
The responsibilities
of the European Union do not end at its borders; the EU also has global
responsibilities. As a global power Europe must promote human rights,
democracy, the rule of law, the social market economy, sustainable development
and good governance worldwide. To do this effectively the representatives
of the EU member states are called to speak with one voice in the competent
bodies of United Nations and other global bodies.
We want to shape political, social and economic union in such a way
that it meets our demands of a value-based community.
- It is therefore
indispensable that, as a political signal, the Charter of Basic Rights
is included in the treaty and made legally binding.
- Secondly, it
is necessary that the competences of the Union and the tasks of the
Member States are defined exactly. The principle behind this distribution
of competencies is a Europe based on solidarity, subsidiarity and
competition.
The reformed European Union should be responsible for the internal
market with a social dimension including the common currency, a reformed
common agricultural and fisheries policy and international trade (the
European Parliament should have full power of co-decision on these
points). In the fields of external and internal security the Union
should be responsible for asylum policy, the fight against international
crime and terrorism, foreign, security and defence policy. The EU
should also be responsible for foreign aid and development aid. In
the fields of communication, transport, research, social, environmental
and health policy the Union and the Member States should have shared
competencies. In the employment policy the Union coordinates the policies
of the member states. Concerning the modernisation of social security
systems, the Union and the member states have to work together in
order to combine public systems based on solidarity, which have to
guarantee a high level of protection, and supplementary systems based
on concurrence.
- Democratic control
must be guaranteed equally at all levels - in the Member States and
also at community level. It is therefore a logical conclusion that
the Rights of the European Parliament must be considerably enlarged
- also with regard to the right to initiate legislation.
The system must be designed in this regard so that in future the European
parties assume a greater role in political decision-making. One element
here should be the nomination of European top candidates to be elected
into the European Parliament (also with regard to the election of
the President of the Commission). In general, the procedure to elect
MEPs - based on a European voting legislation - should be more strongly
regionalised.
- The Council
and the Parliament must observe the legislative tasks with the same
rights. This must be as transparent as possible. In order to be able
to act, the extent of majority decisions would have to be expanded
to include all areas which must be regulated at European level. Furthermore,
in a possible two-chamber system, all subjects should be dealt with
by both chambers.
- The Commission
must be restructured to form an executive body. The Parliament should
elect the President of the European Commission. The Commissioners
should be appointed by the President on the basis of there being one
from each Member State and be confirmed individually by the European
Parliament. The President of the Commission should have the power
to remove individual Commissioners from office; the European Parliament
should be able to remove the President of the Commission and individual
Commissioners with a two-thirds majority.
- There must be
a far greater institutional element in implementing the principle
of subsidiarity; many problems can be solved with greater expertise
at regional level or by management and labour than by central governmental
institutions. In view of this the Regional Committee and the Economic
and Social Committee must be strengthened.
- One of the aims
of the Convention on the Future of the European Union is that of democratisation.
The towns and local authorities are Union citizens' immediate contact
partners, both as supporting public authorities for communal provision
of existential requirements and as authorities of first instance in
many matters. In contrast to this their representation in the organs
of the European Union is organised extremely badly. They have practically
no power of co-decision or participatory right. It is only through
the Committee of the Regions that in individual cases the interests
of the to
wns and local authorities can (also) be represented, in so far as
the latter - more or less by chance - correspond to the former. At
European level the entitlement to certain rights is often linked to
the "authority to exercise legislative power" (in this way,
for this Convention on the Future of the European Union, the Committee
of the Regions can only name representatives of authorities which
also have legislative powers).
Although the towns
and local authorities are authorised to pass generally binding regulations
these are often not classified as "laws" but often have a
level subordinate to that of laws (for instance as an ordinance). In
the European Council, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
Regions of Europe (CLARE) deals particularly with communal and regional
concerns. For this reason CLARE should also be granted at least the
observer status.
The future of the
European Union is a matter which concerns all European citizens. We
therefore welcome the fact that the convention wants to listen to the
opinions of organisations from civil society. Young persons will play
an special role in shaping the future. The EPP associations therefore
propose that a young person's convention should be organised which should
discuss the prospects of the EU during the course of 2002. It is intended
that the results of these discussions should be incorporated into the
convention talks.
The
European Union of Christian Democratic Workers (EUCDW) consists of 23
workers' organisations from 15 countries and is an association of the
European People's Party (EPP).
responsible: Luc Delanghe, President.
EUCDW
European Union of Christian Democratic Workers
c/o EPP,
Rue du Commerce / Handelsstraat 10
B-1000 Brussels
E-mail: EUCDW
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