Brussels, 17 July 2014

Dear friends,

The weeks since our last Federal Committee in Brussels have been politically very eventful:

• The new European Parliament held its first sessions. UEF and JEF have been very prompt in reaching out to all MEPs and calling for the Parliament to take the lead in re-launching the European political project in the coming period. This is the joint letter than UEF and JEF have delivered to all MEPs. We have also been in close contact and have met with key federalist-minded MEPs to advocate the establishment of a federalist group in the Parliament. We will have more news in this respect in early September. We count in particular on the MEPs who have signed the UEF-JEF pledge for a federal Europe in the run-up to the European elections. Furthermore, UEF and JEF have joined Europe+, a network of NGOs and movements coordinated by the European Movement International, urging the European Parliament to elaborate its own proposals on the future of the Union and call for an open and democratic Convention. This is the letter that Europe+ has sent to all MEPs on the first session of the new Parliament. Over 110 MEPs have already joined this appeal.
• The election of Mr Jean-Claude Juncker as new President of the European Commission has been preceded by a hard-nosed confrontation within the European Council and between the European Council and the European Parliament. For the first time, the European political parties and the European elections, and thus the European citizens, have been the decisive factor in selecting the President of the European Commission. This has been a healthy injection of politics and democracy in the life of the European Union. UEF has congratulated Mr Juncker for his election and welcomed his plans for closer economic and political integration presented to the European Parliament. In particular UEF appreciates his proposals for (1) deepening and strengthening the Eurozone (including Eurozone fiscal tools and budget and a single representation in the international institutions), (2) extending the European single market, (3) investing € 300 billion in European traditional and new infrastructures in the next 3 years to balance national austerity and reform programmes and kick-start the European economy, and (4) developing an energy union centred on pooling of energy resources and pan-European energy networks as well as ambitious renewable targets. This is the statement issued by UEF. Needless to say, many of such proposals are also federalist proposals, as set out in UEF Manifesto “Towards Federal Europe”  aunched at the UEF Congress in Berlin. Worth of note is also that Juncker’s proposals for a European plan of investments in European projects are very much in line with the European Citizens Initiative “New Deal For Europe” launched by a number of UEF sections (in particular Italy, France and Spain).
• The confrontation on the election of the new President of the European Commission has been in fact a confrontation between different approaches to the future of European integration. In this respect, the position of the United Kingdomhas become more and more extreme and at odds with the need for more economic and political integration shared by the Eurozone current and future members. This is becoming more and more evident not only to the public opinion, both in the UK and in continental Europe, but also to the Heads of State and Government. So much that the conclusion of the European Council meeting on 27 June affirm: “The UK raised some concerns related to the future development of the EU. These concerns will need to be addressed. In this context, the European Council noted that the concept of ever closer union allows for different paths of integration for different countries, allowing those that want to deepen integration to move ahead, while respecting the wish of those who do not want to deepen any further”
• On 1 July, Italy has taken over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The programme of the Italian Presidency is of great interest from a federalist perspective. To be noted in particular are:

1. The commitment to give new impulse to the “four pillars’ roadmap” (banking union, fiscal union, economic union and political union) outlined in the Report of the four Presidents, endorsed by the Heads of State and Government in December 2012, but then set aside after the step of the banking union, and
2. The plan to engage Member States and the European Union’s institutions into a “collective thinking on how to improve European governance” in view of the considerable advances in the Eurozone integration in the past few years, that call for strengthening the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the decision-making processes.

As UEF we are closing monitoring such initiatives and looking for opportunities to provide inputs. MFE, our section in Italy, is obviously engaged on a number of initiatives and events in this respect.

• Similarly positive are signals coming from key member states on the will to progress further economic and political integration of the Eurozone. In particular, in the past few weeks the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has repeatedly expressed that Germany wants to complement the monetary union with further measure of “economic union” and “political union” in a “multi-level democracy”. He detailed his views in a long interview with the Financial Times at the end of June and at a conference in Berlin yesterday organised by the Italian-German Centre Villa Vigoni. On the same subject the President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi in a lecture in London on the 9 July has proposed “forms of common governance over structural reforms and economic policy”. Once the European Parliament and the European Commission will be fully operational later in the year, we are likely to see such proposal coming back to the political agenda and we will have to be ready with our federalist inputs.

Against this political background, the second part of the year will be crowded with UEF initiatives:

• In September, we will work with federalist-minded MEPs to hopefully create a federalist group in the European Parliament, either by continuing the experience of the parliamentary group of the Spinelli Group or in another form.
• On 2 September, UEF will hold its traditional Summer Reception in Brussels, gathering federalist activists and sympathisers in the European institutions, the European press and the Brussels circles. This year the key-note speaker will be Mrs Danuta Hübner MEP, new Chair of the Constitutional Affairs Committee, who we have invited to share with us thoughts on “Challenges and opportunities towards a federal Europe: the role of the new European Parliament”. This will also mark the start of UEF advocacy activities towards the Constitutional Affairs Committee, which will have to play a crucial role if the European Parliament intends to take the lead in European reforms in the coming years.
• The first week of September, a number of members of the UEF Bureau will be speakers at the traditional Ventotene Seminar on“Federalism in Europe and the World” organised by the Altiero Spinelli Institute. As of this year the seminar is open to young UEF participants and we will work on a growing involvement as of next year.
• On Saturday 13 September, in Brussels,  a UEF-JEF Activities Kick-Off Meeting will gather members of the UEF Bureau, Secretary Generals and/or Presidents of UEF national sections, current members of the UEF/JEF campaign team and FC members willing to be involved in the UEF/JEF campaign team. We will devote half of the day to focussing our political priorities for the next phase of the post EP-elections campaign (also in preparation of the next UEF Bureau and Federal Committee meetings) and half of the day to sharing best practices amongst national sections and to shaping together our work plan for the next 12 months. You can register online until Monday 1 September.
• October will be a month dedicated to “Meet your MEP”. We are inviting all UEF national, regional and local sections – in cooperation with JEF – to organise meetings with their MEPs, either on a bilateral basis or in a public setting, to present UEF and JEF and the federalists’ key demands and expectations on the European Parliament. You will receive a separate message specifically on this initiative. UEF is able to provide some financial support, particularly to small sections that organise public meetings with MEPs from different political parties. In any event, UEF will prepare an action pack, including model letters that can be used to contact MEPs and promotional material with federalist demand. A close connection between local sections and MEPs is essential to our movement, particularly as over half of the MEPs are new to the Parliament, so I really invite you to focus your energies on this front in the coming few months. In this respect, I want to praise particularly our German section, Europa Union Deutschland, that has already managed to convince over 60 MEPs from the German delegation to become members of EUD, and consequently of UEF. It is a best practise that all sections can learn from. Sometimes it is just a matter of reaching out to your MEP, present yourself, and ask.
• On 18-19 October, as discussed at the last Federal Committee, we will hold a Joint Meeting of UEF and JEF Federal Committees’ Political Commissions dedicated to Foreign & Security Policy. The meeting will be held in Vienna, in cooperation with UEF and JEF Vienna, and is open to all member of the PC2 of the UEF Federal Committee as well as other FC members interested in Foreign & Security Policy (as well as the relevant counterparties in JEF). Purpose is to discuss more in depth some of the issues that we have started to discuss at the last Federal Committee. While in the past years the Euro and economic crises have monopolised the European debate, progress in Foreign and Security Policy should not be neglected and as an organisation we definitely need to further clarify our ideas and proposals in this field. A separate calling notice for the event will follow.
• On 12 November, we will organise a debate in the European Parliament in Brussels together with the World Federalist Movement, at the end of their yearly Council meeting taking place this year in Den Haag on 10-12 November. This will offer the chance of strengthening the bond with ours federalist friends from other regions of the world and to broaden the horizon of our discussions, engaging in a debate on what Europe can do to support regional integrations in other continents and how it can play a constructive role in international institutions. More details on the event will be circulated in September.
• The next UEF Federal Committee meeting will be in November, but at the moment we are not yet in a position to fix a date. UEF President Mr Brok intends to invite the new President of the European Commission, Mr Juncker, to the opening of the Federal Committee, but we will not know Mr Juncker’s agenda and availability until early September. I know that this is not ideal and that we risk conflicts with other initiatives at national level that will be planned in the coming weeks, but Mr Brok asks for your patience and understanding.

In the past few weeks, the Secretariat and I have devoted considerable time to some organisational changes in the working model and priorities of the Secretariat, our finances (in cooperation with the new Treasurer Kolja Bienert), our work plan for the reaming of the year, a restricting of our communication activities and the organisation of the staff in the office. Our interns Nicolas Arens and Quentin Coignus will leave the Secretariat at the end of July. I want to thank them for all their support in the past months and wish them all the best for the future. We are now recruiting two new interns: one for Policy & Advocacy and one for Events & Network to start in the first weeks of September. Here you find the description of the vacancies. Feel free to circulate the link to activists of your sections who may be interested.

For your information, the Secretariat will be closed from the 21 July to 22 August. I will be reachable by email paolo.vacca@federalists.eu throughout the summer, except in the next 2 weeks.

I wish all of you a good summer break and trust that you will come back more energised than ever as we count on all your support in the coming months.

Paolo VACCA

Secretary General

Union of European Federalists [UEF]