by Paolo Vacca

The European political landscape is in a state of flux. The European Union is still struggling to find a satisfactory settlement for the crisis in Greece. The President of the European Central Bank has repeatedly called for more “sovereignty sharing” among countries in the euro area, but his words seem to fall on deaf ears among national governments. The European Commission has launched a series of important initiatives (in particular, proposals for a European Investment Plan and an Energy Union) which all go in the right direction but fall short of their ambitions, curtailed by national governments. The crisis in Ukraine is stretching the EU’s cohesion in foreign and security policy and proving once more how much needs to be done in this field. Voices for a united and federal Europe are growing, but will and vision among decision-makers are lacking.

Two recent political initiatives are of particular relevance to us. At the meeting of the European Council on 12 February, the European Commission President presented a report on “Preparing for Next Steps on Better Economic Governance in the Euro Area” that reopens the debate on completing the monetary union with a fiscal and economic union and the related political consequences. A report with proposals by the Presidents of the European Commission, European Council, Eurogroup and ECB will be presented to the European Council in June. In parallel, the Committee for Constitutional Affairs of the European Parliament has started working on two reports that will shape the position of the Parliament on the future of the EU institutions: a report on Improving the functioning of the European Union building on the potential of the Lisbon Treaty with co-rapporteurs Elmar Brok and Mercedes Bresso and a report on Possible evolutions and adjustments of the current institutional set up of the European Union with rapporteur Guy Verhofstadt. The outcome of these two parallel initiatives will also depend on what we federalists are able to do at local, national and European level to influence their content. Focussing your and our activities on these two key matters would certainly add value.

This is the first issue of a Quarterly Update that will keep you informed about UEF activities. I am sure it will foster a wider appreciation of the many initiatives organised by UEF European Secretariat and will tease more members to engage at the European level of our organisation. With this in mind, I would appreciate it if you could circulate this email to your members and local and regional sections.

The UEF European Secretariat has created a brand new booklet summarising the organisation’s goals, achievements and proposals. Check it out here!