“What should a federal
Europe look like?”
The FRE (Federal Republic of Europe)
The European Union is going through the biggest
existential crisis since the original project was started in the middle of the 20th
century. The EU is now at a crossroad where it needs to decide which path to
take. Without a doubt the EU cannot
continue in its current form, it is an organization in need of profound
reform. The obvious answer is to evolve
from the current EU to some form of federalism and the grand question is what
form that Federalist Europe should have.
There are some important questions that should be
addressed by any true reform attempt. These questions are about the democratic
nature of the EU and their relationship with their citizens, questions about
transparency and openness of the European Union, the respect and defence of the
diversity of identities on Europe and many more.
Federalism is the way to protect the autonomous
individuality of the on the member states in a desirable European cooperation
as opposed to this current imposed uniformity by this intergovernmental control
which creates the impression that national and regional identity are being lost.
Federalism guarantees and preserves the sovereignty of both the member states
and the whole.
This reform should have for primary basis a true and
federalist European Constitution
centred on the citizens and not on the nations, this Constitution would replace
the current Treaty of Lisbon and it’s intergovernmental ethos. In this central
and basic document it should be concisely described the powers and limitations
of the European Union. This separation of powers would be invaluable to determine
the extent to which the federal EU could influence and impose legislation in
the member states and this would guarantee the principle of subsidiarity in the
relationship between the European Union and the member states.
After the adoption of such European Constitution, a
binding document to all member states, they should take steps to approach their
national laws to the European Constitution. Within the remit of the EU, another
important aspect of this constitution would be to determine what legislative
matters are the sole areas of the European parliament and what areas are the
European government authorise to legislate. Any changes to the constitutions
could only be done through a vast parliamentary majority.
The European
Parliament or European Congress should be the resulting body of the
integration of the European Parliament and the Council as one body divided in
two chambers, one elected by democratic vote, which should be reduced from
their current numbers but at the same time, maintaining a proportional
representation of the size of the member states and other second chamber
composed by a fixed number of member per country elected by the government of
each member state. The power to decide on policies and adopt legislation would
solely fall under this new EP, which would have to respect the remit imposed by
the constitution at all times in regards to subsidiarity.
The European council and the European commission
should be merged in one single body and renamed the European government, presided by the one president of the European Union and the face of the EU, contrasting
with the 4 faces that the EU currently has, this president must be elected by
the European citizens, this would provide the democratic mandate required. The
elected president would then nominate a government under guarantees that all member
states are represented in the government, this type of presidential system
would guarantee the separation between the parliament and the president and
providing a system of checks and balances. This government would have the role
of defining the political direction and priorities of the EU and also assuming
the current executive role of the Commission, by proposing laws within their
remit, policies agreements under agreement of the EP and promote the EU.
The role of the Court of Justice
would be extended with the creation of an independent European Constitutional Court,
with the sole purpose of maintaining the integrity of the text of the
constitution and guarantee the application of the principle of subsidiarity in
the EU.
A common policy involving taxes, banking, economy, welfare
and aid must be adopted by the federal EU, these policies would help to address
the asymmetries throughout the different EU members states In terms of taxes, is to guarantee a steady
flow of financing without depending of the member states
The ECB (European Central Bank)
should be merged with the EIB (European Investment
bank) and offer a true united European front, proposing initiatives and
developing support to European wide issues like economy and banking, and also
developing a federal wide framework with the ECA and Europol to tackle financial
crime and corruption.
The ECA (European
Court of Auditors) would maintain their current independent role of
managing how the EU funds are collected and used and continuously support and
aid the improvement of the EU financial management and also must increase the
powers available to combat fraud and corruption within the EU and the member
states and monitor the collection of federal taxes.
The European Economic and Social
Committee role would be extended from the current advisory role towards a
more binding role, it must be consulted by the legislative bodies in all instances
and their opinion must be considered at all instances. To bring the civil society
to a more prominent role in the Federal EU would help to address the perceived
gap between the civil society and the EU.
Finally, the lack of a common defence policy needs to be addressed with
the creation and development of the EUDF
(European Union Defence Force), under the control of the European
Parliament/Congress and with a strictly defensive and aid remit. Current affairs
are demonstrating the need for such a force to be created.
While not extensive and at some points, probably
difficult to achieve if not outright contradictory, this Federal EU model is nothing
more than a citizen’s contribution to a much wider discussion that is now
taking place throughout Europe regarding the path that the EU should take, I would very much appreciate the feedback of my peers.
#europeanrepublic
Joao Da Costa
@costajoaoda
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