Thinking Federalist - The New Federalist

State of the European Union Speech: Something is Terribly Wrong

Something is terribly wrong when pro-Europeans join the Eurosceptics at making fun of the President of the European Commission. Something is terribly wrong when in any parliament the deputies have to get economic incentives to go listen the president of their executive… When listening to (...)

Tuesday 14 September 2010

EEAS: First Step towards Reinforcement of the European Civil Service?

The creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS) is an opportunity to prove that the Union can set up an efficient European civil Service with staff coming from different institutions and cultures. It could be the model for more ambitious future projects as well. The EEAS and the (...)

Wednesday 18 August 2010

European External Action Service: Still very much national!

On 6th July, the European Parliament passed the European Council’s proposal on the future structure of the External Action Service. One may welcome that such institution will exist at all, however, the way it was dealt with and especially how the European Parliament dealt with the Councils (...)

Monday 16 August 2010

Only an EU wide constituency guarantees truly ‘European’ parliamentary elections

One year after the European Parliament (EP) elections, the Young European Federalists (JEF-Europe), the European Liberal Youth (LYMEC) and the Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG) want to remind of the necessity of reforming the electoral system in order to bring the EU closer to the (...)

Friday 11 June 2010

The federal perspective in the Schuman declaration (Part 2)

The Schuman Declaration (9th May 1950), whose 60th anniversary is celebrated this year, is the founding document of the European unification process. Based on the Franco-German reconciliation, it marked the first step in the actual construction of a united Europe, a process that, despite not (...)

Tuesday 11 May 2010

The federal perspective in the Schuman declaration (Part 1)

The Schuman Declaration (9th May 1950), whose 60th anniversary is celebrated this year, is the founding document of the European unification process. Based on the Franco-German reconciliation, it marked the first step in the actual construction of a united Europe, a process that, despite not (...)

Monday 10 May 2010

’Taking the Next Step in the Federation of Europe’

A Joint Declaration of the Union of European Federalists and the Young European Federalists Sixty years ago the Declaration of Robert Schuman changed the course of European history. It had the virtue of brevity and clarity. It was bold, and at once visionary and down to earth. “Europe (...)

Sunday 9 May 2010

The Stages of the Enlargement of the Democratic State and Federalism

On 15 September, all Parliaments around the world celebrate the International Day of Democracy, declared by the UN General Assembly in 1997. We have asked Lucio Levi, member of the Executive Committee of the World Federalist Movement, to express his reflections on the relations between (...)

Thursday 6 May 2010

Only a flexible and user-friendly ECI can inject more democracy into the EU

The Young European Federalists (JEF-Europe) are mobilising all pro-democratic forces of their Europe-wide network to lobby the European Parliament and the Council in an effort to remove the unnecessary obstacles for launching a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) contained in the draft ECI (...)

Wednesday 28 April 2010

Enhanced Cooperation, the solution we’ve got?

Ten EU countries are willing to adopt Viviane Reding’s regulation on legal certainty for cross-border couples. It would be the first time ever that the EU uses the ’Enhanced Cooperation’ formula to allow a group of countries to move ahead. Clearer rules for cross-border divorces There are (...)

Wednesday 14 April 2010

The fine art of procrastination

The Lisbon Strategy, adopted ten years ago, had the goal of turning the EU into “the most dynamic and the most competitive knowledge economy in the world by 2010”. The Commission is now trying to repackage the strategy in order to succeed in 2020. What went wrong with the Lisbon Strategy? What (...)

Saturday 6 March 2010

Differences between the United States of America and the European Union?

Lawyers would say us that the European Union and the United States of America are completely different. They are probably right, but from the point of view of the citizens, the similarities in their daily lives are numerous, even if some fundamental differences still remain. Similarities (...)

Thursday 4 March 2010