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European Union
In a speech to congress in 1917, Woodrow Wilson said “the world must be made safe for democracy.” This was the attitude which took place after the end of the Second World War, when leaders in Europe wanted to make sure they did not fight again. 60 years on, and the people of Europe are now facing a new crisis, not of war, but of that democracy which Wilson spoke about 90 years before.
The Dutch government claims to believe that the new European Reform Treaty, intended to replace the rejected text, does not have 'constitutional' implications. This new treaty, they argue, would represent merely a routine series of amendments and in terms of style, content and magnitude would be completely different from the one against which we successfully campaigned in 2005. For these reasons our government sees no need for a second referendum on the treaty.
A brief survey among different Bulgarian political observers with the question “Can you identify a Eurosceptic Bulgarian organisation?” would yield to an almost unanimous answer: “Ataka”.
Ataka (Attack) was established as a movement only months before the 2005 general elections and then successfully positioned itself as the fourth largest party in parliament, later confirming that position in the elections for the European Parliament.
Just as in some other European countries (e.g. the referendums on the European Constitutional Treaty in France and the Netherlands in 2005), there is a gap between the political elite and the citizens of Croatia with regard to the popularity of the European integration process. While there is hardly any euroscepticism amongst the political elite of Croatia, research points out that the public opinion on European integration has changed in the last few years from supportive to more sceptical. In 'Euroscepticism in Croatia: On the far side of rationality?' Aleksander Štulhofer describes his research on the main characteristics of popular (of the people) euroscepticism in Croatia and gives some recommendations on how to tackle this.
Euroscepticism is not particularly popular in Poland. Ever since the country regained its independence from Soviet rule, Europe has been the obvious choice for Polish politicians, even though initially only few of them believed a membership of the European institutions could be achieved on a short term. For the average Pole, Europe represents not only welfare, freedom and democracy, but also a civilisation that distinguishes Poland from (non-European) cultures like Russia, still identified by many as Poland’s main enemy. For a long time, euroscepticism has therefore been the sole domain of extremist parties and individuals in the margin of the political scene. Apart from that, virtually the entire political panorama can be considered pro-European, if not out of love for Europe, then at least for the sheer lack of an alternative. This goes not only for liberal parties like the Civic Platform (PO) and centrists like the Democrats, but also – notably – for the post-communist Alliance of the Democratic Left (SLD).
Now in use world wide, the term ‘Euroscepticism’ was coined in the 1980s by the British media as they reported on the various stand-offs between the Thatcher government and the European Commission. Since then in Britain the term has become associated especially with so-called ‘hard Eurosceptics’, i.e. persons who demand dissolution of the European Union, or at least complete withdrawal of their member state. British groups that are critical only of aspects of the EU (such as the ‘Euro No’ campaign which wants the UK to remain out of the Monetary Union) stress that they do not consider themselves ‘Eurosceptic’. The more radical groups, on the other hand, tend to embrace the term as a badge of honour
Attac is an international organisation advocating alternatives for neoliberalism with chapters in some fifty countries, both in Europe and in Latin America, as well as in Asia and Africa. Both in France and in the Netherlands, in 2005 national Attac chapters played an important role in the campaigns against the European Constitution. In both countries the European Constitution was rejected by an ample majority.
As the media officer for the Independence/Democracy Group in the European Parliament I was delighted to be invited to provide a discourse on precisely that question. OK, so you are in the European Parliament the most avowedly federalist of the European institutions and you, as a group set your face against further integration. Aren't you barking up the wrong tree?
According to the world’s biggest on-line encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, "Euroscepticism has become a general term for opposition to the process of integration". This definition reflects quite well the general misconception floating around the word "euroscepticism". "Eurosceptics" are found to be leftists, rightists, ecologists, libertarians, nationalists and even federalists. It is not rare, indeed, to hear critics about a lack of transparency or democracy in Europe among the very pro-European group of federalists.
The enlargement of the European Union on 1 May 2004, with mainly Central and Eastern European countries, was the first in which human and minority rights were included in the accession criteria. The protection of minority rights as a condition for EU-membership seemed promising for the large Romani minority in Slovakia. During the negotiation process in particular, the European Union had the opportunity to influence the socio-economic position of the Roma in Slovakia using possible EU-membership as a carrot.
27 March 2007
Last weekend (24-15 March) it was exactly 50 years ago that the Treaty of Rome was signed. While national leaders of the European Union members countries celebrated this in Berlin (see: http://europa.eu/50/), many other events were organised at the same time. One of these was the Conference on the Future of Europe, aimed at more involvement of citizens, initiated by different organisations in combination with individual members of national parliaments; another was the first EU Youth Summit, held in Rome.
Things can go fast sometimes. One day you are happily tinkering with the Politeia newsletter, and the next day Politeia’s main editor Ruud Veldhuis announces he has decided to retire (though he promised he will stay actively involved). One day you are happily walking around in one of the heartlands of the European Union, and the next day, the first of June to be exact, your fellow Dutch citizens massively reject the European Constitution. In this issue of Politeia, Luuk van der Meer describes the Dutch confusion on that first of June, while Ivo Hartman, the new main editor of Politeia, analyses the consequences of the French ‘Non’ and the Dutch ‘Nee’. Good initiatives are needed to foster European citizenship. Luckily they exist though they are few. The Austrian Citizenship Education Action Days attempt to raise awareness. European Schoolnet’s myEUROPE attempts to bring European citizenship into the classroom. Politeia attempts to connect people involved in European citizenship education. To further this aim we have decided to focus more exclusively on our website. Politeia will stop appearing in print, but in exchange www.politeia.net will grow more lively and up-to-date.
Krijn Peter Hesselink, Instituut voor Publiek en Politiek, Amsterdam
This arrticle was published in Politeia Newsletter 38 - July 2005
In April 2005 the European Commission adopted the proposal for a new program ‘Citizens for Europe’ 2007-2013 to promote active European citizenship. This program will take over the current program coming to an end in 2006. With the new program, the European Commission wishes to contribute to a major challenge of the European Union, namely how to bridge the gap between citizens and the European Union.
Under the enlarged European Union, many new regions will become eligible for specific support targeting the convergence of the income and development levels in the so-called ‘cohesion’ (or NUTS 2) regions with those of the more advanced regions in the European Union. In fact, every single region in the 10+2 (including Bulgaria and Romania) new member states is eligible for such support, with the sole exception of the city of Prague. This puts the European cohesion/regional policy in a qualitatively new situation.