The final report of the conference on the future of Europe was published on 9 May Europe Day (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/resources/library/media/20220509RES29121/20220509RES29121.pdf). Within a year, 650532 people (citizens from all over the Union, members of civil society, etc.) participated in 6465 actions and 17871 ideas were processed and proposed. The ideas were then discussed in meetings attended by citizens, EU institutions, advisory committees, elected representatives of Member States from all levels of government and social partners. They came up with 49 proposals on nine main topics, including health, democracy, the EU’s position in the world, the economy and social justice, education, migration, the digital transition, the need to tackle climate change.
The proposals make it clear that the EU must also “succeed” in the digital transition, become more “resilient”, strengthen the social contract and ensure an economy that is fair, sustainable, innovative and competitive. According to this report, geopolitical developments, especially the Russian invasion of Ukraine, also showed that it must be more decisive, to take a leading role internationally in promoting its values and rules in an increasingly troubled world. The proposals have been submitted to the top three institutions – the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission – to work on them and to promote the changes that citizens are calling for. In short, citizens are calling for what we call “more Europe”, the strengthening of institutions and mechanisms, and a more dynamic foreign policy.
The Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine are the most recent catalytic changes that have led to an ever closer relationship between the EU Member States. hit, among other things, the EU’s most vulnerable fiscal countries. of member countries at their cheap borrowing costs.
In the process, it was the turn of the EU (as was the case in the United States many decades earlier) to find that, without strong central government mechanisms, Member States (or US states) would not be able to withstand the debt crisis. It should be recalled that the US Federal Reserve was established in 1913 with the aim of ending a series of fiscal and banking crises.
The paradox today is that in the US there is a strong current of deconstruction of Federal Institutions, as, for decades now, some billionaire activists have been promoting the appointment of judges at all levels to elect policies aimed at dismantling the US Federal State. The war on acquired rights, such as abortion, is part of this campaign in the United States.
EU citizens are increasingly calling for a greater Union in all public sectors, so that the EU can become more and more homogenous in its social policies in order to vigorously defend its values around the world. When this is the mood of the people of such a powerful economic entity as the EU, the leaders of the member states and the Commission have no right to stand idly by. Russia has given the impetus to accelerate closer co-operation on critical issues such as the common foreign and defense policy.
The ever-closer ties between the US and the EU are strengthening ties for the economy and the green digital transition, while strengthening EU member states by giving them the opportunity to meet the challenges of the day.
