Michael Efler at the "Initiative for a European Constituent Assembly" in Paris
The No didn’t bring the crisis; the crisis brought the No!
Monday 26 February 2007
“Initiative for a European Constituent Assembly” is the name of a conference held in Paris on February 23rd and 24th attended by EUD staff. The Event was organized by Jean-Luc Melenchon, socialist senator in France and president of Pour la Republique Sociale and Oskar Lafontaine, Deputy and head of the group Die Linke in the German Bundestag.
The debates on Friday 23rd and the presence of Member of Parliament from several European countries allowed the public to have an overview of the situation characterizing the relationship between the EU and their national country.
The question of the Constitutional Treaty was of course at the center of the debates! On the ratification process, it was said that the EU leaders tend to fustigate France and the Netherlands for blocking the Constitutional Treaty, but the results in other countries show that nearly half of the EU population disagrees with the Treaty. The results of the referendum show that, for example, in Luxembourg 43.5% of the population did reject the Constitution. Furthermore, if the ratification process had continued after the French and Dutch rejection, the Treaty would most certainly have been rejected by the UK, Poland and Czech Republic as well. This emphasizes a reality that is absent from the EU leaders’ speeches when they criticize the French and Dutch results.
This event was also the occasion to hear two personalities that will also speak at the EUD conference in Berlin on 23-25 March: Mr. Erik Wesselius, representing Corporate European Observatory, made his speech on the constant pressure exerted by corporate lobbies on the European Commission. Mr. Michael Efler, representing German organization Mehr Democratie, explained the audience what he considered to be the three main problems associated with the European integration. Firstly, it is an elite initiative; the Treaties are negotiated by leading European actors and then submitted to the parliament for ratification. Secondly, the EU institutions are old, illegitimate and do not fit to the needs of a modern and enlarged European scheme. Finally, Efler insisted on the negative aspects of the process of centralization which threatens parliamentary democracy in the Member States and separates the EU from its citizens.
To be continued… in Berlin on March 23!