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Disputes over the European Union role
Disputes over the European Union role
As we said before, nowadays the EU is facing some criticism about its role and functioning. If you remember our previous lessons, you will remember that this is not new. After all, since its creation, the EU faces discussions about either being a supranational institution or an intergovernmental one, with support from both sides.
Two of the most important events that recently renewed this debate were the financial and economic crisis in 2008 and the 2015’s migration crisis. Many can bring both the uprising of illiberal groups and Brexit to the perceived bad response from the EU to those problems, raising Euroscepticism among many Member States.
Both events were crucial to stimulate the debate about the EU’s role in moments of crisis. Are the EU’s institutions ready to manage such problems? Do they have the tools for that?
People’s trust in European Union
People’s trust in European Union
Eurobarometer’s survey on the level of trust in Southern European countries (Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain) shows a stable support and trust in the EU, in the support provided by the EU, in the home country’s democracy and in the EU democracy between 2002 and 2008, with a plunge in 2009 and some recovery in 2015, but still at low levels. This low satisfaction with democracy is the fuel for populist movements and keeps us from approaching complex problems as they need to be approached.
In another survey about the Future of Europe, Eurobarometer found that even though a majority of Europeans believed that the quality of life in the EU is favourable when compared with other countries (around 45% and 67%), more than half (55%) think that the life of today’s children in the EU will be more difficult than that of their own generation. Either way, 61% are optimistic about the EU’s future.
Scenarios for the European Union future
Scenarios for the European Union future
In 2017, the European Commission, by its President Jean-Claude Junker, launched an initiative to discuss the EU’s future. The White Paper on the Future of Europe, followed by a series of talkings on 5 issues (the social dimension of Europe, on the harnessing globalization, on the deepening of the economic and monetary union, on the future of European defence, and on the future of EU finances), set out 5 possibles scenarios for the EU’s evolution depending on the choices we make.
Having issues such as the impact of new technologies and automation, the international role of the Union, youth unemployment and others, the White Paper drawn the following scenarios: i) ‘carry on’, where the Member States would keep on implementing the agenda ‘New start for Europe’; ii) ‘nothing but the single market’, where the EU re-focuses on deepening certain aspects of the internal market while excluding other issues such as migration; iii) ‘those who want more do more’, where different Member States choose to integrate at different levels in certain issues as defence, internal security, taxation and social matters, also known as ‘Europe at two speeds’; iv) ‘doing less more efficiently’, where the Union reprioritizes its action and leaves aside some areas, focusing on a reduced number of areas with stronger tools; v) ‘doing much more together’, based on the premise that the Member States are ill-equipped to face some issues alone, therefore it is necessary to share more powers in more areas.
The Parliament also contributed to the discussion and organized three resolutions focused on the need of a more democratic Union. The first report was focused on a better use of the Lisbon Treaty and its potential, the second focused on the possible evolution and adjustments for a treaty’s reform, and the third focused on the budgetary capacity for the euro zone.
Conference on the Future of Europe
Conference on the Future of Europe
In 2019, Ursula von der Leyen, the new President of the European Commission, in a joint proposal with the European Parliament, and with the Council’s participation, established a Conference on the Future of Europe that would start in January 2020. This Conference should run for two years and aims to increase democratic participation of EU’s citizens in how the Union is run and what it delivers on. In order to achieve this outcome, the Conference brings together, and treated as equal, young people, civil society and EU institutions.
To learn more about this subject:
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2019/644202/EPRS_BRI(2019)644202_EN.pdf
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-8-2017-0048_EN.html?redirect
https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/sites/eacea-site/files/priorities_2020_en_0.pdf
http://www.moderatorseurope.eu/about-us/
https://www.debatingeurope.eu/about/https://www.citizensforeurope.eu/the-core-team
https://europeanmovement.eu/who-we-are/https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/europe-for-citizens_en
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