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BackThe European Union is experiencing the most serious crisis in its history. But this is not only a crisis of the financial markets and the economy, but also a crisis of confidence by the citizens in political institutions at national and EU level and their ability to find solutions to urgent issues. Commission President Barroso, EU Parliament President Schulz and the Danish Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt, who took part in a discussion event in the European Parliament, organised by European Ombudsmen outlined their positions as to how confidence in European integration could be restored.
Citizens in many Member States of the EU are losing their trust, said EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso at the beginning of the event. However, their trust would probably not just be diminished in respect of Europe, but also with regard to the political and financial elite in general. The gap between decision-takers and citizens would widen; often citizens would not know how political decisions came about. A stronger European Union was necessary, urged Barroso, but not to shift more power to Brussels, but because it was inevitable in times of globalisation, to maintain a high level of integration, for example by the common currency. In order to restore confidence, it had to be made clear that Europe would not just consist of Brussels, but that it was made up of all Europeans. The EU institutions had to show decisive leadership, but they were not able to replace national governments, parliaments and in particular social actors such as social partners or Universities in their engagement in Democracy.
EU needs confidence of the citizens, not only of the markets
Not only the audience in the room, numerous internet users also asked questions and made comments via Twitter. One could get the impression, the EU would give top priority to the markets and not to the citizens, commented one contributor. Barroso replied that the EU would primarily focus on the citizens as was shown by the recently introduced Employment Package. It was important to understand that it was not the EU that had caused the current crisis, but the irresponsible activities of some governments and financial markets.
European integration was a gift, even in the deepest crisis but it was not appreciated enough, commented EU Parliament President Martin Schulz. With regard to placing confidence in EU institutions it was a problem that more and more control was transferred to Europe; however, without power sharing, the scope of control at national level. Schulz reminded listeners that international challenges such as environmental problems, currency speculations, tax evasion and global migration movements could not be tackled within a national framework. Europe would only exist if it was not killed by austerity measures, said the Social Democrat. We need budget discipline, but it should not strangle us. Youth unemployment too, which already affects every other youth in some Member States, has a serious impact on confidence in the EU. Schulz said he could understand citizens who accused the EU of having 500 billion Euro available to bail out the banks, but not one billion Euro to tackle youth unemployment. Schulz appealed to the heads of government that the European Union could only be as strong as the Member States would allow it to be.
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Danish Prime Minister and President of the rotating Council Presidency commented that the trust of the public was essential to grant EU institutions legitimacy. The answer to the crisis had to be to present concrete results, which would directly affect peoples’ lives. Thorning-Schmidt was in favour of achieving growth in Europe by reviving the internal market, which would still harbour a large unused potential. Referring to the criticism on the current austerity policy, the Danish Prime Minister explained that it was not the EU that pushed forward these unpopular measures. Cuts were necessary, as some countries had spent more money than they could afford. With regard to the request, to extend access to documents to meetings of the EU Council, Thorning-Schmidt said there would always be closed meetings and that it was not fair to demand that all Council meetings should take place in public. An opinion, which was not shared by Schulz: confidential issues, such as diplomatic matters, should remain secret. However, discussions concerning EU legislation at Council level should take place in public so that citizens could see which governments supported what and which would block certain plans, said Schulz.
The European Ombudsman P. Nikiforos Diamandouros referred to the significance of the recently introduced European Citizens’ Initiative to increase the participation of the citizens. The public service provided by the EU was very competent; however, originally it had been primarily focussed on administration and less on providing services for citizens. Hence, the EU administration had to be encouraged to gear its attention more towards the citizens.
EU needs confidence of the citizens, not only of the markets
Not only the audience in the room, numerous internet users also asked questions and made comments via Twitter. One could get the impression, the EU would give top priority to the markets and not to the citizens, commented one contributor. Barroso replied that the EU would primarily focus on the citizens as was shown by the recently introduced Employment Package. It was important to understand that it was not the EU that had caused the current crisis, but the irresponsible activities of some governments and financial markets.
European integration was a gift, even in the deepest crisis but it was not appreciated enough, commented EU Parliament President Martin Schulz. With regard to placing confidence in EU institutions it was a problem that more and more control was transferred to Europe; however, without power sharing, the scope of control at national level. Schulz reminded listeners that international challenges such as environmental problems, currency speculations, tax evasion and global migration movements could not be tackled within a national framework. Europe would only exist if it was not killed by austerity measures, said the Social Democrat. We need budget discipline, but it should not strangle us. Youth unemployment too, which already affects every other youth in some Member States, has a serious impact on confidence in the EU. Schulz said he could understand citizens who accused the EU of having 500 billion Euro available to bail out the banks, but not one billion Euro to tackle youth unemployment. Schulz appealed to the heads of government that the European Union could only be as strong as the Member States would allow it to be.
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Danish Prime Minister and President of the rotating Council Presidency commented that the trust of the public was essential to grant EU institutions legitimacy. The answer to the crisis had to be to present concrete results, which would directly affect peoples’ lives. Thorning-Schmidt was in favour of achieving growth in Europe by reviving the internal market, which would still harbour a large unused potential. Referring to the criticism on the current austerity policy, the Danish Prime Minister explained that it was not the EU that pushed forward these unpopular measures. Cuts were necessary, as some countries had spent more money than they could afford. With regard to the request, to extend access to documents to meetings of the EU Council, Thorning-Schmidt said there would always be closed meetings and that it was not fair to demand that all Council meetings should take place in public. An opinion, which was not shared by Schulz: confidential issues, such as diplomatic matters, should remain secret. However, discussions concerning EU legislation at Council level should take place in public so that citizens could see which governments supported what and which would block certain plans, said Schulz.
The European Ombudsman P. Nikiforos Diamandouros referred to the significance of the recently introduced European Citizens’ Initiative to increase the participation of the citizens. The public service provided by the EU was very competent; however, originally it had been primarily focussed on administration and less on providing services for citizens. Hence, the EU administration had to be encouraged to gear its attention more towards the citizens.