A citizens’ conference on the future of Europe
by Marta Cillero
Manzano on 4th June 2020 @martacille
With agreement lacking on the future
of Europe—even at the conference on that theme—it’s time to look to a European
Citizens’ Assembly.
Marta Cillero Manzano
The Covid-19 pandemic shaking the
world, with Europe as its centre, interrupted our daily life in a way not seen
in recent decades. After years of unrestrained neoliberalism, in the face of
this pandemic, we realised that our security, wellbeing and prosperity depend
more on strong and well-funded public services than multinational corporations.
We also realised, however, that our European democracy failed to organise
solidarity and once again gave space structurally for nation-first
politics.
As in any moment of crisis, though,
the pandemic has at least created an opportunity for change—indeed, the way
Europe responds to it will define our future. This opportunity is also
out there for Europe’s citizens to take, and take advantage of, if we truly
want a democracy taking care of all and not only a few.
On May 9th, this opportunity was
seized by hundreds of citizens across the continent. On Europe Day this year, a
real first step was taken towards the opening of a transnational public space,
with the launch of a civil-society initiative to take the lead so citizens can
have a say about their future. This initiative is the Citizens Take
Over Europe alliance.
Another top-down meeting?
It stemmed from a feeling of frustration. The official
Conference on the Future of Europe, supposed to be launched in Dubrovnik, also
on May 9th, was postponed to a date still unknown. There was no institutional
agreement among the European Commission, the European Parliament and the
European Council about the scope, methodology and objectives of the conference.
In fact, it seemed that it was going to be, once again, another top-down
meeting without any intention genuinely to involve citizens and civil
society.
Many citizens and organisations in
Europe had proliferated petitions, open letters and projects, throughout the
financial, migration and health crises. But the ambition this time was bigger.
The desire on May 9th was to demonstrate that European citizens are ready to
take the lead. And not only that: it is crucial to organise now, across
borders, to push for the Europe we want.
This alliance has brought together
European civil-society organisations in an unprecedented way, to challenge
European institutions with its own plan for renewing democracy. The alliance
demands its own transnational assembly, able to summon the vision and ambition
European leaders are dramatically failing to show.
The millions of European citizens
and residents affected by the pandemic see the direct impact of the lack of
solidarity among European Union member states. Organised civil society has the
responsibility to open up political space to address the direct concerns of
people in Europe. And now is the right time to demand the appropriate channel
to the institutions, to ensure people are always at the centre of
decision-making processes.
European Citizens’ Assembly
The concrete proposal is to organise
a Citizens’ Conference on the Future of Europe, in the form of a European
Citizens’ Assembly, as a civic instrument to organise and deliberate together
about the democratic and socio-ecological transition we need to improve our
lives. Such a process would amplify the often unheard voices—of care workers
who have been working day and night to save us or young people demonstrating
for climate justice—which institutions and governments cannot any longer
ignore. These citizens can introduce a fundamental and bottom-up energy to
reimagine our relationships to Europe, at a moment when top-down
governance is threatening the idea of European
solidarity and risks dividing our societies even further.
In the crises of past decades,
European politics has failed to organise solidarity with the most marginalised.
This crisis instead offers the opportunity to ensure that citizens and
civil-society participation are at the heart of all new initiatives on the
future of Europe.
Too often, civil-society actors hear
the argument that this failure is due to the lack of competency of the European
institutions in areas such as migration, social care or health. But alternative
substantive solutions exist and could be promoted, instead of buck-passing
between national governments—vis-à-vis migration, for
instance, supporting municipalities which welcome
refugees with EU funding.
Procedurally, the experience of
citizens’ assemblies, from the Irish Citizens’ Assembly to the Convention
Citoyenne sur le Climat in France—both officially convened to tackle
challenging issues—has proved that alternatives are being implemented and in the Irish
case have already initiated real change. As citizens, we can emerge at the end
of this crisis with the capacity to propose a different model for our
societies. We have demonstrated that it is possible to drastically transform
our system—so why not implement this shift of model beyond the present
emergency?
The important first step is to continue laying the ground and getting
ready for a Citizens’ Assembly. The next
appointment will be on July 1st, where the aim is to open up
again the space for discussion and deliberation with citizens from across the
continent. This day will offer a place of reflection on how to continue
expanding the process in the next years and how to articulate the key citizens’
demands which need to be taken into account and lead to real EU treaty
change—the only path towards a European democracy better suited to meet the
needs of its citizens. Leaving the initiative to the institutions to work on
their own is no longer an option.
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About Marta Cillero Manzano
Marta
Cillero Manzano is responsible for communications at European Alternatives, one
of the organisations behind the Citizens Take Over Europe alliance. She is also
a member of the executive team at Chayn Italia.
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