135 / 150
135
1. Political union
– The Union needs to increase its legitimacy with European citizens.
– During 2017, European institutions – the European Parliament, the
European Council and the Commission – should propose a route map
towards political union (“ever closer Union”), involving a European
Convention before the end of the current European legislature if
possible. This proposal should be the focus of debate at every level of
political life in the EU, and should be based on the principles of
maintaining and strengthening Europe’s democratic values, respect for
the rule of law and human rights, and increased participation by
citizens and national parliaments. This must be done without
diminishing the powers of existing EU institutions, which need to be
unashamedly strengthened against the threat of populism, and also
without reducing the importance of representative democracy as an
aspect of European identity. Above all, EU-wide approaches must take
priority over intergovernmental ones.
– This route map must be underpinned by a recognition that those
countries that wish to engage in structured cooperation should be able
to do so, now that the British brake on such progress has been removed.
We also need to abolish the requirement for unanimity in European
Council votes and when reforming EU treaties.
Recommendations
European Affairs Council of the Fundación Alternativas
1
1
The European Affair Council of the Fundación Alternativas is composed as follows: Diego
López Garrido (director), Nicolás Sartorius, Juan Moscoso, Carlos Carnero, Vicente Palacio,
Manuel de la Rocha Vázquez, José Candela, Jesús Ruiz-Huerta, Enrique Ayala, Carlos Closa,
José Manuel Albares, José Luis Escario, María Muñiz, Emilio Ontiveros, María Joao Rodrígues,
Francisco Aldecoa, Soledad Gallego, Irune Aguirrezábal, Josep Borrell, Doménec Ruiz and
Xavier Vidal-Folch. Permanent guests at meetings of the Council are Gero Maass, Delegate
to Spain of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, and María Pallares, programme coordinator, also of
the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.