THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION REPORT. Europe in a period of transition

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 30 Civil society and the European integration project It should be highlighted that European construction, that began with the Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950, was possible thanks to the boost from a set of organised social movements that came about as a consequence of World War II and civil society movements emerged right there in the trenches, in the resistance, in the concen- tration camps, under the bombardments of the Second World War that would stimulate the European construc- tion process. So, various federalist groups emerged during the Sec- ond World War, expanding until they could be grouped together more easily after the war. Once the war was over, pro-European federalist movements emerged in various European countries that began to join together through the Liaison Committee of the Movements for European Unity that met in Montreur in 1947. Perhaps the first federalist declaration since the resist- ance was the Ventotene Manifesto written clandestinely in 1941 and published in Italy in 1944. Its manifesto for a “free and united Europe” is considered to be the first manifesto of European federalism and would have major repercussions on the beginnings of the federalist European Union in 1946. The crowning achievement of this collection of civil society movements in the post-war period culminated with the Hague Congress in 1948 that had enormous repercussions and gathered more than 1000 delegates from all over Europe, 200 of whom were members of par- liament from all European countries, belonging to all the European parties, particularly Christian-Democrats, So- cialists and Liberals. Trade union organisations, business associations and professionals, churches, universities, etc. also took part. In short, there were various organisations of what today we would call civil society. The Spaniard Salvador de Madariaga played a fun- damental role in the Hague Congress alongside the main political leaders of the time such as Churchill, De Gasperi, Coudenhove-Kalergi, Spaak,Adenauer, Schuman, Spinelli or Rossi. Among the many Spaniards in exile, a special mention should be given to José Antonio Aguirre and Indalecio Prieto who came from wide-ranging political backgrounds. The relevance of the Congress of Europe lies in the emerging gestation of the political project for European unity through participation from various organisations in society and major debate, two years after being outlined in what became known as the Schuman Declaration.This was the origin of supranational community Europe, com- piling the store of the federalist projects that consisted of pooling sovereignties that had emerged through the various civil society organisations. It is therefore important to remember that when re- forming the European project, special relevance should be given to the very civil society that provided the thrust to set it up. Relevance of the Conference on the Future of Europe It should be highlighted that the CoFoE is a fundamental, innovative element of the president’s commitment for the new legislation. However, it could not begin in May 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, plus dissi- dences between the three institutional representatives regarding composition, particularly who would hold its presidency. However, this delay caused by the pandemic has also made the Conference more necessary than ever and given it greater scope, because, as we will see below, important federal progress has been made that should be consolidated in the European project through the CoFoE. Therefore, the initiative to call a Conference on the Future of Europe is an instrument that differs from the European Convention that emerged from the Laeken Declaration and developed throughout 2002 and 2003. Until the Conventions system was implemented, reforms to the Treaties on the European Union were determined through Intergovernmental Conferences which were re- stricted to representatives from Member State govern- ments and, particularly, the Foreign Ministers who were