THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. Reforming Europe in a time of war

The Conference on the Future of Europe 19 Europe, and even Switzerland and Norway, establishing a confederate relationship. The Conference on the Future of Europe has thus had the effect of strengthening the EU as a federal mod- el, through the 39 proposals and 300 measures pre- sented to the institutions by the Plenary, and which will be followed up over the coming months. The President of the Commission, for her part, undertook to review the application of these measures and proposals in her annual State of the EU address in September. And the institutions agreed to call a European Convention to strengthen the current union, without ruling out the pos- sible expansion to include some of the Balkan states, so long as the European Council decided to do so by a simple majority. Finally, the door was opened to the creation of a new confederate European Political Community of all Euro- pean states who wish to strengthen the European pro- ject, following on from the initiative of French President François Mitterrand more than 30 years ago. However, on my return from Strasbourg, it was clear to me that Spanish public opinion remains completely indifferent to these developments, ones that probably mark the start of a new era in European political construction, and I can only hope that this indifference subsides and that Spain can take its rightful role in this process. The European Parliament’s request to call a European Convention (4 May and 9 June) As noted above, the European Parliament passed two resolutions, on 4 May and 9 June, calling on the Europe- an Council to organise a European Convention. Since the start of the new political cycle in May 2019, the European Movement International and our Spanish Federal Council have been arguing for the need to address Treaty reform through a third European Convention along federal lines, in accordance with the positions of other members of civil society, the European Parliament and some Mem- ber states such as, for example, the German ‘traffic light coalition’, which reflected this position in its government agreement, and the Italian government at the time. On 9 June 2022, the Plenary of the European Parlia- ment approved a resolution proposed by the Committee on Constitutional Affairs asking the European Council to call a European Convention to reform the EU’s con- stituent treaties, with 355 votes in favour, 148 against and 48 abstentions. This resolution, put forward by S&D, Renew Europe, the Greens and The Left in the EU, was supported by most of the political parties, including the EPP, which lent its support following acceptance of an amendment. This confirmed the Resolution adopted by the Euro- pean Parliament a month earlier, on 4 May, which ob- tained a higher number of votes (453) representing more than 60% of MEPs.The second Resolution requires appli- cation of article 48 of the Treaty of the European Union, which covers the foundation of the EU and the articles of the Treaty of the EU and the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU that the Convention would need to revise. For this third European Convention to actually be called, it is necessary for the Council or the European Council to decide by simple majority to accept the Euro- pean Parliament’s proposal. In the debate in the Euro- pean Parliament, the question was raised as to whether there were 14 Member states in favour of calling a Eu- ropean Convention and it was understood that, if this number did not exist, then it would be necessary to wait for the Czech Presidency to reach the threshold and, if that were to happen, to hold the vote. It should also be noted that the governments that have stated their opposition represent small states, ac- counting for less than 10% of the EU’s total population. Moreover, of the 13 Member states that appear to have come out against the Convention, based on a public letter, three of them have already distanced themselves from this stance, moderating their position and clarifying that they are not necessarily against the Convention but are, rather, opposed to certain proposed reforms that might entail, for example, abandoning the principle of unanimity.