Event report

The aim of the event was to involve young boys and girls to ask them what were the most important and necessary changes for their generation and for the future of Europe. The young people, part of some political realities such as Italia Viva, Base Italia and Gioventù Federalista Europea di Milano, were then listened to by Sandro Gozi, MEP, who responded to their reflections. The event was structured as follows: (i) introduction by Marco Laganà, referent Cantiere Europa di Italia Viva per la provincia di Milano and organiser of the event; (ii) reflections of the young rapporteurs; (iii) reply by Sandro Gozi; (iv) debate among young participants; (v) Conclusions following the debate. In total, 10 participants were involved on zoom and more than 1000 people followed the event on Facebook. The interventions of the young and the young have touched on many themes, exemplifying the multidimensionality of the challenge that the new generations identify in the European project. The European Union is being given a role as guarantor of fundamental rights, which young Europeans would like to see protected equally throughout the EU as well as outside the Union. European values would form the basis of the foreign policy of a sovereign Europe, capable of responding to the challenges posed by renewed competition between major powers, many of which are explicitly opposed to European values. The focus on rights emerges in particular as a common element of European political cultures, however, several speeches have highlighted that the lack of a genuine European policy, as well as of supranational democratic institutions that can express their voice, constitutes an obstacle to European capacities in the field of values. Two issues emerge as priorities for a sovereign Europe: 1. The abolition of the right of veto in the European Council, particularly in the area of taxation, since the amount of the Union’s budget and the nature of the resources which finance it are decided by the Council unanimously, and then on foreign and defence policy. It is also necessary that the abolition of unanimity and the right of veto in these areas should be accompanied by structural change, replacing the logic of cooperation between sovereign States by the creation of a democratically legitimised supranational power capable of acting, within its sphere of competence, independently of the Member States. 2. The creation of a European tax capacity which, in order to be such, must: Be independent of the will of individual States, i.e. it must be able to determine itself both on the revenue and expenditure side; Be able to mobilise relevant resources. Depending on the tasks it will be called upon to carry out, the budget will have to mobilise between 5 % and 10 % of European GDP. The above proposals call for a reform of the Treaties currently in force: these must necessarily be accompanied by a political act of awareness of the new tasks awaiting the European Union in the current international system; a political act in continuity with the original aims of the process of European unification and with the thought of the founding Fathers.