Event report

Context, FINALITY, SUBJECT AND STRUCTURE/METODOLOGY OF THE EVENT| The event is part of the project “Next Charter Europe”, funded by JEF Europe in view of the Conference on the Future of Europe. There have been interventions and group work on the issue of the distance between citizens and the European institutions, in order to identify the problems and to envisage concrete solutions. The first part saw various speeches by speakers from the various political forces present, the second part was devoted instead to working tables and comparisons. There were also the associations and political realities of Lecco of the Democratic Party, Italy Viva, Young Democrats, +Europe, Movement 5 Stars, Action, Italian Left, Environmentally, European Federalist Movement. Number AND TYPE OF PRESENT PARTICIPANTS| About 35 participants from various local political realities. Rapporteurs: Debora Striani, Secretary GFE Lecco; Mauro Gattinoni, Mayor of Lecco; Brando Benifei, MEP; Luca Perego, Coordinator More Europe Lombardy; Raffaele Erba, Regional Councillor Lombardia M5S; Manuel Tropenscovino, Secretary GD Province of Lecco; Giovanni Sabatini, Head of Action Lecco; —Emanuele Manzoni, Lecco Left Secretariat; Costantino Ruscigno, President GFE Lecco. Public: other members of the political realities. Balance in the participation of people under 30 and over 30. Majority of male participants. Main MATERIES OF DISCUSSION DURING THE LABORATORS/SEMINARY/ASSEMBLEE| European identity, humanisation of institutions and approach to citizens, unanimity of decisions and permanence of the right of veto, persistence of nationalisms, slowness of the EU in responding to citizens’ needs, youth status in Europe, lack of awareness of the privileges deriving from the EU even when it is beneficiaries. Main IDEAS SUBJECT TO THE PARTICIPANTS DURING THE EVENT, DISCORS AND ARGOMENTS SHARE OR DETAILS THAT HOW TO THAT IDEAS| • Difficult to bring the EU closer to its citizens. Complex structure and operation difficult to keep in mind and unanimity in decisions exploited to block crucial measures. • The need to humanise institutions, bringing them closer to citizens; but do we have to humanise the bureaucratic or the political element? Institutions and bureaucracy. We live in the EU but we are not aware of it. The institutions need to tell each other better. Starting from school, setting up civil education paths on the EU. • Tools to build identity are more difficult because not territorial. Contradictions also in individual states, in domestic politics. • Faced with very different national identities, the internalisation of values proceeds slowly and needs to be adapted to the different countries, which are very heterogeneous. Bringing citizens closer to the EU through culture, art, cinema and sport. At the territorial level, focus on artistic residences across the EU. Raising awareness of diversity as well. Connecting the institutions, in particular bringing the local level closer to the European institutions. • Strive to think about something concrete on the ground to make a contribution to this challenge. • Commitment to choosing a shared theme to be proposed on the CoFoE platform. Avoid closing into the “seven” of pro-Europeans. Door-to-door activities to raise awareness of the issues. • Measures on the Community’s economic and monetary policies, which have brought uneasiness to the citizens of Europe. • Reflection on the efficiency of the Union because it is too slow to respond to the needs of Europeans. The GENERAL ATMOSFERA AND THE FOLLOW-UP ATTESO| Atmosphere of healthy and serene comparison between the different parts. Future joint initiatives are planned on the ground (panchines painted with the European flag, interventions in schools...) to make Europe’s presence feel more. Summary Written | LUCA PEREGO (+E) Europe is not the bad mother that nationalists present, but the one that has been built in decades between so many difficulties and rare pushes forward. How can we change it? How to improve the relationship with citizens? There are two ways: one is to discuss the tools available to citizens to interact with the European Union (European Citizens’ Initiatives, 'ECIs'); petitions to the European Parliament) or that could be introduced in the future. The other is European citizenship, European identity, which needs to be strengthened in order to make progress. The European Union is a new supranational political structure based on European citizenship, but it lacks a form. What tools are available to build a European identity. And what characteristics must European national sovereignty have? So far, national identities are prevalent, based on different languages, religions and ethnicities. What we must imagine for the EU is political sovereignty. We cannot build the future of the EU, in terms of the United States of Europe, basing ourselves on the elements of the old national identities. We need a multiple, multi-faceted identity, first and foremost through a European constitution, which cannot be lacking. What are the political values that unite us? Representative democracy, civil rights, welfare system, economic freedoms, rule of law, separation and division of powers. Overcoming the ational identities is utopian in the short term, but it is possible to create a free space to combine these elements. The start of the constitutional process depends on the courage of the European political class, which is lacking today. We can mobilise and contribute to speeding up this process, a federalist approach is the only one that can guarantee the multi-national identity alongside the federal and political identity. How to contribute from citizens? Press for a role for citizens in the CoFoE, intervening on the platform, calling for the establishment of a museum of Europe, proposing a European national team rather than individual nations for the next World Cup. Raffaele ERBA(M5S) Young people important for the development of ideas. Evolution in the 5S Movement of positions vis-à-vis the EU, from initial skepticism to approaching, learning to grasp the elements that must be founding and bonding. We must create a people’s Europe. Dissatisfaction has led to sovereignism, to negative tendencies towards Europe. We need to highlight the challenges that have been exciting and promote on the part of Europe, as well as on the environment, where it is playing a leading role. Europe from stepmother to generous mother, with an increasingly strong sense of identity. Identity is an area on which we need to work and on which we can build, using existing instruments that can bear fruit, such as the EUSALP and the Creative Europe Programme, which aims to support the exchange of audiovisual and digital cultural skills and products. We must continue to invest in the institution, seen as still far away. Another decisive aspect is the environmental challenges, which will define our future; European policies are moving in this direction, but they need to be encouraged to ensure that all states adopt them. Good political representation can make it clear how these delicate elements are crucial. It is also very important to continue to help nations in difficulty in the world: the European Union is already a model in this regard and must continue to play a key role at institutional level with a view to better global fairness. Manuel TROPENSCOVINO (GD LECCO) I asked friends what the EU is for them. The answer was an absent look. We are used to thinking that the EU is present in citizens’ minds, but that is not the case, school and community do not help. 40 % of the population has never crossed the borders of their country, in Italy more than 50. Many benefits brought by the EU are not experienced by the majority of the population. The problem is not only information, but involvement in projects that touch the lives of all and especially young people. Erasmus is still accessible to a few, many students are unable to participate in this benefit. If you do not live the benefits of the EU on your own, mistrust will always be the most immediate response. If the investment in young people remains elitist and excluded, there will never be a democratic and participatory Europe aiming for progress. Greece is an example of how too often the values of which the EU is voiced are not really applied. Building a Europe of peoples means starting from the founding values and realising them, and this is the task of young people: believing in education, rights, work and the dignity of work. We cannot leave this battle to others, the challenge is ambitious but it is ours. Altiero Spinelli had already imagined the work to be done, we must start from those ambitions, from those values, which must be the beacon that guides us for a truly people’s Europe. Giovanni Sabadini (Action) Two fundamental pillars for policy making: pragmatism and consistency. How can these bring the EU closer to its citizens? Pragmatism, the EU must be treated as an EU and citizens as citizens, the EU is not an abstract entity, it is a series of concrete things, a galaxy of various elements. So how can parties bring the EU closer to citizens? Just as the EU must not be a flag, so citizens must not act as supporters, must be informed and make informed choices. Europe must be pushed forward by the parties with concrete and truthful examples, which reflect the reality of the facts, not with slogans or false news. Consistency is very important. We live in complex societies where there are various levels of political identities and must all be consistent with their priorities and mission. Costantino Ruscigno (MFE) The solution is to do all that we are doing. The time has expired, the next four years are decisive, we can't go wrong, if we are wrong we are prejudicing the future of our children, and it is our job to convince others of the gravity of the situation. It is no longer enough to talk, we need to act with consequences in fact, in reality, we must be consequential, to implement actions that have factual repercussions. Perhaps so young people will no longer have to be undecided in answering what Europe is. OCE is characterised by this, what we think and realise must have a concrete consequence. The PROPOSES THAT THE PARTICIPANTS ACCEPTED TO PRESENT| Revision of the Treaties (e.g. the creation of a European fiscal capacity, overcoming the right of veto and strengthening the role of the European Parliament), change of voting systems, reform of institutional structures, possible letter to the new borns of the various EU countries by the President of the European Parliament to strengthen European identity.