TOWARDS EUROPEAN ELECTIONS

TOWARDS EUROPEAN ELECTIONS

Alessandro Cortesi op
Espaces Pistoia

Thirty years after the first European election in 1979, next June the first election day in a 27-country Europe will be held. About 375 million citizens will be asked to choose their 754 representatives and it will be the first time for people from Romania and Bulgaria.
These elections fall in a period of deep difficulty for the European project : the rejection of the Constitutional Treaty by France and Holland in 2005 as well as the recent turndown to the ratification of the Lisbon Agreement in Ireland’s referendum were obvious expression of uneasiness and distrust towards EU, which are progressively spreading among EU citizens.
However this uneasiness means poor memory, if we consider that precisely Ireland -that became part of EEC in 1973- is one of the countries that most benefited from European help to change its society and improve welfare. It is a widespread lack of memory that makes people unable to appreciate the long period of peace and the social protection that have been ensured in the EU Countries by the process of building Europe - started just after the tragedy of World War two. And also unable to understand the progressive dynamism with which new situations have been dealt with, in particular when the EU opened to Central and Eastern European countries, thus overcoming the perspective of an indifferent and exclusive Europe.

Add to this a widespread misinformation about EU institutions and their functions, often with the abettment of some governments. The EU does not seem to represent any longer a project capable of catalysing hopes ; it is often presented by some political parties as a threat for local interests, or as an oppressive bureaucracy far from understanding local needs.
Criticisms come from diverse and often opposite points of view. Some are expressed by political parties and governments that aim at keeping their electoral basis using demagogy -such as Lega in Italy, or some parties in former Communist countries- and feed local interests. Others come -in opposition- from radical Left, that criticises the free-trade globalization, the loss of a political project to financial powers’ advantage, and an idea of Europe as a mere area of commerce and free-trade market, in competition with other areas of the world and closed to developing countries.
On the eve of the election, Europe is passing through a phase of disillusionment.

Criticisms against EU work well in a context where democracies are living in a crisis, participation of citizens is decreasing, political leaders are unable to promote motivation, to have a global vision and to create consent. These factors will probably play a role in June’s European election. There are some actual dangers : a general increase of abstentions from voting, and the success of local movements and of those parties that see EU as place for particular interest to bargain.

In the next months governments and movements must show they are able to attach meaning to a project, that is not only that of considering EU as a huge market.

We cannot forget, however, that the pathway to European union has already passed through trials and rough difficulties. As De Gasperi said in 1950 "we don’t know whether or not we will be luck enough to see what we are now preparing and hoping. But we say that that is the right path and on it we have to put all our efforts and work tenaciously" The current situation should be interpreted in its aspects of criticality in the complex context of present days. I will try to outline some critical aspects :

At the end of the French EU presidency (December 2008), President Sarkozy declared his belief that in the future Europe will have to run in the direction of reinforcing the role of Countries, therefore of the European Council. Yet, the European Parliament with its last decisions -such as opposing the increase of weekly working hours to 65- has shown the importance of a stronger role of Parliament in order to give a more social and democratic feature to EU policies.

The Lisbon Agreement of December 2007 -currently under ratification by the member countries- reinforced the role of Parliament and gives to it wider powers : the extension of the procedure of co-decision will give the European parliament a parity status with the Council (where the Member countries are represented) for most of the EU legislative acts ; moreover, the Parliament will elect the President of EU Commission ; will decide on budget ; will be able to revise Treaties. The Lisbon Agreement keeps most of the innovations to EU Institutions provided by the Rome Treaty of 2004. However, the abandonment of the idea of an European Constitution is a failure for those who believed in the EU as a real political union. We should not forget that the majority of European parliament and two thirds of member countries backed the Constitution)

The EU presidency’s turn is now of Czech Republic, whose President -the conservative Vaclav Klaus- does not hide his "euroskeptical" view and his idea of an EU as a mere system of relationships among countries, and blames EU for exerting on member states a pressure similar to that former USSR had on its satellite countries during the Iron-curtain times.

Recently we witnessed the success of Barack Obama in the US presidential race. His success is particularly important for those Europeans who hope in a change that can bring to new horizons of social justice, human right enforcement and peace. In particular, President Obama presented with a progressive vision that considers the religious dimension of society as a resource, in line with US Fathers such as Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln.

At an international level, Obama’s election falls just after the Georgian war, where Russia showed its power and the world found itself in a situation that reproposes the balance of the Cold war times. The Russian military intervention out of its borders to react to Saakashvili’s claims is a warning for Kosovo. It was the first time since 1989 that a direct military clash between Russia and Nato had been possible. This alarming fact raises new questions about the foreign policy of EU, mainly with regards to the Balkans, as well as about the issue of common defence.

Kosovo -in the middle of Europe- is an open issue in the process of integrating Serbia and other Balkan countries in the EU. It is also a key place to promote peace and stability in the Balkans.

Between December 2008 and January 2009 the sudden devastating military attack of Israel against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, on the eve of Israeli election, confirmed that the Middle-eastern issue is a key point for establishing peace in the world, and calls for EU responsibility and credibility. It is now more and more urgent for the EU to design a common policy for promoting peace and international security, as well as to have a common voice which is able to state the right of both peoples (Israeli and Palestinian) to have a state and to promote the implementation of UN resolutions.

A common project on international policy, on restoring peace in war areas, African problems, is the challenge that might revive the European project - and next June’s election could be an important step to it.

In this context, we can ask ourselves what may be the role of the diverse Christian communities throughout Europe in the occasion of next election. In my opinion, we should discover new ways to interpret the responsibility of citizenship, through a new ecumenic collaboration. Not to create a lobby that defends particular interests but a testimony of a common inspiration that comes from the Gospel and is characterised by attention to human dignity and respect for every human being. There is large room for testimony for Christians, firstly to bring new inspiration and passion for the common good, in this times when individualism, selfishness and particularism are rising.
Christians are also called to the responsibility of advocacy of evangelical values, in an open collaboration that be able to motivate in the public debate positions that can be shared. This requires clear consciousness of the difference between roles and competences of churches and roles and competences of governments and politics. Building Europe is a pathway through which we can understand the hope that leads Christians to meet other inspirations, cultures and visions. It is a challenge to understand in this project a call to peace and to solidarity among peoples, in the actual development of democratic institutions. Christian communities can find in this challenge a reason for retrieving unity in the essentials of Gospel, to the detriment of divisions and particularisms. To serve the common good and to help democratic consciousness, the necessary premise is abandoning the pursuit of privileges and supremacy.

A common reference is certainly the Ecumenic Chart, a document that calls for a common commitment of Christians with regards to the process of building Europe, seen as a sign of times. The 3rd part of the Chart- signed on April 21, 2001 by all Christian churches - is about the common responsibility of Christian communities in Europe and some specific commitments are underlined :
 give a contribution to build Europe, fostering the way towards common values and offering the contribution of Christian tradition as an inspiration and an enrichment to create a human and sociable Europe, with attention to West-East integration.
 reconcile peoples and cultures, with a commitment towards absolute equality of all human beings and with attenttion for the process of democratization and for policies of social justice
 safeguard Creation in an effort to realize sustainable conditions of life for the entire mankind and future generations.
 strengthen relationships among religions, in particular between Christianity and Islam and Judaism, as well as with other religions and visions of the world.
These commitments may be the way to give a contribution of responsibility that, starting from the Gospel as a reference, becomes service in the creation of an European citizenship in the different actual situations.

Creating a new Europe after the financial crisis
European election occurs when the financial crisis starts to affect the economies of European countries. This crisis is hard to be interpreted and even experienced analysts are not able to forecast its consequences and future developments. What is sure is that this crisis has caused the collapse of all the assumptions considered as undisputable by the theorists of a market free from any political control and independent from any social justice reference. This crisis is an opportunity for a radical reform of lifestyles -widespread in European society- based on expenditure and consumption of resources that are actually limited. The crisis also demands new policies that address countries to more equity in the distribution of resources.. European integration, therefore, passes through a change in lifestyles both in each individual’s daily life and at a political level. This also highlights the issue of the relationship of Europe with both internal poverty and that of third world countries. Europe cannot close itself into protectionism and isolationism.

Acceptance and intercultural dialogue in a context of immigration
Immigration is now a structural, not transitory phenomenon for Europe, in particular from the South.
The EU directive approved by European Commission in June 2008 has been strongly criticised by authoritative personalities like Jacques Delors and Michel Rocard, for it gives more attention to protection measures than to fundamental human rights. The issue of immigration will be the field of decisive choices in order to make Europe a place of reconciliation, not closed in isolation and in the defence of privileges but able to open itself to a new culture of citizenship. Also, immigration will force us to rethink our lifestyles and consumption habits. Immigration is a structural and vital reality for the future of European societies themselves : this requires not only security measures but first of all a clear project about the integration of immigrants and cooperation with the countries of origin of immigrants themselves.
Since its origins the European project looked beyond its border and was open mainly to Africa, as the Shuman declaration stated as far as in 1950. The Union for Mediterranean launched in July 2008 is a project that might give new life to cooperation among the countries of Mediterranean basin, and could become an opportunity for the dialogue between Islam and western countries. The issue of new relationships between religions, society and political powers is somehow linked to the increasingly multicultural feature of European society. Education is crucial in the intercultural dialogue, as well as ideating educational pathways that may help in understanding that the religious dimension is a resource in the debate about the fundamental themes of life. This is an emergent issue not only for the Islamic community that is increasingly numerous in Europe but also for Christian communities which are asked to rethink their commitment with renewed consistency. The pluralistic context in Europe requires now strong conviction in respecting democratic rules and a sincere concern for the growth of democracy. Our inspiration should be offered as a contribution in the public debate, avoiding fundamentalism and claims of supremacy.

Safeguarding Creation and sobriety for the ecologic challenge There is a widespread belief that a new relationship with Nature may be reached investing in technologies with low environmental impact, trying to use renewable sources of energy and, firstly, reducing energy requirements and consumption.
Climatic changes are an issue of survival for the greatest part of mankind and involves the future of generations to come. In December 2008 EU approved a 20% redaction of greenhouse effect gases within 2020. Apart from gas reduction policies, the real problem is that of a cultural change and of choices aiming at safeguarding the Creation and at sobriety as a new lifestyle, in order to provide societies with higher levels of welfare. Environmental issues call us to deep and systematic revision of economic and social development models.

Finally, the issue of Europe’s borders, that is essential to discuss about citizenship. On this field a great challenge is open to avoid refusals and, at the same time, to open new perspectives to democracy.
It is unavoidable, now, to discuss how super-national organization might take form. A new citizenship workshop is open, and it has the goal to build Europe as a new political community capable of living democratically and beyond national sovereignty.

The responsibility of citizenship is expressed through the vote that will shape the new parliament. Yet the parliament has to become a real driving force for the relance of European project, overcoming the principle of unanimity indecision, which is often just a means to defend local interest.

June’s election can be an important step in the pathway toward an Europe that is real super-national reality and acts as a workshop for peace and reconciliation of peoples. In this human path the responsibility of Christians takes form, in allegiance to the Word of a God who made himself sympathetic to human beings.