A community of values

On 23 May the European Movement met for a conference in The Hague to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the Congress of Europe and to gather thoughts and ideas on how to build the future of the EU together. Delegates from 40 different countries worked on 60 ideas for Europe. The overall tone was that the EU has to find better ways to communicate its values and principles, it has to improve dialogue with its citizens and it has to strengthen its own democratic structures.

We Europeans have come an extraordinarily long way since 1948. The principal message of the congress of 1948 was “Europe is under threat, divided, and the greatest threat comes from its very divisions”. Since then our countries, devastated by two world wars, have managed to develop into a union of 27 sovereign member states and almost 500 million citizens. We live together as a community of values and a legal community in peace, freedom and prosperity. Sixty years ago this vision for a common future was almost unthinkable. Despite this achievement, it is now the time to change the focus of the EU. Peace – which will always be the ultimate aim of the EU – no longer justifies further integration in the eyes of many EU citizens.

The EU has to live up to the challenges of today in order to find greater resonance among its citizens. Climate change, internal and external security, energy security, migration and the globalisation of the economy are some of the issues the member states cannot manage alone. For this we need the strength of a political union. The European citizens know what they want from the EU: fighting terrorism and international crime, protecting the environment, securing energy supplies, fighting inflation or consumer protection. And they want their voices to be heard, meaning they want the structures of the EU to be more democratic.

The Treaty of Lisbon is our answer to this call for a new focus of the EU. Energy and climate change will be new on the EU agenda. Foreign policy will be boosted significantly by the new position of the high representative and the new European diplomatic service which will assist him. The fight against crime and terrorism will be boosted by closer cooperation in the area of justice and home affairs. The often criticised democratic deficit of the EU will be overcome. The European parliament will not only be a legislator on eye-level with the council, but also the post for commission president will be determined in relation to the European elections. Europe has a lot to gain from the Treaty of Lisbon because it opens the EU towards the future.

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