‘Congress of Europe’ seeks fresh ideas for EU

Sixty years after the landmark conference that laid the foundations of today’s EU, the Congress of Europe in The Hague sought to bring fresh impetus to the European project by identifying new ideas in the economic, social and educational fields.

The Congress selected sixty new ideas from a long list drawn up by grassroots militants on a special blog website, hosted by Blogactiv.eu. 

These ranged from launching a common defence policy to creating a European soccer team to spur popular enthusiasm about the EU.

The ideas were picked the day before by civil society participants at workshops centred on three themes: “Political Europe”, “Economic and Social Europe” and “Education and Cultural Europe”. Twenty ideas were selected in each workshop, leading to the overall sixty.

A more political Europe?

Highlights of the Congress included a plenary debate with the presidents of the three EU institutions and another involving leaders of mainstream political parties at EU level.

Wilfried Martens, a former Belgian Prime Minister now leading the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), provoked a storm of applause when he said he is in favour of European political parties choosing their candidate to head the Commission ahead of the European elections. “It could give a more human visage to the European elections, we could personalise them,” he said.

Graham Watson, the leader of the liberal democrats in Parliament (ALDE), agreed: “People want to know in advance who they’re voting for, who’s going to be the man or the woman at the top.”

However, Martens did not seem sure whether his own party would be able to agree on a common candidate for the next European elections, to be held in June 2009. “It depends on the influence that European political parties have on their prime ministers,” he said.

Speaking in The Hague, Commission President José Manuel Barroso expressed his belief that the early successes of European integration – which started with the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951 – could be repeated in this century by adopting a similar line. 

“Today, I believe energy and climate change can produce a similar impetus and reinforce further integration inside Europe and for the world if we lead the debate and action on these issues,” Barroso said.

Workshop participants agreed by choosing three ideas related to energy and climate change in their list of the top twenty priorities. But other priorities appeared more urgent to them, such as increasing interactions between the EU and its citizens and building a common defence policy.

Hans-Gert Pöttering, the president of the European Parliament, supported more action on the military front, saying “soft power only is too soft”.

Economy, social policies and immigration

The economic and social integration workshop took a pragmatic approach, focused on “seeking solutions”. Prof. Maria Joao Rodrigues, a university teacher who advises the Portuguese government and the European Commission, highlighted the many opportunities which lie ahead for the European economy: low-carbon technologies, agricultural and biotechnologies, improvements in health services, ICT and the creative industries, etc. 

The core challenge, participants said, is to prepare responses to globalisation. Europe can and should shape globalisation, they agreed. Migration, the environment and women’s rights were in the end selected as the three main categories of issues still posing real challenges and opportunities for Europe and the world over the next decade.

Speaking at the plenary, Philippe Lamberts, the co-president of the European Greens Party (EGP), lambasted the EU’s proposed Blue Card system as a way to tackle Europe’s labour shortages and attract high-skilled immigrants. “There is a shortage of qualified labour and it’s not just a European issue, it’s everybody’s issue,” said Lamberts, referring to China and India which are now also facing similar problems. 

In Europe, he said more effort and money should be invested in the education system which he believes is “not delivering enough”. “It’s not by doing a Blue Card or a Green Card that we’ll fix the issue in Europe,” Lamberts insisted.

Commission President José Manuel Barroso indicated that “immigration and integration” would be the focus of an EU Summit under the French Presidency in October but said a common asylum policy “may take more time”.

“I hope EU leaders will show leadership and responsibility,” he said in reference to proposals for a common immigration policy. “If we don’t, there will be populist and xenophobic reactions,” he warned.

Culture and education

Participants at the cultural and education workshop highlighted the many benefits that European integration brings to citizens in their everyday lives. However, they lamented that most do not seem to appreciate these benefits and generally deplored the lack of reference to the EU flag or anthem as symbols which can help bring Europe closer to citizens.

Proposals emerging from the debate centred on boosting trans-border mobility programmes for students such as Erasmus or school-twinning initiatives, the creation of an EU coordination framework for language learning and the development of a shared approach to history teaching.

Speaking at a televised debate after the workshop, Barroso said the EU can support education through programmes such as Erasmus but he urged national governments and local authorities should play their part as well. 

“We shouldn’t ask everything from the European institutions because the budget is limited,” Barroso said.

Read more with Euractiv

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