PES Manifesto

If not we will keep having

Publié jeudi 26 juin 2008 à 14h34
par franciscopolo (vu 458 fois et 0 commentaires)

At the same time I start writing this article the ratification process for the Lisbon Treaty is starting at the Spanish Parliament. I can hear the Foreign Affairs Ministry starting his discourse...

Probably (no to say “for sure”), tomorrow the Spanish newspapers will show on their front pages the results of the Spain vs. Russia soccer game at the Eurocup. The matter of the Treaty will also be shown in those newspapers but it will not be given so much importance.

As you probably know, the Lisbon Treaty is important due to many things: The Fundamental Rights Chart becomes binding, the Treaty creates a common space of liberty, security and justice (it was formerly intergovernmental), the EU gains in its capability to create an international interlocution by creating both the positions of the permanent President of the European Counsel and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, among other things. But there is something much more important.

This Treaty is specially important because it makes the EU to be more democratic. It creates the civil initiative so a million of citizens will be able to suggest the creation of new rules; the European Parliament, our direct representative in the EU gains power and almost nothing can be decided without its participation; National Parliaments obtain more participation in the EU processes.

And this is no “Blablabla”. It means that from now, we, the citizens, have more power in the EU. And a greater power means a greater responsibility.

European affairs can sound far to many. It has to stop sound like something that is far from national issues because what is decided in the institutions affects us all as our national Parliaments do. What happens in there is now more than ever, our responsibility. We must pay attention, we must critizice, we must think, we must suggest and pronounce ourselves about everything that happens in the European dimension.

If not we will keep having "surprises" from our institutions...

Tags: blogueur de la semaine, citoyens, démocratie, droits fondamentaux, partis politiques, traîté, transparence