NEWROPEANS is opposed to the European Citizens’ Initiative for the Support for the Right of Petition
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Written by Franck Biancheri
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Sunday, 30 April 2006
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 STATEMENT - One year after the rejection of the project of the European Constitution, a group of pro-European organizations plans to organize a petition collecting 1 million signatures, whose objective would be to ask to the European Commission to push for the adoption of the procedure of the European Citizens’ Initiative, such as it had been envisaged in the European Constitution's project (and which thus gives to the same European Commission the right to decode whether or not to give a follow-up to the petitions). The CD of Newropeans which was invited to join this inititative, explains in this opened letter why Newropeans will not support this action which it considers contrary to its objective of democratization of the EU. It calls all those in the pro-European organizations and the citizens movements of the EU who wish to act effectively to democratize the Community system to join Newropeans the only political movement to be present at the next rendez-vous of the 500 million European citizens with their common democracy: European elections of June 2009.
→ To the attention of supporters of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI)
We have received your invitation to join the group of organisations which plans to launch the project named "European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI)". We regret to inform you that Newropeans will not take part in this project because we reckon that it is in complete opposition with the logic of democratisation of the European Union, which is the core of Newropeans action. On the one hand, the project purpose in its essence is contrary to what it announces. It will not provide more initiative to European citizens, but will reinforce the bureaucratic power of the European Commission. The "right of petition" for which this project calls for support by a million European citizens is certainly not a "democratic right", because if it were set up, it would grant the European Commission with the fully arbitrary right to take action or not in the case of petitions undersigned by more than one million European citizens. According to Newropeans, democratising the European Union means to give the initiative to citizens without bureaucratic controls and to reinforce citizens’ power and the power of their representatives, in particular in the European Parliament. On the other hand, the project suffers practical flaws, such as the lack of definition of conditions for validating the collection of signatures throughout the UE. This added to the legally and politically complete incapacity to transform into a concrete measure any collection of signatures at the European level, jeopardize this operation that will result in a vast loss of energy, citizen goodwill and motivation. In a word, Newropeans is convinced that even if this initiative were managing to collect a great number of signatures, it would lead to nowhere because it would request a Community Treaty, signed and ratified unanimously, to register it into European texts. Besides, you underline yourself this institutions lack of competence in this area. For Newropeans, it is essential to stop involving citizens in dead-ends that only lead to the frustration of those which invested time and energy there. Therefore, Newropeans does not join this project, and in its quality of first trans-European political movement, warns citizens against an initiative that, if it were to succeed, would reinforce the powers of the European Commission to the detriment of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. In the future, Newropeans will systematically state its position on European citizens projects, with a view to indicate if they are compatible or not with the democratisation process of the EU called on by Newropeans. For those who wish to witness the successful wedding of the European project with democracy, Newropeans has chosen the difficult but necessary path of creating the first trans-European political movement that will propose candidates in all EU countries at the June 2009 European elections. Thus, Newropeans calls for abolishing European Commission’s monopoly of initiative and for giving the European Parliament a complete right of initiative (proposal 5). Newropeans supports the setting up of a trans-European referendum for all new enlargements of the EU and for voting on European Treaties (proposal 3). As for the petition right, Newropeans currently works out a proposal which will appear in its program for 2009 and which will set up the European Parliament the recipient of petitions, without any interference from bureaucrats in the procedure. The big meeting date of the European Union with its people, its citizens and democracy will take place in June 2009, during the next European elections. All those which want to really see the Community system changing and being democratized have on this date a true political meeting with our 500 million fellow-citizens. We invite all citizens, members or not of existing organisations, that want to be part of this historical step in the European construction to join Newropeans instead of wasting their time in projects which lead to similar dead ends as the May/June 2005 consultations. We have a complete program to work out, a campaign at the continent level to set up and June 2009 as an unambiguous cut-off date. In other words, any goodwill is welcome. Should no trans-European political movement in the June 2009 electoral arena be able to demonstrate that democracy and Europe are compatible, we must be well aware that extremist and nationalistic forces will take it over. For Newropeans, there is neither time to go, nor energy to lose in playing the "beggars for democracy". Power is to be won. If the European citizens want it, it will be necessary that they get into the electoral arena in June 2009. Anything else would appear illusion and waste of time in the best case; fraud in the worst case.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 22 January 2007 )
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Non ce n'est pas une affiche de campagne en Turquie, mais bien celle du parti socialiste autrichien (SPÖ) pour les élections d'octobre prochain à Vienne. Après les affiches de campagne de Strache qui plaide pour le " pur sang viennois" c'est la course au populisme?
Wien-Wahl: Politiker sprechen türkisch: 200.000 Neoösterreicher Wähler haben Migrationshintergrund. Die Parteien buhlen um ihre Stimmen - gerne auch in einer Fremdsprache.( Kurier 25/08/2010)
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La deuxième rencontre du cycle
“LA DEMOCRATIE EN DANGER”,
consacrée à la Justice en Europe
Le lundi 13 septembre
de 19h30 à 22h00
Salons de l’Aveyron
17 Rue de l'Aubrac
75012 Paris
 A l’heure où les discours et les mesures sécuritaires et judiciaires se durcissent dans nombreux pays européens, où l’on sait les atteintes aux droits les plus élémentaires et aux principes fondamentaux des simples citoyens, quels traitements sont réservés à ceux qui tiennent les pouvoirs politiques, financiers, économiques entre leurs mains? Une conférence-débat organisée dans le cadre du cycle La démocratie en danger par Les Amis de Beppe Grillo à Paris et le NewropMag.
Intervenants: les députés européens Luigi De Magistris, Sonia Alfano et Rosario Crocetta ; Harald Greib, vice-président de Newropeans en charge des affaires des institutions européennes ; Eric Alt, magistrat, membre de l’association MEDEL (magistrats européens pour la démocratie et les libertés) et de l’association Anticor, et Corinne Lepage, députée européenne et ex Ministre de l’environnement, engagée dans la lutte contre la corruption politique et financière.
Parmi les sujets de discussion:
- L'infiltration des organisations criminelles et le vide législatif relatif en Europe
- Les récentes dépénalisations des crimes financiers et économiques en Italie, en France et leur traitement au sein des institutions européennes
- Présomption d'innocence ou de culpabilité? L'exemple de la “loi bâillon” sur les écoutes téléphoniques qui viole les recommandations de l’OSCE concernant l’emploi de sources et de matériels nécessaires aux investigations journalistiques au service de la démocratie.
Contacts:
Micaela Bracciaferri, Coordinatrice “Les Amis de Beppe Grillo à Paris »
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Marianne Ranke-Cormier, Rédactrice en chef du NewropMag
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