EU: The haggle over Europe goes on

How can Europe expect to be able to influence aid to Africa and for the respect of human rights when it is not even capable of getting its own member states to agree to a common commitment? The agreement that the Council of Europe reached at the end of June in Brussels was meant to make up for the European Constitution that was scratched in 2005, but it is a compromise that has opted for less, not more. The haggling over EU?s political and social role has proved its poor decision making skills when it comes to those very issues that are claimed to be priorities. Important things like the environment and sustainable development.

Half way through June Eurobarometer surveys suggested that 65% of Europeans were in favour of a common constitution, while in Poland this percentage peaked to 70%. A Europeans, we therefore find ourselves before an executive decision making committee that is incapable of respecting the value of citizenship, and a paralyzed civil society that lacks the courage to say what it really thinks: if you don?t believe in Europe then you are free to leave. This is a very risky attitude because the solution recently approved in Brussels actually opens a large spectrum of action for the social realm.

The council has not confirmed the primacy of European legislation over national legislation, and has in fact returned to a logic whereby sovereign states carryout bi-lateral negotiations which weakens the European Parliament and the European Commission. Civil society should be taking advantage of this gap in the power structure by creating intermediate bodies to direct government policies, like the French Mutual societies, the Third Sector Forum and the Ncvo (National Council for Voluntary Organisations are doing.

The possibility of success depends on the breadth of interests that civil society is willing to defend. One of the novelties of the new Treaty is a protocol of public services that highlights the importance of services of general interest. But will the non profit sector move these issues in a political sense or will they simply use it as a means of obtaining more funding? It is one thing to propose new and concrete welfare mix solutions, with an expectation of dialogue with the other actors in the field, it is another, legitimate but reductionist, to defend sector interests like those of cooperatives who are currently under fire.

The stake is a high one. The new treaty includes a reference to the right to civil initiative and the acknowledgment of civil dialogue and social partnership, that the Constitution had dedicated an entire chapter to, will not disappear.

But how are they to be guaranteed? On the 23rd of July the intergovernmental conference will debut with the responsibility of drawing up the treaty, which is to be adopted in Lisbon in October and approved at December?s end of year EU summit. At the same time, Brussels will have to announce its new and ambitious development and cooperation plan for Europe. A great opportunity for European civil society to re-launch their role, which today remains that of carrying out policies decided by others. Lets try not to miss the chance.