To prevent the EU from longer periods of paralysis, especially on critical issues, ending veto power and granting more EU authority in key areas like healthcare, energy, defence, and economic policies is crucial for progress, according to European Parliament’s spokesman and director general for communication, Jaume Duch Guillot.
The current legislature enters its final round, as we’ll have European elections next summer, which are an important test on how the citizens of the EU states perceive the successive crises from the last years: the pandemic, the wars raging in their proximity and also the energy crisis. If you were to make an assessment on the current situation and a prediction on the future, how does the European Union emerge from this troubled time?
The European Union has been able to readjust and reinvent itself to be effective in the face of the enormous crises that have unfolded since the beginning of this legislature.
This includes managing a pandemic in a very different way to previous crises. It coordinated efforts to deliver a vaccine against COVID-19 and to distribute it fairly among its member states. In addition to launching a common vaccination certificate for 440 million Europeans and establishing an economic recovery programme worth EUR 750 billion thanks to joint debt management.
Since the beginning of territorial aggression on the part of Russia, the European institutions have done everything in their power to support Ukraine and its citizens through unity.
We have come across a European Union that has been able to approve eleven economic and diplomatic sanctions packages against Russian oligarchs and the Kremlin towards weakening the Russian economy. The European budget also finances the purchase of weapons by Member states to help Ukraine's self-defence and contributing to its reconstruction. A Union that is moving towards welcoming Ukraine into the European family by granting it, in record time, the status of candidate country.
We've already put an end to our dependence on Russian fossil fuels (coal, oil), and Russian natural gas is also disappearing from the European market thanks to diversification of sources and the promotion of renewable energies, measures approved within the framework of the RePowerEU plan where Next Generation funds are financing plans and projects fighting climate change but also countering Putin's blackmail.
And to be fair, citizens seem to be more and more aware of the growing importance of the EU. The latest Eurobarometer data shows that 71% of Europeans see that decisions made in European institutions have an impact on their lives, on what they do. And that's very good news.
The European elections will lay the foundations for what is to come. The same reasons that are valid for voting in national, regional or municipal elections are valid for the European elections. And the composition of the new European Parliament will shape EU’s future answers in an increasingly changing and uncertain world.
In the current context, there is a unanimous opinion is that democracy itself is at stake. There are more and more populist and illiberal regimes consolidating and many extremist political platforms on the rise. How can they be countered?
If you cast your eyes around the world today you will see plenty of examples of how democracy is being challenged. Internally and externally. The most important protection we have of our freedoms in Europe are the European Union itself, its defence of rule of law and the guarantee of elections every few years, at local, regional, national and European level, where our elected representatives are chosen - by everyone, equally and fairly.
We have to remember that the European Union was founded to defend peace, to defend a model of social progress, to provide citizens with conditions they didn't have before. It is of outmost important to remind of this to the younger generations who were born in the EU, in a democratic society.
The most effective antidote against extreme shifts and all kinds of populisms is the proper functioning of the Union, for people to see its added value, and for its citizens and businesses to feel protected.
We should not take democracy for granted. We need to safeguard it and citizens can contribute to these efforts by voting. The more people vote, the stronger our democracy becomes.
What are the communication priorities in the next European elections? Which audiences would you want to reach and with which messages?
Our institutional communication strategy is two-fold: to inform and engage as many citizens as possible about the elections, why voting at the European elections is important and when they take place.
We will continue informing about what the European Parliament does, what it has been doing during this legislature and what are the challenges or issues that remain on the table for the next term.
But we can’t do that alone. We are opening the Parliament to all kinds of media and increasingly to all kinds of people who have influence in the social media platforms and other new networks and communication channels.
Our goal is to mobilise as many citizens as possible on Election Day. Every vote counts and democracy works when citizens use their voice. Voting isn’t just the most important tool at the disposal of citizens to choose their future and influence the future shape of Europe. Voting is also a way of safeguarding democracy.
There are also many voices talking about the need of re-evaluating EU rules and treaties, about creating a Union in concentric circles or about abandoning the rule of unanimity. Is it a good time to redefine the EU framework, when there are two wars near us, which, although not involving it directly, have profound effects on the EU?
Periods of crisis can pave the way for development. The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the digital transformation, Brexit served as an antidote to Euroscepticism. Russian aggression against Ukraine has taken us back to a foundational value of the European Union which is protecting peace.
An EU reform is necessary for future enlargement enlargement. We need to be efficient in two ways: helping all candidate countries to be ready to join the EU while reforming the way the EU institutions work. The current structures designed for the current 27 members won't suffice for a larger community.
To prevent the EU from longer periods of paralysis, especially on critical issues, ending veto power and granting more EU authority in key areas like healthcare, energy, defence, and economic policies is crucial for progress. We must be able to better protect the rule of law, freedom, democracy, and equality. The European Parliament is already addressing this topic. During the November plenary session, MEPs voted on a report on proposals amending the Treaties.