Before most of you leave your offices in July/August I would like to inform you about the latest happenings and upcoming events of UEF. Autumn will bring developments of historic dimension that will certainly mean lots of additional work for UEF: For the first time we will have the European Parliament co-deciding on the (real) EU-Budget, and before the end of the year the EU will have its External Action Service in place. We will keep you informed about all of this. Enjoy the summer and the next days when we will celebrate a World Cup Champion from the European Union!

Closing of the Office

Due to the EUinstitutions' traditional summer long close-down and Brussels getting emptier, UEF Secretariat in Brussels will be closed from 28th of July – 27th of August. Enjoy your holidays and see you all in September!

Europa-Union Deutschland: "Europe 2020 – a critical evaluation of the new EU strategy"

On June 17th in Berlin, the European Council adopted the Europe 2020-Strategy, wishing to pave the way for “intelligent, sustainable and integrative growth” in the European Union.

The agenda for growth and employment is set to replace the largely failed Lisbon Strategy and to create “a vision of Europe's social market economy for the 21st century”, according to Commission President Barroso. Reinhard Bütikofer MEP, Dr Eva Högl (member of the Bundestag) and Dr Joachim Wuermeling, all of them board members of the Europa-Union Deutschland (UEF Germany), published a critical evaluation of the EU strategy which can be found here (in German).

Press Release: Parliamentary Groups of the UEF Germany commend German Bundestag for using new competences, call for further involvement in European policy-making

A year ago on June 30th 2009, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany delivered its judgment on the Treaty of Lisbon, declaring it to be in principle compatible with the Grundgesetz, the German constitution, while at the same time calling for a stronger role of the Bundestag in European policy-making.

On the one-year anniversary of the judgment, the Parliamentary Groups of the UEF Germany in the Bundestag and the European Parliament issued a joint press release.

Dr Eva Högl, Dr Günther Krings, Michael Link and Manuel Sarrazin, all of them members of the Bundestag, and Alexander Alvaro, Michael Cramer, Matthias Groote and Joachim Zeller, MEPs, commend the Bundestag for making good use of its new rights regarding EU matters. They call on their colleagues in the Bundestag to actively engage with European policy-making processes and to support an open, transparent and regular dialogue with associations and civil society. They argue that strong and confident parliaments which participate in debating and deciding European matters are the only way to bring Europe closer to its citizens, and therefore call for a further Europeanization of the Bundestag.

UEF Groupe Europe Meeting

On 28th of June UEF Groupe Europe met to review actions and define future activities. A follow up was considered to the Public Conference of 2nd of June on the European External Action Service (EEAS) with the two EP rapporteurs, Elmar Brok and Guy Verhofstadt, to be confirmed in September.

Groupe Europe was also part of the delegation of Federalists that met with the presidents of EP political groups on 10th of June, for a TV programme jointly cast by EuroParlTV and Euronews. It will try to pursue the dialogue that was engaged with UEF Belgium, on the basis of questions that could not be put to the MEPs during the debate.

UEF Seminar in Prague: The Economic Union without political

On 24th of June, the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and the European Movement in the Czech Republic organised a discussion. Main lecturer was the chief EU Affairs Economist of one of the biggest banks in the Czech Republic and Member of Advisory Committee to the EC in Economic Affairs Mr. Petr Zahradnik, whose goal was to realistically describe today’s economic, monetary and fiscal situation within the European Union accumulating debts instead of capital

Should the economic union enhance the political one? What is the right measure of cooperation among member states - a common economic and fiscal policy or a harmonised or only coordinated one?

Finalising the discussion, conclusions on how to enable the realisation of a true Economic Union were made:

3) Coordination of ex-ante budget processing for one-year as well as three-year periods;

5) A new budget structure adapted to the new circumstances and a new division of competences among local, regional, national and the EU levels - the Adapted Fiscal Federalism is becoming a reality.

Federal Union: Is the Eurozone Working? Lessons from the Greek Crisis

On 24th of June the Federal Union (UEF UK) together with Federal Trust and the Global Policy Institute organised a seminar on “Lessons for Europe from the Greek Crisis” held at London Metropolitan University.

With the participation of leading EU experts economic commentator Graham Bishop, former European editor at the Guardian John Palmer and professional Research Fellow at SOAS George Irvin, the seminar discussed the lessons drawn from the causes of the sovereign debt crisis enveloping Greece and other countries in Europe and asked how they could get out if it happens again. To read a report on the seminar visit Federal Union’s website here.

UEF and JEF Germany Parliamentary Group: One Year after the Lisbon-Judgment of the German Federal Constitutional Court. Debate on the New Role of the Parliaments at the “Parliamentary Forum Europe’s Future”

29th of June in Berlin: The Treaty of Lisbon not only strengthened the co-decision powers of the European Parliament but also expanded the role of national parliaments in EU matters. For Germany, the judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court of June 30th, 2009 led to a further strengthening of the Bundestag: due to extensive information and participation rights Parliament today has a rather strong position regarding European integration in Germany.

In order to discuss the new role of the Bundestag and the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Group of the UEF Germany and the Young European Federalists Germany (JEF) organized a Parliamentary Forum with Norbert Lammert, President of the German Bundestag, and Hans-Gert Pöttering, former President of the European Parliament.

Speaking about the newly established subsidiarity checks, Norbert Lammert called on the national parliaments to use this new instrument with care, but also with confidence. Hans-Gert Pöttering criticised the Lisbon-judgment of the Constitutional Court for failing to take the sui generis-character of democracy on the EU level into account. Pointing out the different standards by which European politics were often judged, he warned of Europe becoming a scapegoat for general discontent with national politics.

EMI Training Academy (13-19th September 2010)

The European Movement International (EMI) Training Academy Summer School is a high-level, tailor-made training course on the workings of the EU institutions and on programmes available to university students.

EMI, with its growing network of 42 National Councils and 27 international member associations across Europe has direct access to professionals of the EU structure at all levels, making the EMI Training Academy the perfect tool for students who want to pursue a career in EU affairs, or who want to perfect their knowledge of the EU.

During the one-week course, students meet with officials from the EU institutions, professionals from European civil society organisations and consultants based in Brussels, in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Target group: University/PhD students or recent graduates who have a strong interest in European affairs. Students will be selected according to the following criteria:

To register or for more details, please send an e-mail to mljacquemin(at)europeanmovement.eu ; The EMI will confirm your registration by 23rd of July.

The Young European Federalists (JEF) have released the new issue of their bi-weekly Newsletter JEF-INFO. To find the full version of the newsletter at the homepage of JEF Europe, click here (PDF)

European Economic Government and Fiscal Sovereignty

The crisis in the Monetary Union is at a crucial turning point. On the 9th May the EU governments created a stabilization facility of 750bn euro in an attempt to avoid financial breakdown in heavily indebted member states but because France and Germany do not agree on the nature of European economic government there is a risk that this decision might turn out to be insufficient. The European Parliament, on the other hand, has for quite a time held the common position, recently reasserted by the leaders of the four main parties (People’s Party, Socialists, Liberals and Greens), that the only way to solve the complex problem of the present economic and institutional crisis is by resorting to the “Community Method” (or “federalist method”, according Jean Monnet). In brief, the European Parliament wants the Commission to become the EU’s “economic government”. But President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel do not agree. In their view the Council, not the Commission, should be the economic government of the EU. Read more...

Belgian elections and the EU Presidency

There are financial crises, economic crises, but Belgium is experiencing what for many looks like a perpetual, political crisis, already since the last federal elections in 2007. That year, the Flemish Christian Democratic party (CD&V) won almost by a landslide in Flanders with a campaign based on institutional reform. Read more...

Cons: Great Britain in the EU

Since the European communities were founded in the 1950s, there is a debate about the political and economic integration of Great Britain. This is the first topic for Treffpunkt Europa’s new section entitled ‘PRO & CON’, where arguments will be shown both in favour and against the membership of the British in the European Union. Read more...

• International meeting ofUnited Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) campaign, 4th October 2010, Buenos Aires (Argentina)