The Young European Federalists (JEF-Europe) are pleased to see a wider recognition of their arguments for federalism by European politicans. Also Guy Verhofstadt remarked last week that “federalism is once again a word we can use” as the recent crisis exposed the need for an economic, political and fiscal union. This is in line with what JEF-Europe has been pointing out since the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, as well as what it primarily stands for.
JEF-Europe president Philippe Adriaenssens sees this as a positive new trend in European politics: “The crises have yet to be solved, but this is a positive signal denoting that European politicians have finally realised that the simple, concrete solution has been there all this time – federalism. Now is the time to use it.” Bureau member Julia Mikic notes that: ”After JEF has been claiming for years that ’federalism is the solution we’ve got’, the concept is finally making a deserved comeback into mainstream political discourse, and Barroso’s latest statement proves this view.”
“Those are the words many European Citizens have been hoping to hear. Now we need actions to accompany them: we want to see more democracy, a common and effective economic governance, a bigger EU budget, through an EU-wide constituency, and a single foreign policy. After Barroso’s much-needed ’federalist moment’, we have to give Europe a federalist futur,” concludes Adriaenssens.
ENDS
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