PRESS RELEASE: 28th-29th June European Council: the EFP calls for political union

The European Summit of June 28-29 has provided the EU with a “life vest” in order to avoid the Euro to sink but it has failed to teach the EU how to swim. In other words, this Summit has once again been unable to give the EU the necessary tools to overcome the crisis once and for all. As it was the case over the past 18 (and more) Summits, small steps have been preferred to more comprehensive solutions. This approach has determined a constant worsening of the crisis with serious consequences on the European people, which are suffering from increasing unemployment and major cuts in their welfare systems.

For these reasons the European Federalist Party asks the European Leaders to have the courage to transform the current “Economic and Monetary Union” not only into a “Banking Union” – as the latest summit attempted to do – , but into a fully fledged “Political Union”, characterised by greater involvement of the European citizens.

The EFP welcomes the definition of a growth pact but considers that the amount of resources allocated is insufficient and reinstate its call for the establishment of EU’s own resources, including the creation of a Financial Transaction Tax. The EFP welcomes the Euro Area Summit Statement calling for the creation of a single supervisory mechanism for banks in the euro area which will allow the European Stability Mechanism to recapitalize banks directly operate directly on the market. Finally, despite the fact we welcome the creation of a pilot phase of “Project Bonds” we call for the creation of fully fledged “Eurobonds”.

In the days that preceded the Summit, the European Federalist Party gathered citizens in many European cities the motto: “We are all Europeans, we want a Federal Europe now!” convinced of the fact that only a Federal Europe can provide the instruments to grow stronger out of the crisis (photo below). Many civil society organisations joined the call for action, including JEF (Belgium), UEF (Belgium), MFE (Genova) Sel, Radicali, European Greens, European Alternatives and Idv etc.

Monday 2 July 2012,

The Co-Presidents Pietro De Matteis and Yves Gernigon

Contacts:

E-mail: pietro.dematteis@federalistparty.eu
Twitter: https://twitter.com/eufederalists
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