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EUROPEAN FEDERALISM FOR WORLD DEMOCRACY The issue of federalism and its relation to international democracy is the basic questioning that underlies the debates among federalist activists. When we say “international”, we indeed essentially speak about two aspects of the relation between nations: one that is our immediate concern, i.e. Europe, and another, which is in the interest of the whole human race, i.e. the world stage. We live today in a world, which is not ruled by democratically enacted law, but by the law of the strongest. Federalism may bring an adequate analytical framework to find the solutions to this lack of democracy. A World without Democracy Public disenchantment in Europe is undeniable. National governments give the feeling to the people that they do not really have the choice of policies and the European Union has proved a convenient scapegoat for every unhonoured electoral pledge. Often, parliamentary democracy has crippled in the recent decades: in many western countries, national parliaments are no more than a confirmation chamber. Far from being weakened by European integration, national governments have confirmed their grip on all the commands of power: matters that used to be dealt with by law in elected parliaments are now decided by diplomats or ministers, hardly accountable to their Parliaments. Granted, with the extension of the codecision procedure, the role of the European Parliament has brought increased legitimacy to the European law-making process. However, media’s failure to inform properly and political spin tend to downgrade this phenomenon: voters also need to feel that the decisions taken result from their own choice. There is another level, where democracy is a foreign word: the world. The world order in which we live is the direct inheritance of the Second World War and of the Cold War. How explain, otherwise, that developed powerful democratic countries like Germany, Japan or South Africa have no place in the UN Security Council? The “Blue helmets” have a very limited right to use their weapons, and are therefore unable to have any policing action in international conflicts. The UN therefore has to rely on individual States to carry out its resolutions, which are often little more than an excuse to legitimise unilateral action of some States. The UN also has to rely on its members’ financial contributions. Here again, the force is on the side of financial power. How impose anything on the United States, to name them, when they threaten not to pay their huge debt to the Organisation, putting at risk its whole financial balance? More widely, many multinational firms, American and European alike can also be accused of abusing their power and political connections at the expense of the poorest in the rest of the world. In a word, power and not democracy still very much regulates international relations. Federalism as a democratic answer to international anarchy To be really democratic, the federal European Constitution must not only be the result of the converging will of the national ratifying authorities. It must express the will of the European people. The only real way to achieve this is to hold a Europe-wide referendum. The guiding line in the process of European democratisation is not only the creation of accountable, transparent and efficient institutions. It is also the creation of a European demos. Only a breakthrough like a Europe-wide referendum on a European Constitution, resulting in institutions that continue to regularly bolster supranational identification (Europe-wide party lists, European parliamentary system, publicity of debates) will create it. Moreover, only a federal Europe will be able to act efficiently at world level and balance the forces of international thraldom. By granting legal capacity to the European Union, abolishing the Council-nominated High representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and giving its powers to the European Commission, by creating a real autonomous European army, the Constitution will enable the EU to have its word on the world stage. Europe will then have the greatest opportunity of all: that of campaigning for world democracy. Indeed, we need the rules on the free movement of goods, services, capital and persons at world level to be adopted as democratically as they are or should be in the EU, i.e. not by diplomats, but by representatives of the people, that reflects the interest of the whole World’s population, not only that of the richest of its States. The Security Council should reflect the World diversity and have a permanent representative for each region of the globe, instead of privileging five countries, two of which flout the basic principles of democracy and human rights every day. We need to make sure that a Country like the US cannot escape the obligation to protect the World environment or to put to trial those of its nationals that are suspected of war crimes. International conflicts should be dealt with, not by individual countries, but by a world army, making sure the law and world interest are obeyed. Those simple and not too radical demands are federal ones. And who, better than a federal European Union, will be able to contribute to such a vision of the world? Our more than fifty-year long experience of relations between nations have taught us how to base a system on the rule of law instead of force. Once the EU is federal, that is, democratic, it will be able to promote a vision of the world that puts back the human being at its very centre. Emmanuel Vallens, resident in Brussels, is Secretary General of JEF-Strasbourg and member of the Federal Committee of JEF-Europe 927 words (titles and signature included). Article published in the October 2002 issue of The New Federalist