MANIFESTO
We, European citizens, from different backgrounds and countries, are today launching this appeal for the in-depth transformation of the European institutions and policies. This Manifesto contains concrete proposals, in particular a project for a Democratization Treaty and a Budget Project which can be adopted and applied as it stands by the countries who so wish, with no single country being able to block those who want to advance. It can be signed on-line (www.tdem.eu) by all European citizens who identify with it. It can be amended and improved by any political movement.
Following Brexit and the election of anti-European governments at the head of several member countries, it is no longer possible to continue as before. We cannot simply wait for the next departures, or further dismantling without making fundamental changes to present-day Europe.
Today, our continent is caught between political movements whose programme is confined to hunting down foreigners and refugees, a programme which they have now begun to put into action, on one hand. On the other, we have parties which claim to be European but which in reality continue to consider that hard core liberalism and the spread of competition to all (States, firms, territories and individuals) are enough to define a political project. They in no way recognise that it is precisely this lack of social ambition which leads to the feeling of abandonment.
There are some social and political movements which do attempt to end this fatal dialogue by moving in the direction of a new political, social and environmental foundation for Europe. After a decade of economic crisis there is no lack of these specifically European critical situations: structural under- investment in the public sector, particularly in the fields of training and research, a rise in social inequality, acceleration of global warming and a crisis in the reception of migrants and refugees. But these movements often have difficulty in formulating an alternative project, and in describing precisely how they would like to organise the Europe of the future and the decision-making infrastructure specific to it.
We, European citizens, by publishing this Manifesto, Treaty and Budget, are making specific proposals publicly available to all. They are not perfect, but they do have the merit of existing. The public can access them and improve them. They are based on a simple conviction. Europe must build an original model to ensure the fair and lasting social development of its citizens. The only way to convince them is to abandon vague and theoretical promises. If Europe wants to restore solidarity with its citizens it can only do so by providing concrete proof that it is capable of establishing cooperation between Europeans and by making those who have gained from globalisation contribute to the financing of the public goods which are cruelly lacking in Europe today. This means making large firms contribute more than small and medium businesses, and the richest taxpayers paying more than poorer taxpayers. This is not the case today.
Our proposals are based on the creation of a Budget for democratization which would be debated and voted by a sovereign European Assembly. This will at last enable Europe to equip itself with a public institution which is both capable of dealing with crises in Europe immediately and of producing a set of fundamental public and social goods and services in the framework of a lasting and solidarity-based economy. In this way, the promise made as far back as the Treaty of Rome of ‘improving living and working conditions’ will finally become meaningful.
This Budget, if the European Assembly so desires, will be financed by four major European taxes, the tangible markers of this European solidarity. These will apply to the profits of major firms, the top incomes (over 200,000 Euros per annum), the highest wealth owners (over 1 million Euros) and the carbon emissions (with a minimum price of 30 Euros per tonne). If it is fixed at 4% of GDP, as we propose, this budget could finance research, training and the European universities, an ambitious investment programme to transform our model of economic growth, the financing of the reception and integration of migrants and the support of those involved in operating the transformation. It could also give some budgetary leeway to member States to reduce the regressive taxation which weighs on salaries or consumption.
The issue here is not one of creating a ‘Transfer payments Europe’ which would endeavour to take money from the ‘virtuous’ countries to give it to those who are less so. The project for a Treaty of Democratization (www.tdem.eu) states this explicitly by limiting the gap between expenditure deducted and income paid by a country to a threshold of 0.1% of its GDP. This threshold can be raised in case there is a consensus to do so, but the real issue is elsewhere: it is primarily a question of reducing the inequality within the different countries and of investing in the future of all Europeans, beginning of course with the youngest amongst them, with no single country having preference. This computation does exclude spending that benefit equally to all countries, such as policies to curb global warming. Because it will finance European public goods benefiting all countries, the Budget for democratization will de facto also foster convergence between countries.
Because we must act quickly but we must also get Europe out of the present technocratic impasse, we propose the creation of a European Assembly. This will enable these new European taxes to be debated and voted as also the budget for democratization. This European Assembly can be created without changing the existing European treaties.
This European Assembly would of course have to communicate with the present decision-making institutions (in particular the Eurogroup in which the Ministers for Finance in the Euro zone meet informally every month). But, in cases of disagreement, the Assembly would have the final word. If not, its capacity to be a locus for a new transnational, political space where parties, social movements and NGOs would finally be able to express themselves, would be compromised. Equally its actual effectiveness, since the issue is one of finally extricating Europe from the eternal inertia of inter-governmental negotiations, would be at stake. We should bear in mind that the rule of fiscal unanimity in force in the European Union has for years blocked the adoption of any European tax and sustains the eternal evasion into fiscal dumping by the rich and most mobile, a practice which continues to this day despite all the speeches. This will go on if other decision-making rules are not set up.
Given that this European Assembly will have the ability to adopt taxes and to enter the very core of the democratic, fiscal and social compact of Member states, it is important to truly involve national and European parliamentarians. By granting national elected members a central role, the national, parliamentary elections will de facto be transformed into European elections. National elected members will no longer be able to simply shift responsibility on to Brussels and will have no other option than to explain to the voters the projects and budgets which they intend to defend in the European Assembly. By bringing together the national and European parliamentarians in one single Assembly, habits of co-governance will be created which at the moment only exist between heads of state and ministers of finance.
This is why we propose, in the Democratization Treaty available on-line (www.tdem.eu), that 80% of the members of the European Assembly should be from members of the national parliaments of the countries which sign the Treaty (in proportion to the population of the countries and the political groups), and 20% from the present European parliament (in proportion to the political groups). This choice merits further discussion. In particular, our project could also function with a lower proportion of national parliamentarians (for instance 50%). But in our opinion, an excessive reduction of this proportion might detract from the legitimacy of the European Assembly in involving all European citizens in the direction of a new social and fiscal pact, and conflicts of democratic legitimacy between national and European elections could rapidly undermine the project.
We now have to act quickly. While it would be desirable for all the European Union countries to join in this project without delay, and while it would be preferable that the four largest countries in the Euro zone (which together represent over 70% of the GNP and the population in the zone) adopt it at the outset, the project in its totality has been designed for it to be legally and economically adopted and applied by any sub-set of countries who wish to do so. This point is important because it enables countries and political movements who so desire to demonstrate their willingness to make very specific progress by adopting this project, or an improved version, right now. We call on every man and woman to assume his or her responsibilities and participate in a detailed and constructive discussion for the future of Europe.
http://tdem.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Manifesto_EN.pdf
Nosotros, ciudadanos europeos, de diferentes orígenes y países , lanzamos hoy este llamamiento para la transformación profunda de las instituciones y políticas europeas. Este Manifiesto contiene propuestas concretas , en particular un proyecto para un Tratado de Democratización y un Proyecto de Presupuesto que pueden ser adoptados y aplicados tal como están por los países que así lo deseen , sin que un solo país pueda bloquear a aquellos que quieran avanzar. Puede ser firmado en línea ( www.tdem.eu ) por todos los ciudadanos europeos que se identifiquen con él. Puede ser enmendado y mejorado por cualquier movimiento político.
Tras el Brexit y la elección de gobiernos antieuropeos al frente de varios países miembros, ya no es posible continuar como antes. No podemos simplemente esperar las próximas salidas, o un mayor desmantelamiento sin hacer cambios fundamentales en la Europa actual.
Hoy, nuestro continente está atrapado entre movimientos políticos cuyo programa se limita a la caza de extranjeros y refugiados, un programa que ahora han comenzado a poner en acción, por un lado. Por otro lado, tenemos partidos que afirman ser europeos, pero que en realidad continúan considerando que el liberalismo y la difusión de la competencia a todos (Estados, empresas, territorios e individuos) son suficientes para definir un proyecto político. De ninguna manera reconocen que es precisamente esta falta de ambición social lo que conduce al sentimiento de abandono.
Hay algunos movimientos sociales y políticos que intentan poner fin a este diálogo fatal yendo hacia una nueva base política, social y ambiental para Europa. Después de una década de crisis económica, no faltan estas situaciones críticas específicamente europeas: la falta de inversión estructural en el sector público, particularmente en los campos de la formación y la investigación, el aumento de la desigualdad social, la aceleración del calentamiento global y la crisis en el mundo. Recepción de migrantes y refugiados. Pero estos movimientos a menudo tienen dificultades para formular un proyecto alternativo y para describir con precisión cómo les gustaría organizar la Europa del futuro y la infraestructura de toma de decisiones específica para ella.
Nosotros, los ciudadanos europeos, al publicar este Manifiesto, Tratado y Presupuesto, estamos haciendo propuestas específicas a disposición pública para todos. No son perfectos, pero tienen el mérito de existir. El público puede acceder a ellos y mejorarlos. Se basan en una simple convicción. Europa debe construir un modelo original para garantizar el desarrollo social justo y duradero de sus ciudadanos. La única manera de convencerlos es abandonar las promesas vagas y teóricas . Si Europa quiere restablecer la solidaridad con sus ciudadanos, solo puede hacerlo aportando pruebas concretas de que es capaz de establecer una cooperación entre los europeos y hacer que quienes se han beneficiado de la globalización contribuyan a la financiación de los bienes públicos.que hoy carecen de crueldad en Europa. Esto significa hacer que las grandes empresas contribuyan más que las pequeñas y medianas empresas, y que los contribuyentes más ricos paguen más que los contribuyentes más pobres. Este no es el caso hoy.
Nuestras propuestas se basan en la creación de un Presupuesto para la democratización que será debatido y votado por una Asamblea Europea soberana. Esto permitirá, por fin, a Europa equiparse con una institución pública que sea capaz de hacer frente a las crisis en Europa inmediatamente y de producir un conjunto de bienes y servicios públicos y sociales fundamentales en el marco de una economía duradera y solidaria. De esta manera, la promesa hecha desde el Tratado de Roma de "mejorar las condiciones de vida y de trabajo" finalmente tendrá sentido.
Este presupuesto, si la Asamblea Europea lo desea, será financiado por cuatro importantes impuestos europeos , los marcadores tangibles de esta solidaridad europea. Estos se aplicarán a los beneficios de las principales empresas, los ingresos más altos (más de 200,000 euros por año), los propietarios con mayor riqueza (más de 1 millón de euros) y las emisiones de carbono (con un precio mínimo de 30 euros por tonelada). Si se fija en el 4% del PIB , como proponemos, este presupuesto podría financiar la investigación , la capacitación y las universidades europeas, un ambicioso programa de inversión para transformar nuestro modelo de crecimiento económico , la financiación de la recepción e integración de los migrantes y el apoyo. de los involucrados en la operación de la transformación. También podría dar un margen de maniobra presupuestario a los Estados miembros para reducir la tributación regresiva que pesa sobre los salarios o el consumo.
El problema aquí no es crear una 'Transferencia de pagos en Europa', que trataría de tomar dinero de los países 'virtuosos' para entregarlo a aquellos que lo son menos. El proyecto para un Tratado de Democratización ( www.tdem.eu ) establece esto explícitamente al limitar la brecha entre el gasto deducido y el ingreso pagado por un país a un umbral del 0,1% de su PIB. Este umbral puede aumentarse en caso de que haya consenso para hacerlo, pero el problema real está en otra parte: se trata principalmente de reducir la desigualdad en los diferentes países y de invertir en el futuro de todos los europeos., comenzando por supuesto con los más jóvenes entre ellos, sin que ningún país tenga preferencia. Este cálculo excluye el gasto que se beneficia por igual a todos los países, como las políticas para frenar el calentamiento global. Como financiará los bienes públicos europeos que benefician a todos los países, el Presupuesto para la democratización de facto también fomentará la convergencia entre los países.
Debido a que debemos actuar con rapidez, pero también debemos sacar a Europa del presente callejón sin salida tecnocrático, proponemos la creación de una Asamblea Europea. Esto permitirá que estos nuevos impuestos europeos sean debatidos y votados como también el presupuesto para la democratización. Esta Asamblea Europea puede ser creada sin cambiar los tratados europeos existentes.
Esta Asamblea Europea, por supuesto, tendría que comunicarse con las instituciones que toman decisiones en este momento (en particular, el Eurogrupo en el que los Ministros de Finanzas de la zona euro se reúnen de manera informal todos los meses). Pero, en caso de desacuerdo, la Asamblea tendría la última palabra. Si no, su capacidad de ser un lugar para un nuevo espacio político, transnacional donde los partidos, los movimientos sociales y las ONG podrían finalmente expresarse, se vería comprometida. Igualmente su efectividad real, ya que el problema es finalmente sacar a Europa de la eterna inercia de las negociaciones intergubernamentales,Estaría en juego. Debemos tener en cuenta que la regla de la unanimidad fiscal en vigor en la Unión Europea ha bloqueado durante años la adopción de cualquier impuesto europeo y sostiene la evasión eterna del dumping fiscal por parte de los más ricos y más móviles, una práctica que continúa hasta hoy a pesar de Todos los discursos. Esto continuará si no se configuran otras reglas de toma de decisiones.
Dado que esta Asamblea Europea tendrá la capacidad de adoptar impuestos y de ingresar al núcleo mismo del pacto democrático, fiscal y social de los estados miembros, es importante involucrar verdaderamente a los parlamentarios nacionales y europeos. Al otorgar a los miembros electos nacionales un papel central , las elecciones parlamentarias nacionales se transformarán de facto en elecciones europeas . Los miembros nacionales elegidos ya no podrán simplemente trasladar la responsabilidad a Bruselas y no tendrán otra opción que explicar a los votantes los proyectos y presupuestos que pretenden defender en la Asamblea Europea. Al reunir a los parlamentarios nacionales y europeos en una sola Asamblea, se crearán hábitos de gobernabilidad. que por el momento solo existen entre jefes de estado y ministros de finanzas.
Por eso proponemos, en el Tratado de democratización disponible en línea ( www.tdem.eu ), que el 80% de los miembros de la Asamblea Europea sea de miembros de los parlamentos nacionales de los países que firman el Tratado (en proporción a la población de los países y los grupos políticos), y el 20% del actual Parlamento Europeo(En proporción a los grupos políticos). Esta elección merece más discusión. En particular, nuestro proyecto también podría funcionar con una menor proporción de parlamentarios nacionales (por ejemplo, 50%). Pero, en nuestra opinión, una reducción excesiva de esta proporción podría menoscabar la legitimidad de la Asamblea Europea al involucrar a todos los ciudadanos europeos en la dirección de un nuevo pacto social y fiscal, y los conflictos de legitimidad democrática entre las elecciones nacionales y europeas podrían socavar rápidamente el proceso. proyecto.
Ahora tenemos que actuar con rapidez. Si bien sería deseable que todos los países de la Unión Europea se unieran a este proyecto sin demora, y si bien sería preferible que los cuatro países más grandes de la zona euro (que en conjunto representan más del 70% del PNB y la población de la zona ) Adoptándolo desde el principio, el proyecto en su totalidad ha sido diseñado para ser adoptado y aplicado legal y económicamente por cualquier subconjunto de países que lo deseen . Este punto es importante porque permite a los países y movimientos políticos que así lo deseen demostrar su voluntad de hacer progresos muy específicos mediante la adopción de este proyecto, o una versión mejorada, ahora mismo.Hacemos un llamado a cada hombre y mujer para que asuman sus responsabilidades y participen en una discusión detallada y constructiva para el futuro de Europa.
Our manifesto to save Europe from itself
We need to reduce inequality within countries, not between them, and invest in the future of all Europeans
Since the election of anti-European governments across the EU, and with Brexit looming, it is no longer possible to continue as before. We cannot simply wait for the next departures, or further dismantling without making fundamental changes to present-day Europe.Our continent is caught between political movements whose programme is confined to hunting down foreigners and refugees, on one hand, and on the other those who claim to be European but in reality continue to consider that hardcore liberalism and the spread of competition are enough to define a political project. They don’t recognise that this lack of social ambition is what leads to feelings of abandonment.
There are some movements attempting to end this fatal dialogue and address the structural problems that have arisen after a decade of economic crisis. There is no lack of these specifically European-critical situations: structural underinvestment in the public sector, particularly in training and research, a rise in social inequality, acceleration of global warming and a crisis in the reception of migrants and refugees.But these movements often have difficulty in formulating a coherent alternative project, and in describing precisely how they would like to organise the Europe of the future.
This is why we, European citizens from different backgrounds and countries, are today launching this appeal for the in-depth transformation of the European institutions and policies. Our manifesto contains concrete proposals, in particular a project for a democratisation treaty and a budget project – and we have made it all publicly available. Our ideas may not be perfect, but they do have the merit of existing. The public can access them and improve them. They are based on a simple conviction: Europe must build a new model to ensure the fair and lasting social development of its citizens. The only way to persuade them is to abandon vague and theoretical promises. If Europe wants to restore solidarity with its citizens it can only do so by providing concrete evidence that it is capable of establishing cooperation and by making those who have gained from globalisation contribute to the financing of public-sector good. That will mean making large firms contribute more than small and medium businesses, and the richest taxpayers paying more than poorer taxpayers. This is not the case today.
Our proposals are based on the creation of a budget for democratisation that would be debated and voted on by a new, sovereign European assembly. This will at last enable Europe to equip itself with a public institution capable of dealing with crises in Europe immediately and of producing a set of fundamental public goods and services in the framework of a lasting and solidarity-based economy. The promise made at the treaty of Rome of “harmonisation of living and working conditions” will finally become meaningful.
This budget, if the European assembly so desires, will be financed by four major European taxes, the tangible markers of this European solidarity. These will apply to the profits of major firms, the top incomes (over €200,000 a year), the highest wealth owners (over €1m ) and carbon emissions (with a minimum price of €30 a tonne). If it is fixed at 4% of GDP, as we propose, this budget could finance research, training and the European universities, an ambitious investment programme to transform our model of economic growth, the financing of the reception and integration of migrants, and the support of those involved in carrying out this transformation. It could also give some budgetary leeway to member states to reduce the regressive taxation that weighs on salaries or consumption.
The issue here is not one of creating a transfer of payments across Europe – taking money from the “virtuous” countries to give it to those that are less so. The project limits the gap between expenditure deducted and income paid by a country to a threshold of 0.1% of its GDP – this could only be increased should there be consensus to do so. This threshold can be raised in case there is a consensus to do so, but the issue is primarily of reducing the inequality within countries, not between them, and of investing in the future of all Europeans. But those calculations would exclude spending that benefits all countries equally, such as action on climate change. Because it will finance European public goods benefiting all countries, the budget for democratisation will de facto also foster convergence between countries.
Because we must act quickly but we must also get Europe out of the present technocratic impasse, we propose the creation of a European assembly. This will enable these new European taxes to be debated and voted as also the budget for democratisation. This European assembly can be created without changing existing European treaties.
The assembly would, of course, have to communicate with the present decision-making institutions (in particular the Eurogroup in which the ministers for finance in the eurozone meet informally every month). But, in cases of disagreement, the assembly would have the final word. If not, its capacity to be a locus for a new transnational political space where parties, social movements and NGOs would finally be able to express themselves would be compromised. Equally its actual effectiveness, since the issue is one of finally extricating Europe from the eternal inertia of intergovernmental negotiations, would be at stake. We should bear in mind that the rule of fiscal unanimity in force in the European Union has for years blocked the adoption of any European tax and sustains the eternal evasion into fiscal dumping by the rich and most mobile, a practice which continues to this day despite all the speeches. This will go on if other decision-making rules are not set up.
Given that a newly created European assembly would have the ability to adopt taxes and to affect the very core of the democratic, fiscal and social compacts of states, national and European parliamentarians must be central. This is why we propose, in the democratisation treaty available online, that 80% of the members of the European assembly should be from national parliaments, with 20% from the present European parliament. This choice merits further discussion. In particular, our project could also function with a lower proportion of national parliamentarians (for instance, 50%). But in our opinion an excessive reduction of this proportion might detract from the legitimacy of the European assembly in involving all European citizens in the direction of a new social and fiscal pact, and conflicts of democratic legitimacy between national and European elections could rapidly undermine the project.
Thus national elections will de facto be transformed into European elections. National elected members will no longer be able to simply shift responsibility on to Brussels and will have no other option than to explain to voters the projects and budgets they intend to defend in the European assembly. By bringing together the national and European parliamentarians in one single assembly, habits of co-governance will be created which at the moment only exist between heads of state and ministers of finance.
We now have to act quickly. While it would be preferable for all EU countries to join the project without delay – especially the four largest countries in the eurozone (which represent more than 70% of the GNP and population) – it is designed so that it can be adopted and implemented by any set of countries that wish to do so. It enables those who wish to make immediate progress by adopting this project to do so right now. We must all assume our responsibilities to participate in a detailed and constructive discussion on the future of Europe, lest our continent is left to sink further into damaging division.
• Thomas Piketty is professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics
Other signatories: Sébastien Adalid, Michel Aglietta, Nacho Alvarez, Julie Bailleux, Marija Bartl, Pedro Bacelar de Vasconcelos, Marie-Layre Basilien-Gainche, Myriam Benlolo Carabot, Loïc Blondiaux, Karolina Borońska, Andreas Botsch, Patrick Boucheron, Emmanuel Bouju, Begnina Boza-Kiss, Hauke Brunkhorst, Bojan Bugarič, Klaus Busch, Julia Cagé, Luciana Castellina, Lucas Chancel, Christophe Charle, Christian Chavagneux, Amandine Crespy, Fabio De Masi, Anne-Laure Delatte, Donatella Della Porta, Yves Deloye, Paul Dermine, Brigitte Dormont, Guillaume Duval, Susanne Elsen, Emanuele Ferragina, Bastien François, Philippe Frémeaux, Diane Fromage, Miguel Gotor, Julien Grenet, Ulrike Guérot, Gabor Halmai, Pierre-Cyrille Hautcoeur, Stéphanie Hennette, Rudolf Hickel, Mario Hübler, Élise Huillery, Simon Ilse, Liora Israel, Michael Jacobs, Yannick Jadot, Luis Jimena Quesada, Christian Joerges, Kädtler Jürgen, Iphigénie Kamtsidou, Jakob Kapeller, Pascale Laborier, Justine Lacroix, Sylvie Lambert, Camille Landais, Sandra Laugier, Rémi Lefebvre, Steffen Lehndorff, Nicolas Leron, Ulrike Liebert, Pascal Lokiec, Philippe Maddalon, Mikael Madsen, Paul Magnette, Maria Malatesta, Francesco Martucci, Frédérique Matonti, Dominique Meda, Robert Menasse, Sophie Meunier, Gian Giacomo Migone, Zoltan Miklosi, Eric Millard, Robert Misik, Éric Monnet, Alberto Montero, Daniel Mouchard, Ulrich Mückenberger, Jan-Wener Muller, Olivier Nay, Sighard Neckel, Fernanda Nicola, Silke Ötsch, Walter Ötsch, Bruno Palier, Mazarine Pingeot, Martin Pigeon, Sébastien Platon, Thomas Porcher, Christophe Prochasson, Thomas Ribemont, Julie Ringelheim, Daniel Roche, Pierre Rosanvallon, Ruth Rubio Marin, Guillaume Sacriste, Emmanuel Saez, Gisele Sapiro, Francesco Saraceno, Thomas Sauer, Patrick Savidan, Frédéric Sawicki, Axel Schäffer, Pierre Schori, Alan Scott, Thomas Sterner,Julien Talpin, Stéphane Troussel, Laurence Tubiana, Erkki Tuomioja, Boris Vallaud, Álvaro de Vasconcelos, Fernando Vasquez, Antoine Vauchez, Brigitte Young, and Gabriel Zucman, Tana de Zulueta
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/09/manifesto-divided-europe-inequality-europeans?CMP=share_btn_fb&fbclid=IwAR2tMGXMgIz59PzYs9O2Q8O0RcO0IZ5iJHvpl8xDbToKccIMQzRGYEvQZ8w