I am a candidate for the Green Primary. My vision for Europe
I decided to stand as a candidate in the Green Primary because I want to help to make this e-democracy experiment a tool to convince more people that there is an alternative, a green alternative, to the current gloom and doom about Europe.
It is maybe true that the world is not yet ready for a Green President of the Commission, Certainly we are just one drop in the ocean of all the actors of the green revolution to come.But we can aim at gathering consensus and attention on the fact that voting in the Green Primary is not just a fun and original exercise; it is a serious attempt to show that creating a EU wide political space is possible. A shared European project cannot exist unless we bring democracy out of its national context and unless the EU is perceived as a legitimate, cohesive and useful institution by its citizens.
If we bring many more people, and notably young people, to understand that there is an opportunity to play in the democratic game of Europe, we will help defeat the self-fulfilling prophecy that populists and neo-nationalists will win next May.
In this sense, we have to be the champions of those who believe that the EU must be deeply “reset”. Indeed, the current EU institutional setting is not up to the challenge that the EU is facing. We need to engage in a new round of reform of the EU. This time we must ensure that it is marked by a positive engagement from Europe’s people, who should not be confronted with a done deal among national governments. Moreover, we have to change the Treaty's revision system, by removing veto rights for single member states, extending ratification powers to the European Parliament and introducing a new EU-wide referendum.
Saying “Europe is beautiful” is not enough. Even a democratic Europe could be a bad Europe!
After 5 years of relentless “austerity only” policies coming from the EU; hostile and anti-democratic practices and policies like those represented by the Troika; a growing sense that the EU is useful neither for countries experiencing a difficult social and economic situation nor for those who are in better shape, we need to be strong. We need to deliver a clear message on the “Green New deal”. A message whose “beauty” lies in the fact that it is valid for the whole of Europe and that it answers to the need of an alternative to the new borders being built among Europeans. Over the past years, the hard work on our economic proposals greatly improved our credibility in the debate at EU level.
Through this primary campaign, I want to make this better recognized in the different national contexts, both within and outside the Green world.
As the document of the UNEP put it in 2011, «the rewards of greening the world’s economies are tangible and considerable; the means are at hand for both governments and the private sector, and the time to engage the challenge is now». This message is not yet clear to everybody. On the contrary, in relation to 2009, we see a clear regression in the general acceptance for the need of a complete change in our economic and social model. And this is, together with the democratic one, the major challenge for Greens in the next months and years.
In the recent debate around energy, employment, Common Agricultural policy and re-industrialisation, the old options are popping up again – such as fossil fuels, environmental and social deregulation, big infrastructures - with the excuse of the crisis and a certain indifference for the urgency of dealing with climate change. With this, comes the weakening of democratic practices in favour of technocratic elites. The pretext used is the need of efficiency and complicated technical knowledge.
Through this campaign we need to send all this old stuff back where it belongs: to the past millenium.
The answers are: new economic activities, industrial reconversion and a clear preference for investments on innovation in green technologies. Urban renewal, food quality, health and education will bring long term, quality and stable jobs. We need to stop assisting once and for all old and polluting industries that delay the transition to a fossil free and high efficiency economy.
The 8th Euopean Parliament of 2014-2019 will be the time for some harsh choices on many issues, and we have to be in a position of force in the EP and at national level to influence them. How will we redefine the stability pact and how will we implement it? Who will we save between banks or citizens? In which way will the very limited EU budget will be spent? Not to mention the completion of important pieces of legislation like the financial transaction tax that will be very high on the agenda.
The Green New Deal is not only about economy. Experience tells us that Greens and green policies are strong not where there are only good leaders and organisation. But where also the rules of the game are respected, where the media are free, where civil society is able to get organised, where racism and exclusion are not appealing options to get out of the crisis. This is not the case in some European countries, be it within or outside the EU. Also, entire regions are in the hands of old and new organised crime and organized crime is not good for green policies. Human and civil rights and fight against corruption are part of the green revolution we want to bring about. For the moment, despite some important progress in the Treaty, the EU is not at all willing and able to be a watchdog for freedom and legality, as the cases of Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania clearly show.
Finally, I think that this primary campaign must be the occasion to build strong and new alliances. We will not make our Green revolution alone. We want associations, trade unions, parties, citizens and groups to understand that their fight to change their own governments must have a European counterpart. We will get the necessary strength to get out of “all-austerity” and to show that the “deeper” political integration is something radically different than the Troika putting its neo-liberal nose into national budget laws. We need a “democratic front” able to unite on a few strong proposals to take “another road for Europe”. In other words, we need to orientate some of the energy of the civil society movements and some of the best politicians towards the fight for a better EU.
A better and stronger Union, the Green New Deal and a democratic front for Europe, this is what we want. Our future. This is my programme for the Green Primary.
Monica Frassoni