Young European Federalists welcome the EPP Federal European Constitution

The Young European Federalists welcome the new proposal for a Federal European Constitution by the EPP (European People’s Party). This draft shows that the majority of the convention members inside the EPP have accepted that the only solution for a democratic Europe is a federal model. This is made clear in Article 56 of drafted produced by Elmar Brok MEP which states that the Union has the double legitimacy of its citizens and the member states, and explicitly makes clear that the European Union should develop federal structures.

Alison Weston, president of the Young European Federalists, said: "The EPP has shown once again the demands of a majority of the convention: no to a new institution in form of a congress of the people and no to concentrating executive power in a directly elected head of the Council.”

“The European Parliament as the only directly elected body of the European Union.”

“We are firmly in support of Mr Brok's proposal to give the European Parliament the right to elect the Commission President, reflecting the results of the EP-elections. Further we agree that the Parliament should have the right to hold the Commission to account through powers to censure and remove individual Commissioners."

The Young European Federalists are concerned about the reference to religion that is included in the EPP draft. A Constitution is a document to define democratic and governmental structures, while religion is a personal matter that should be left to individual citizens to decide.

"The EPP have been the first group to attempt to elaborate the constitutional draft produced by Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, and we welcome the fact that they have produced an explicitly federalist draft. It’s over to the other political families to follow the EPP’s lead,” continued Alison Weston.

“Only then will it be clear if the majority of the politicians in Europe are ready to form a true European democracy and condemn the outdated intergovernmental method to the dustbin of history.”