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Manifesto: "We want a European future after the pandemic"


The Catalunya Europa Foundation, through the Network of European Entities of Catalonia (XEEC), has promoted the manifesto "We want a European future after the pandemic", which includes immediate action measures and measures for the renewal of the model economic and financial in order to vindicate and demand that our future, as a country and as a society, remain European.

To join the manifesto, either individually or collectively, you can write to us at info@catalunyaeuropa.net

Hereunder, you can read the manifesto:

We the undersigned organisations wish to express our concern at the situation unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Its consequences are devastating for public health and economies worldwide. They can, moreover, kindle authoritarian temptations and come to jeopardise democracy itself.

For these reasons, we consider the response to date by the European Union and its member states to be insufficient and lacking a clearly European vision, without ambitious decision- making to mitigate the effects of the crisis in the short term and redirect the future of the EU in the mid and long term.

It is true that financial support has been announced by the ECB and subsequently by the Council. But this support will not be enough to stop the growth of inequalities, reorient the economic model, prevent regional imbalance and foster energy change. Add to all this the Council’s failure to react to the authoritarian drift of some member states, which may pick up momentum with the excuse of the health crisis.

The threat hanging over the future of the EU is serious. Do we want a European future after the pandemic? If so, we must demand that our political leaders, national and European alike, promote the following measures:

Immediate reactive measures:

  1. Creation of a European Public Health Agency for joint action in the face of health

    emergences in Europe and to give support to non-EU countries;

  2. Definitive push towards a European Unemployment Reinsurance System;

  3. Joint debt issuance (eurobonds) to mutualise debt under ECB regulation and

    supervision.

Measures to renew the economic and financial model:

  1. Articulation of a European fiscal policy and elimination of internal tax havens;

  2. Enhancement of the EU’s own resources, by increasing and not reducing its budget;

  3. Strengthening and extension of European investment in strategic sectors (renewable

    energy, biotechnology, digital technology, etc.).

During this crisis, the immense majority of citizens are acting in an exemplary way, with a sense of responsibility and sacrifice. We citizens now expect our political leaders to likewise take on the responsibilities we have delegated to them for the benefit of all. The EU stands at a decisive crossroads where its very survival is at stake. Its future and its position in the world will depend on how its institutions respond to this crisis.

Our past and our present are European. Through this manifesto we vindicate and demand that our future continue to be European.

This manifesto was drafted by the following organisations, all of them members of the Xarxa d’Entitats Europei?stes de Catalunya, XEEC (Network of Europeanist Organisations of Catalonia):

Associacio? de Diplomats dels cursos de la Unio? Europea a Catalunya (Association of Certificate- holders of the European Union Courses in Catalonia)
International Association of Former Staff of the European Union
Associacio? de Periodistes Europeus de Catalunya (European Journalists’ Association of Catalonia)

Endavant Europa (Forward Europe)
EUROLOCAL
Fundacio? Catalunya Europa (Catalonia Europe Foundation)
Grup de Recerca Literatura Comparada en l’Espai Intel·lectual Europeu (Research Group on Comparative Literature in the European Intellectual Space)
Horitzo? Europa (Horizon Europe)
Young European Federalists Catalonia (JEF Catalonia)
European Economic Cooperation League (LECE)

The manifesto is available on this link and you can also download it on this page.

Subscribers to the manifesto:

Individually

  • José María Aguirre Fernández de Arroyabe
  • Joan Armangué Ribas
  • Aurora Camps Conte
  • Teresa Carreras
  • Sebastià Carrión
  • Joan X. Comella
  • Ricard Estrada Arimon
  • Patricia Garcia-Duran Huet
  • Dolors Grau
  • Oriol Homs Ferret
  • Marta Junqué
  • Jaume Lanaspa
  • Tomàs Llobet
  • Pau Mas Codina
  • José Luis Marban
  • Víctor Medem
  • Salvador Milà
  • José María Milá
  • Joaquim Millán
  • Josep Maria Mora Figuera
  • Josep Joan Moreso
  • Esther Nin Camps
  • Kontxi Odriozola Eizaguirre
  • Alícia Oliver Rojo
  • Paco Poch
  • Joan Manuel del Pozo
  • Josep Puig-Pla
  • Ferran Requejo
  • Josep M. Riera Mas
  • Josep M. Ruiz Boqué
  • Joan Manuel Tresserras
  • Max Vives-Fierro

Organizations:



EU