The Lisbon treaty and citizenship in Europe

Abstract

Following a brief introduction by Mr Bugelli on the main theme, the European Year of Citizens 2013, Prof. Pace spoke on the topic of ‘More Powers to the European Parliament and European Citizenship’. He said that, as EU citizens, people stand to benefit from additional rights than they would as citizens of their individual nation state. Professor Pace also discussed the current economic crisis and how this is causing many to associate the EU and EU citizenship with negative developments. However, he also noted that opinion polls show that a majority of persons still believe that the EU is more adept at dealing with the crisis than the individual member states. Turning to the role of the European Parliament in the crisis, Prof. Pace said that although the Lisbon Treaty has given the Parliament significant power, the EP still did not play a major role in the economic crisis. He argued that this marginal role would not help increase voter turnout at next year’s European elections. Dr Harwood subsequently delivered a talk entitled ‘The Committee on a People’s Europe and the Politics behind EU Citizenship’. Dr Harwood said that the Committee, was set up 30 years ago to find ways of creating a stronger link between the citizens of the EU member states and the EU institutions. The Committee had identified many practical recommendations on how to achieve this, such as an EU anthem and flag, together with more practical goals such as the four freedoms. Despite this, polls have shown that the ‘cultural’ dimensions of the Committee’s recommendations, particularly the anthem and flag have taken second place in importance to more concrete aspects of the EU, such as free movement and the single currency. The problem such aspects of identity pose centres on the fact that many of these key components of EU identity, especially the single currency, are now in jeopardy because of the economic crisis. Dr Carammia delivered the final talk of the discussion, entitled ‘The EU governance after the Lisbon Treaty: institutional complexity and democratic legitimacy’. Dr Carammia said that the Convention on the Future of Europe, which eventually led to the Lisbon Treaty, had amongst its aims that of addressing the EU’s institutional complexity. Dr Carammia argued however that if a democratic deficit exists it does not lie in EU’s complex institutions and cumbersome decision-making procedures. He summarised the main positions in the academic literature – pointing out how different views about the EU’s democratic deficit are related to different understandings of what the EU is and should be. The conclusion of his talk was that the EU is departing from the model of a ‘regulatory state’ concerned with the efficient regulation of economic activities, and is increasingly dealing with redistributive policies. Redistribution, in turn, raises political conflict, and if such conflict is not made the object of contestation within EU institutions it can only attract discontent toward the EU as a whole – and against the very project of EU integration. In his view, a politically legitimised EU government, one that is also opposed by a minority competing on the basis of an alternative programme of government, would be an effective way to depoliticise EU integration (what the EU is) while focusing political conflict on EU activities (what the EU does). At the end of the discussion, on behalf of the European Commission Representation in Malta, Mr Martin Bugelli presented a number of new academic books to Prof. Pace. The books are to be kept at the European Documentation Centre, to be used for reference work by students. The panel discussion was very well attended by a good number of students and members of the public.