WITH THE RETURN OF WAR ON THE CONTINENT AND OF NATIONALISM, EUROPE IS CHALLENGED IN 2023

BY HERVÉ MORITZ President of the European Movement France

For almost a year, the Russian army has been carrying out destruction, massacres and crimes in Ukraine. While the brave Ukrainian people resist, we must continue to support Ukraine to lead them to victory and open peace negotiations in the best possible conditions This war must rise to a lasting peace in Europe, and only a change of regime in Russia and a long process of reconciliation between the two peoples involved in this fratricidal war can make it happen.

In light of the international situation, Europeans have become aware that we live in a dangerous world. Competition between global powers and foreign influences are growing. Each Member State, as well as the European institutions, are being tested. Is the European Union ready to face them? Probably not

Despite the progress achieved in the field of common diplomacy and European defence, the European Union is still far from meeting the expectations of Europeans concerned with their freedom and collective security. The European Union's strategic autonomy is still too abstract for us to truly consider Europe as a fully-fledged world power. This is where we need to move forward in 2023, as well as in

redefining our relations with our European neighbours

In May 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron gave the impetus to a new dialogue between the European Union and the other States of the European continent within the European Political Community, an informal framework for dialogue between heads of state and government While it offers new prospects for cooperation on energy or common security and allows the European Union to redefine its neighbourhood policy and to speed up the accession negotiations of several candidate countries to the European Union, it also calls into question the raison d'être of the Council of Europe, an international organisation born in 1949 following the Hague Congress, the founding congress of the European Movement

The Reykjavik Summit, by bringing together the heads of state and government of the forty-six member states of the Council of Europe in May following Russia's departure, should be an opportunity to re-found the institution, whose main missions are the protection of fundamental rights, the rule of law and democracy on the European continent. The European Movement has a role to play in the discussions on the evolution of the Council of Europe

Finally, in this uncertain world and in the face of new challenges, the European Union must be able to meet the legitimate expectations of European citizens. The Conference on the Future of Europe enabled citizens to take part in a major Europe-wide exercise of participative democracy over one year. The Conference delivered more than three hundred proposals for reforming the functioning and policies of the European Union The European institutions now have a responsibility to implement these reforms so as not to disappoint European citizens

The European Union has the opportunity to demonstrate that it is a working transnational democracy To do so, the EU must consider transforming its institutions and the way they work and include an ambitious reform of the European treaties. We count on the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2023 to implement the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe and to launch the process of institutional reform of the Union With a view to the European elections of 2024 that we are preparing for already this year, the Union has to demonstrate that the lessons of the crises experienced in recent years have been learned and that it has taken into account the expectations of its citizens

In the face of uncertain global developments and the challenges the Union faces, we, the activists of the European Movement, must continue to campaign to push European leaders to improve the Union for a more powerful, more efficient and more democratic Europe.