First Part
Moderator:
- Andrea Renda, Director of Research, CEPS
Speakers:
- Kalypso Nicolaidis, Chair in Global Affairs, School of Transnational Governance, European University Institute
- Timothy Garton Ash, Historian and Author, Oxford University
The panel opened with the question: What does it mean to be European? Timothy Garton Ash answered quoting Kalypso Nicolaidis, saying “to feel at home abroad in Europe”. Garton Ash expressed how the Ukraine-Russia war is the biggest in the post-war period since the second World War. He posed the question whether Europe is at war or not, advising to take the more dramatic view to prevent it from happening. He listed many other challenges we have to face like climate change, migration and far-right parties rising, mentioning Hungary as no longer a democracy in the European Union. Garton Ash underlined the urgency to mobilize people.
Kalypso Nicolaidis recited seven questions to decide what it means to be European:
- Is Ukraine our homeland abroad?
- Is nobody’s home abroad? (inspired by Gen Z)
- Do German taxpayers feel like they own people’s homes abroad?
- Do we let the British feel at home in Europe?
- Do we make our countries home to refugees?
- Will the Balkans no longer feel like abroad? (after their accession)
- Do we ask for the worlds struggles and hopes in Versailles?
They reminisced about Alexei Navalny’s recent death, saying what a fantastic and engaging guy he was, and warned us not to let Vladimir Putin succeed in Ukraine – instead we should enable Ukraine to win the war.
They drew attention to the CEPS project of Nicolaidis, Sophia Russack and Nicolai von Ondarza, called “The Radicality of Sunlight” for a more democratic Europe. Garton Ash declared that he’s in favour of everything Nicolaidis does, but he’s not sure whether the EU needs another institution.
As closing remarks, Nicolaidis asked the audience to help to learn lessons for our future, and Garton Ash challenged the MEPs to achieve a more than 50% youth turnout at the European elections in June 2024.
Second Part
Moderators:
- Meabh McMahon, Journalist, Euronew
- Sophia Russack, Researcher, CEPS
Speakers:
- Damian Boeselager, MEP, Greens/EFA, European Parliament (Volt)
- Daniel Freund, MEP, Greens/EFA, European Parliament (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
- Danuta Hübner, MEP, EPP, European Parliament (Platforma Obywatelska)
- Domenec Ruiz Devesa, MEP, S&D, European Parliament (Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol)
- Eva Maria Poptcheva, MEP, Renew, European Parliament (Partido de la Ciudadania)
Addressing that everyone is already in campaign mode, Damian Boeselager hopes that despite the rising populism we can have real European elections and fix the ground story of Europe. According to Daniel Freund, Greens would like to answer the challenges and fix the gap between the target and reality of the Green Deal. Eva Maria Poptcheva noted that liberals have a pragmatic approach, so they would like to offer solutions and bring much needed reforms. Domenec Ruiz Devesa expressed that socialists and democrats would like to have a more democratic and sustainable Europe “working for workers” and fighting the far-right.
Freund thinks that the battle ground of the elections is going to be Tik Tok which is currently dominated by the far-right. He mentioned that MEPs can’t have Tik Tok on the same phone they have their work e-mails. Ruiz Devesa highlighted that MEPs have to explain what they have done and make new proposals. But he assumes that the greatest issue is to fight the disinformation and fake narratives spread by the far-right. According to Poptcheva, increasing the turnout is necessary, but informing people is the priority. She also stated that the far-right is good with headlines, so others have to keep up with that. Boeselager added that people need more drama to wake up, meaning that MEPs need more fun content to win the elections.
Danuta spoke about the open lists in Poland and how important it is to be active all the time and spend time with the voters. She got into a little debate about electoral reforms in the European system with Poptcheva who argued that electoral thresholds are not what make the elections European. Ruiz Devesa stated that member states – and as we could see, MEPs – are divided on electoral reforms and not all of the issues raised concerning the topic have made progress, but they are usually included in European parties’ campaign programmes.
Freund raised the issue of some governments not listening to the European Parliament, and the controversial topic of the Spitzenkandidaten system. Boeselanger encouraged people to vote for Volt to make politicians like German Chancellor Olaf Scholz care more about topics like the treaty change. Ruiz Devesa acknowledged that S&D Spitzenkandidat Nicolas Schmit is a good choice to put the focus on the social dimension. Hübner expressed her concerns about the viability of the Spitzenkandidaten system and at the same time warned us that a big increase in the far-right constitutes a huge risk of stopping the changes already in progress.
Boeselager advocated for creating defence capabilities in the EU preparing for unforeseeable future scenarios. Freund agreed and brought up the contentious question of unanimity which poses a security risk according to him. Ruiz Devesa thinks that parties have to make a strategic choice: instead of countering the far-right’s fake narratives, they should simply put forward their own. Poptcheva added that for the EU’s soft power to work, it needs hard power.
To the question about transparency, Freund admitted that it is still “way too easy” to buy MEPs and that is why the EU would need an independent body to oversee this. Boeselager added that it’s hard to get back the lost trust and the EU still has some reputation management to do. As closing thoughts, Freund was wondering what will happen from July when “the dictator (Hungary’s Prime Minister) comes into the house” (for the Hungarian Council Presidency). Poptcheva would like the EU to pay more attention to competitiveness. Ruiz Devesa believes that a new social contract and anti-poverty agenda are needed, and Hübner recommended to build now such alliances across the Atlantic which can survive changes in the future.