Year XXVI, 1984, Number 3 - Page 265
THE POLITICAL ORIENTATION OF THE MFE*
The 12th Congress of the Movimento Federalista Europeo, meeting in Cagliari on November 2nd-4th 1984,
affirms that
the primary cause of evil in our societies is the very bad distribution of power. Only one level of social life, the national level, has an independent government. All the other levels of social life are deprived of this. This is true both for the UN and the European Community – which is governed by a Council of national Ministers and not, as would be natural, by a democratic European executive – and it is also true for the regions, which still do not have any true constitutional autonomy. This state of affairs, whereby a national vision distorts world, European, local and regional events, is heavily reflected in the life of quarters and communes in such a way as to suffocate their spontaneity.
recognises
that in this power situation, passively experienced by most political and cultural élites, all types of social energy being formed at levels other than the national level, are deprived of their own independent governments and are thus unable either to express their true character or assume control of the socio-historical process so as to be able to face up to and resolve the great problems of our times such as unemployment, new technologies, protection of the natural and urban environment, the quality of life, freedom and development of all peoples, universal peace and general and controlled disarmament;
that, because of this, we are increasingly faced by such adverse trends as an increasingly worse selection of the political class, growing detachment of citizens from public life and even forms of degeneration and alienation, particularly in the world of the young crushed by the lack of any prospects regarding their future and work;
that in this unhealthy political framework, although quarters and communes are the only territorial structures where human solidarity could be spontaneously expressed and where, with the public intervention of local bodies, the environmental bases could be laid for new forms of work and employment in the field of cultural heritage, the environment and social services, both quarters and communes are, in fact, becoming the environments where, partly because of urban disorder, there is increasingly less concern for everything public, where violence, in all its forms, thrives, where drugs are in widespread circulation and where even the fundamental norms of living together in society begin to vacillate;
that in this framework, regions, still subject to state centralisation and consequent centralisation of political parties, can neither develop a true regional political life, nor use a solid democratic base of this nature as a bulwark against the political corruption coming from the centre of power, nor mobilize the indispensable energies needed for authentic democratic planning of the environment i.e. including and indeed especially including those who know the particular environment because they live there;
that in this framework national governments, outstripped by the European and world-wide dimension of the greatest problems are no longer able either to guarantee growth or fight unemployment or promote international detente or offer efficient co-operation to Third World countries. By obstinately maintaining all power in their hands, even though they are unable to exert it autonomously, they in fact leave their citizens at the mercy of the decisions of the Superpowers who, in their turn, are no longer capable of governing the world in such a way as to advance all countries, and who manage to maintain their leadership only by making themselves felt more strongly militarily.
affirms that
to construct the new society it is necessary for all levels of social life, from the quarter to the entire planet to be able to express themselves a) with the greatest autonomy possible, b) with a constitutional co-ordination of a federal nature, i.e. not hierarchically but on an equal footing. This requires a great reform of institutions to be carried out, allowing the quarter to live autonomously within the commune, the commune autonomously within the region, the region within the nation, the nation within the continent, the continent within the world. Two requirements arise from this: (a) a two-chamber system at all levels, with a senate representing the quarters in the commune, a senate representing the communes in the region, a senate representing the regions in the nation, a senate representing the nations in the continent, and a senate representing the continents in the world i.e. within the UN transformed into a world democracy; (b) an integrated electoral system, which starts with elections in the quarter and which proceeds uninterruptedly in a given period of time to the European elections and, in future, world elections. In this system, all social levels freely and fully expressing their identity would ipso facto contribute to the common good of all mankind;
observes
that to make this new life cycle possible, it is necessary to destroy all international conditioning as regards security, defence, money and the economy which suffocates the liberty of peoples and which prevents the new skills associated with active and intelligent life which are being formed in our times from growing and establishing themselves;
that this is a task regarding which everybody, at all levels of social life, must do the same thing, namely fight to free the world from the hegemony of the Superpowers and the absolute sovereignty of states, i.e. imperialism and the concentration of power at a national level;
that this struggle is now possible at all social levels because the European Parliament, by adopting the Draft Treaty establishing the European Union, which contains the first forms of a true European government, and by forcing it on the attention of national governments, has demonstrated that it can exercise a part of European constituent power. It is therefore necessary to support it, fighting for the ratification of the Treaty in a sufficient number of countries;
that the European Union would have sufficient contractual power, from the beginning as regards economic and monetary matters and, prospectively, as regards security and defence, to sweep away the bipolar equilibrium and thus open up an era of new possibilities of life for all Europe, for all its peoples, and for all peoples on the Earth, including the North American and Soviet peoples who derive no real benefit from the politics of hegemony that their governments pursue.
recalls that
constituent power derives from the people and may be efficiently managed by its representatives only if they are constantly supported by the consensus and constructive criticism of the people, both as regards constituent power and as regards government power;
observes
that in the case of the governments of national states, which are fully developed and not still under construction like the European Community, it is not merely the electoral factor which sustains the government's options, for public opinion and the great currents of spiritual, political, economic and social life of a nation are constantly expressed in the period between one election and another;
that on the contrary, in the case of Europe precisely because the political control of the community is still in the hands of national governments, this direct and constant intervention is not spontaneously expressed;
that for this reason there is no effective European political will and that it is therefore on this basis that the federalists must take the initiative of mobilising the European people;
decides
to organise a big mass demonstration, in support of the constitutional plan drawn up by the European Parliament, to be held during the European Council meeting which is to take place in Italy next spring with the following slogan: “One million citizens marching for the European Union”;
to ask all spiritual and social forces who affirm the determination to unite Europe to demonstrate this with facts by supporting the MFE's demonstration;
to appeal to the Catholic church and other confessions, communes, provinces and regions, cultural, economic and social associations and, in particular, political parties and unions inviting them to organise the participation of their members and followers;
to invite all citizens in favour of European unity – which in Italy is about 80% of the population – to back the MFE's struggle, even financially, in this crucial hour.
*This is the resolution approved by the XII Congress of the MFE, that we wish to publish due to its theoretical interest.
