A F.A.Q. to activism in the EU
The EU is facing a democratic deficit, a feeling of alienation of people to their institutions. Politicians and local political parties don’t make it any better, the usual person doesn’t know anything and thus doesn’t care enough about the inner workings on the Union. It’s a vicious circle, however with these few guidelines you should be able to become a better European citizen.
- Who represents me?
The legislative process of the EU involves the Commission who proposes the legislation, the Council of Heads of State and the European Parliament which both vote on the proposed legislation. You could go ahead and contact all three of them, however the Commission isn’t made to hear your complaints as an individual and getting your head of State to listen to you is a domestic issue. Your best bet is the European Parliament, which is tailored for you.
First a primer on the parties:
- EPP — European People’s Party (Christian Democrats), want to achieve economic growth through a free market but with a social conscience. They desire to reinforce the EU’s border controls as well as a European solution to combat terrorism.
- S&D — Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in Europe (centre-left), fight unemployment and ensure that our societies and markets become fairer, stands against tax evasion particularly.
- ALDE — Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (liberal), home to the most vocal pro-European integration campaigners, they defend liberal democracy, fundamental rights and a European identity.
- EUL/NGL — European United Left-Nordic Green Left (left-wing), they argue for a socially equitable, peaceful and sustainable European integration process based on international solidarity, against the free market optic of the current policies. This includes ending austerity measures
- Greens/EFA — Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens and regionalists/nationalists), they are for economic development through renewable energies and environmentally friendly measures as well as against big corporations’ tax evasion. They recently successfully pushed for a reform to the European citizen initiative for legislation.
- ECR — European Conservatives and Reformists Group (right-wing), they are for the reduction in governmental spending and bureaucracy.
- EFDD — Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (Eurosceptic), opposed to the European project, it favors ‘cooperation between sovereign States’ and direct consultation of the citizens through referenda.
- ENF — Europe of Nations and Freedom (Eurosceptic), strongly opposed to the European project, it favors protectionism and territoriality of each State.
Hopefully, this gives you an idea of which one to make yours, be careful as most groups might not have an attached political party in your State and thus can’t offer you a local contact. This however shouldn’t stop you from supporting any of them.
If you’re still undecided politically, then take one of those policy tests in order to see where you find yourself in the political spectrum.
2. Who should I contact make my voice heard?
The European Parliament website has a tool to find your MEP, you can filter by country, political party and even constituency. You shouldn’t worry too much about territoriality as the MEPs have a mandate to represent his/her like-minded people of his/her country.
From there you’ll have access to their general information as well as their recent activities, their positions within their parties and within the Parliament. On the side you’ll find their contact information on Twitter, Facebook and email address. On the tabs you may find their declarations of financial interests (any positions they held in companies, any mandates in private organisations , etc)
Do not hesitate to contact your MEPs, after all some are always telling that they have all the time in the world being useless in Brussels right? On a more serious note, they are quite quick to respond to your concerns and do not question or ask for proof that you are from their country. Just state your concern and wait for their response. The best way to achieve pressure is by pure numbers, organizing campaigns about a specific controversy seem to be the most effective such as this one I took part in 2015 defending net neutrality in the proposition for a European Single Market for Electronic Communications.
The answer was not what I concurred with but it was motivated well. From here on out, it’s politics, meaning that it’s up to the party to be on your side or lose your votes during the next election.
3. How do I know what laws are being voted?
The European Parliament details its agenda here. You can see the next plenary meeting when voting occurs usually at the top. You can also find questions brought up by MEPs, the filmed debates available in all EU languages and the texts adopted by the Parliament.
If you wish to see its activity easier, you can find more detailed and better looking information on Votewatch Europe. Bear in mind it’s a privately run website and requires the creation of a free account to view the votes. However it is worthwhile as it depicts which parties and more specifically which MEPs voted for/against a measure. You can filter by country and also by national party, in order for you to get a hang of your party’s activities or to find which one shares your convictions the most. While it doesn’t seem to show the future votes coming up, it makes up for it by providing information about MEP participation in Parliament debates, by influence and by votes.
4. The Parliament can’t propose laws, can’t I initiate a law or a decision?
YES, it’s called the European Citizen Initiative (ECI). it takes the form of a proposition you can submit to the Commission in order to start the legislative process. It takes a million digital signatures across the EU and the full disclosure of any funding or donation made to your campaign. Don’t get overwhelmed, there have been a lot of successful campaigns since its introduction after 2009.
While it seems hard, the ECI campaign has provided a little guide in how to organise a succesful one. It’s a 9 page well detailed pdf that is a worthwhile read for any aspiring activist or interest group.
5. What can I do if I just want to be Pro-EU?
Then you have your choices, there’re numerous facebook and twitter pages dedicated to pro-EU argumentation (WhyEurope, Standup for Europe, Young European federalists, the European movement, and many others). You can find the acteuropa and europeanfederalists communities on Reddit.
If you want to join protests pro-EU, then follow Pulse of Europe and their numerous rallies in all of the EU. They are open to sponsor new rallies as well, if you miss one near you.
This post might be edited in the future with additions based on feedback I’ll get. Bare in mind, this was made in an hour and that activism and politics is something to be experienced rather than just read. Ideas drive ideologies, to argue for them and discussing them is the way we can reach concrete solutions to our problems. To openly support them shouldn’t be the basis for shame, rather it should be praised. It is this encouraged indifference that motivates discontent and the resulting deficit in the Union. The only way to make politics work for you is to make politics about you and what you think.
Special thanks to u/AlessandroLongo and u/Ellardy on reddit for their suggestions and corrections.
