The European Union

We need a European Union. It makes sense that European nations should talk to their neighbours, help each other and try to understand each other. The question is what kind of European Union we should have. We believe it should be one which deals with issues that are best tackled at an international level - and there are many such issues - but leaves nation states alone to make their own decisions about issues that are best tackled locally.

The European Union must become more democratic. The three main bodies of the EU are the European Parliament, the European Commission and the EU Council. Of these, only the Parliament is democratically elected by the voters of Europe. The Commission drafts EU laws and the Council can pass the laws, but neither of these bodies are accountable to any electorate! Important powers should be taken away from the Commission and Council and given instead to the Parliament.

The European Parliament is the right place to debate and agree rules on employment rights and environmental pollution, for example, as there are things that do not respect national boundaries. But it is not the place to set rules about things like what we should teach our children or what shape our apples should be!

The EU should protect citizen's rights, protect the environment, and foster international co-operation and understanding. It should support and enable the work of national and local governments, not unduly constrain them. It should not become ever more centralised and militarised and should not be supporting the interests of big business to the detriment of local economies and ordinary citizens.

In short, we should not abandon the EU but we should be critical of the way it works and should seek to change it to become more focussed on social and environmental issues and less focussed on regulating every aspect of trade.

To view Green initiatives in Europe see www.greens-efa.org