Monnet's Europe needs reform to fit the 21st century

Publicatie | 19-11-2013

Monnet's Europe needs reform to fit the 21st century

By Frans Timmermans, minister of Foreign Affairs | The Netherlands

Financial Times, 15 November 2013

In spring, 2014 millions of Europeans will cast their vote for a new European parliament. A new European Commission will take office shortly afterwards. These events will take place at a time when people distrust traditional political parties to address their concerns and are being lured by the europhobic populist Pied Pipers who portray a glorious nationalist past that never was as a model for a future that will never be. Europe's leaders cannot sit back and let history unfold, we need to take charge of Europe again.

Despite a strong response to the financial and economic crisis, Europe's governance remains unfocused and unbalanced. The Netherlands believes in a vigorous Europe with a commission that is independent and robust. We believe, as José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said: "The EU needs to be big on big things and smaller on smaller things" with a view to generating growth and jobs.

The Treaty of Lisbon gave the European parliament a stronger role as co-legislator and the European Council its own president. Furthermore, the treaty introduced checks on subsidiarity - the concept that decisions should be taken as close as possible to the citizens - in an effort to cut back on unnecessary rules and regulations. All of this yielded limited results.

During the crisis the European Commission, hemmed in between an ambitious European parliament and an overactive European Council, was relegated to the sidelines and never regained the initiative. That has not stopped its machine from producing directives and regulations, creating a regulatory burden that bears down on businesses and people.

The crisis did indeed result in a beefed-up role for the commission as supervisor and enforcer. But when the commission did what we mandated it to do, member states turned around and cried foul.

The parliament, on the other hand, has been fully empowered by the Treaty of Lisbon. It has an important role to play, but at every turn it demands more resources for more Europe while it attracts ever lower electoral turnouts.

The member states must restore the political balance in the EU, help it regain its focus and make the EU work for Europeans again.

That is why, first, the Netherlands proposes to negotiate a European Governance Manifesto for the next five years with the member states, the incoming commission and parliament. It should lay down what Europe needs to focus on, and also what Europe needs to leave to the states. This will mean more Europe in some areas, and less in others.

Second, the EU needs to follow the logic of the treaty and create a smaller, reformed commission with a president and vice-presidents heading a limited number of policy clusters. The vice-presidents would have the sole authority to initiate legislation. This would restore the commission's focus and strengthen its clout.

Finally, we would encourage national parliaments to bring Europe back home where it belongs and strengthen their co-operation with each other and the European parliament. They should have the right to summon commissioners to capitals. And if one-third of national parliaments raise subsidiarity objections to a legislative proposal (the yellow card procedure), the commission should not just reconsider, it should use its discretion to take the disputed proposal off the table, turning the yellow card into a red.

The reform agenda proposed here can be realised within the current treaties. We should not get bogged down in a lengthy and cumbersome process of treaty change that only detracts from our main objective: to lead Europe out of the crisis now.

The Europe of Monnet has served us well over the past 60 years. But it needs to adjust to the challenges at hand. Europeans distrust a Europe that overpromises and underdelivers. These proposals are meant to introduce more modesty where it is urgently needed and more ambition where it is lacking today.

In this we do not stand alone. Other partners have put forward proposals that share a similar thrust: a more focused and balanced EU with less burdensome regulation. Let us seize this momentum and start with an in-depth debate on change and reform. For this is our chance to shape "our" Europe together.