A vulnerável União Europeia

Despite more than fifty years of European

 

integration, today’s European Union is still a

 

vulnerable and unfinished construction, which has

 

drifted out of touch with the concerns of its citizens

and, even, is increasingly seen as a direct source

of those concerns - the number one being mass

unemployment.

The EU’s political fragility has been made worse by

 

the damage the on-going crisis has inflicted and

continues to inflict on its citizens, on its economies

 

and welfare systems, and increasingly, on the

quality of its democracies. The lack of both political

will and broad public support for further political

integration and in favour of cross-country solidarity,

together with the ill-conceived economic policy

strategies pursued since the outset of the crisis,

have raised the possibility of a collapse not only of

the Eurozone, but of the entire European Union.

 

These difficulties are associated with the

 

dysfunctional nature of today’s global market

system, which produces both great wealth and vast

inequality. The EU will not regain strong support

unless it embraces, and is seen to embrace, a new

and more equal system.

Europe needs to stand for sustainable growth,

quality jobs, fairly shared prosperity and an equal

opportunity for all children, regardless of nationality,

inspired by a new egalitarian ideal. Today, it stands

for none of these.

We address this call for change to those who

will bear political responsibility across all of the

EU’s institutions after the forthcoming European

elections, and more widely to all of those who can

help to promote such change.

 

A Call For Change

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