Let the European people decide !

The Campaign for an European referendum. 

At its last meeting on 1/2 July 2006 in Vienna, the UEF Congress adopted a resolution on the European constitutional process with which the UEF decided to launch a new campaign for a European-wide consultative referendum on a European Constitution to be held at the occasion of the next elections to the European Parliament in 2009.

The campaign was launched (official start: 17 March 2007 in Berlin) jointly by the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and the Young European Federalists (JEF). 

The aim of the campaign is to show that there is widespread public support for the idea of a European referendum.  In the text of the European constitution, there is a clause that sets a target of one million signatures for a new principle of direct democracy.  While this clause is not of course in force, because the constitution itself is not yet in force, one million has become recognised as the appropriate number to demonstrate popular support.

The European referendum should be judged positive if there is the support of a majority of European citizens, with all the votes in every member states added together, and also if there is a positive result in a majority of member states.  The EU is a union of states and citizens, so it is fitting that a double majority should be required in support of the constitution.  The constitution would only come into force in those countries that have voted Yes.

Please visit the campaign website – www.europeanreferendum.eu – to support the European referendum.

To read the Campaign Newsletter of 14 June 2007, please click here. 

For more information about the legal and political implications of a pan-European referendum, please click here. This report has been prepared by Paolo Ponzano, Jacques Ziller and Samuel Pii on 9 February 2007. It was published by the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies.

For further information, please click on the link below:

- Gallery of the campaign

- Campaign launch

The Campaing "Speak up Europe!" 

As announced previously, the UEF together with European Movement International (EMI), Euractiv, and Young European Federalists (JEF) has replied to the Plan-D call for proposals of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Communication, led by Vice-President Margot WALLSTRÖM.

We are very proud to announce that the UEF is one the six organisations that got selected for this grant.

Concept:

During the referendum campaigns for the ratification of the European Constitution, it became clear that the citizens wanted to have a say on how the EU is run: questioning its achievements and challenging the plans of politicians and officials. The citizens have become a powerful element of the European decision-making system. However, increased participation has not necessarily been met with increased information. Additional efforts must be made in order to inform the public about what the EU does, but also to ask the citizens how they want to shape the EU and what they want the EU to do in the future. As a result and as explained in the “Plan D”, the future steps of European integration should be formulated based on the lessons learned from the answers and opinions the citizens provide.

Following this basic logic, a simple but effective on-line tool has been developed– the “What has Europe ever done for us” web portal and animation www.whathaseuropedone.org) that presents the benefits of the EU, but also offers an on-line space for debate in the shape of forums. The website has had numerous visitors and the forums, numerous contributions – where most people found it provocative. This clearly showed the need for an even stronger promotion through numerous channels.

Through the campaign “Speak up Europe!” the project partners would like to bring the thought-provoking idea of “What has Europe done for us” onto a new level - by localizing and enriching the contents of the website and linking it to open debates on the national and local level.

Main Objectives:

The main objective of the campaign “Speak up Europe!” is to stimulate and facilitate debates about the current work of the EU and about its future challenges. Through debates, voting, on-line forums and polling, the campaign would also offer different entry points for the participation of a vast number of citizens and a stable environment where arguments can be put forward and discussions emerge.

Furthermore, the campaign carries the following specific objectives:

- Increasing the level of knowledge about the achievements of the EU in the past 50 years,
- Localise the debate about Europe and Europeanize the national public sphere through several national websites and a large number of local public events,
- Encourage active participation in debates about the EU through a large number of face-to-face meetings and on-line communities
- Extensively collection of opinions on various topics related to the EU through debates, voting, on-line questionnaires and polls,
- Create synergies at national and local level where more interest in European affairs will be generated
- Show the trans-national dimension of EU citizenship, thus contributing to the establishment of the European public sphere through pan-European communication and debating. 

Target group(s):

The campaign targets the general public, but also includes specific elements focused on youth, civil society and opinion leaders, minority groups, elected representatives and media.

This will enable the campaign to reach a number of citizens of significant proportions –more than 100.000 people will participate directly in the events planned, while indirectly through the media coverage and planned distribution up to additional 5.000.000 people will be reached. While working on direct face-to-face activities, the campaign will also rely on the use of multipliers within the partner's project organisations. Additionally, the partnership with Foundation EurActiv will benefit the campaign in terms of a coherent media strategy targeting international, national and local media.

To know more about this campaing, please click on the links below:

- Launch Event Gallery

- Campaign Development

- Speak Up Europe Gallery