Francisco Aldecoa: "there is no democratic deficit, there is a communication deficit"

The European Union is going through a decisive moment. Multiple challenges have emerged as a result of current conflicts and geopolitical change itself. The incursion of China and its voracious strategy to become the main influential power, followed by the change in the discourse of the United States advocating a less aggressive foreign policy, in addition to the new configuration of the Middle East after the Abraham Accords, have substantially changed the way the world acts.

The recent Taliban takeover of Afghanistan opened the debate on international security and defence. The departure of the US and other Western troops sealed an era in which the US is not expected to be part of again, at least not as a protagonist. This episode highlighted the Union's limited relevance in Asia and raised the eternal question of whether the Union is doomed to be phagocytosed by the international powers.

It is here, at this moment, that the Union wants to respond with a project that has been in the making with the aim of highlighting and safeguarding the values of the European Union through the Conference on the Future of Europe, a means for European citizens to participate in the future of the Union. In addition, the Conference aims to determine new agreements and amendments to guide the future to the most appropriate place.

In this framework, the Spanish Federal Council of the European Movement (CFEME) has held an event to address the latest developments discussed at the Plenary of the Conference held in Strasbourg a few days ago. Moreover, this event coincides with the launch of the latest publication, "The Conference on the Future of Europe on the Move", a book that addresses the most relevant issues of the Conference.

At first, the president of the CFEME youth, Ricardo Gómez, underlined "the fact that the conference is not very relevant in networks and in the media. If we ask any citizen who is a little bit alien to the political reality, very few people know that a conference is taking place, and even less that there are citizens who are participating in it". 

"One of the causes is the lack of relevance and repercussions due to a lack of knowledge or because it is considered a minor issue in the vortex of the media. However, he stressed that young people want to continue "fighting for a more resilient, more social European Union, in which 66% of young people want to be part of it and influence the construction of a new Europe".

Likewise, the vice-president of the CFEME, José Ignacio Salamanca stated that "it is often said that there are books of the moment and books of every moment, and this one comes at a very particular time". At present, "we are witnessing a very complex world, with a health emergency and multiple international conflicts". In this situation, the EU has established itself as "the most democratic, least unjust, most united and most varied area humanity has ever known". 

"We lived through the crisis of Europeanism at the time, the 2008 crisis that cost 800 billion euros, the migration crisis of 2015 that put pressure on the EU and brought it face to face with its selfishness and contradictions, and now with the pandemic the EU has shown that it is up to the task," he said. 

For the Vice-President, our main challenges today are to respond to "food security, in terms of borders, terrorism, defence and health, as well as responding to the uncertainty of young people". In addition, the aim is to ensure that "the values of the EU survive by highlighting the limitations of the Union itself".

Given the current geopolitical configuration, Salamanca points out that "the US is clearly going to be overtaken by China, and in this scenario there will be no EU member of the G8. According to the green paper, Europe is the only continent that is losing population; in 20 years' time, we will represent less than 6% of the world's population, a third of Asia's".

He went on to say that "these economic and demographic changes will have political consequences and the EU must prepare itself to face these new circumstances successfully. We must call for the necessary changes to be made, institutional changes among which we cannot fall into institutional paralysis".

Salamanca goes on to explain that "the book contains proposals on how to change institutional changes, a system for the Eurozone and governance so that the democratic deficit can be overcome. The Union needs to reflect deeply on reforms. This conference brings a substantial novelty, the aggregation of citizens, we have to think about how this conference can produce effective results and bring the EU up to its circumstances".

Finally, he concluded, "the conference on the future of Europe gives us an opportunity to take a decisive step forward in the right direction. We need to bet more on the EU to ensure the survival of the member states and to take the EU's passionate project into these difficult times".

For his part, the president of the European Movement in Spain, Francisco Aldecoa, points out that the problem with the conference is that it is not having an impact on public opinion and the media. The media should "vindicate the role of society in the EU". 

 He also stressed the importance of the participation of civil society, since the conference is a "reflection between citizens, civil society and representatives of the institutions, to reach an agreement on the fundamental issues that need to be dealt with on an equal footing".

For Aldecoa "the panel system is not working. Let's hear from the panel representatives first. We need more participation, more people. In many debates there is passion and there is a large sector that is in favour of moving forward. There were several young women who had a very constructed discourse".

The president goes on to say that "there has been some activity in all the communities, the challenge is to make civil society aware that this is happening and that the political changes in Europe have already begun. Money should be distributed according to needs, vaccines, the famous European passport is a federal measure. Decisions have been taken that have been essential, but the project has to be taken up again. The conference has to make proposals between the two sectors". 

"I am convinced that progress will be made," he says, "because the major political parties are pushing for it. The big parties are in agreement, including the Greens, although they have been very critical, that's 70% of the chamber. There is agreement in the major groups. In the trade unions there is a huge force that manages to reach an understanding with the employers. If the political groups, the states and the social forces are in agreement, how can anything not go ahead?".

Finally, he reflects on the notoriety that "despite the difficulties, something has to come out of here, but if we don't manage to connect with the journalists who make opinions and the social agents, it will come out, but we are going to be left out a little, because without the media we won't manage to reach society".