On the 9th of May, 13 EU Member States issued a joint document opposing the launch of a procedure promoted by the European Parliament to change the EU’s treaties. The joint document came in response to the completion of the Conference on the Future of Europe where 49 proposals containing more than 300 recommendations were submitted by hundreds of EU citizens. These proposals were submitted with the intention of creating a more democratic EU for citizens, with some of them calling for more federal elements, including treaty changes to remove the ability for Member States to veto certain policy areas like health, tax, defence, and enlargement. This means that policy decisions in these areas would be adopted through Qualified Majority Voting, which would greatly improve the speed and efficiency of policy developments.
JEF Malta welcomes these proposed changes, particularly since they were submitted in consultation with citizens who have clearly expressed their views on what they expect from the EU. We believe that the spirit of the Conference on the Future of Europe should be respected, and we call for Member States to be open to discussing the changes proposed by the citizens.
Furthermore, JEF Malta encourages the signatories of the joint document to reconsider their stance and recognise how in today's international political climate, European citizens need a strong Union that can act as a true global actor to ensure long term stability and welfare of all European citizens. Our organisation firmly believes that the fundamentally global challenges related to the Russian aggression on Ukraine, a risen China, and the existential climate crisis, require a democratic, united, and ultimately, a federal European Union.
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