Key ideas

1. AN HISTORIC AND FUNDAMENTAL PROPOSAL: TO DEVELOP A REAL AND EFFECTIVE EUROPEAN POLITICAL COMMUNITY WHILE STRENGTHENING THE POLITICAL DIMENSION OF EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP

 To promote a genuine political debate within the EU

The time has come for European citizens to debate directly between themselves about their future and develops a common perception of a European general interest

 To present the European citizens with a political position developed for the EU

The development of direct exchanges between EU citizens, with the aim to give birth to a genuine and effective political community, is an immense challenge. To reach this objective, the civic organizations, including political parties, have a fundamental role to play. PACE commits to take note of real transnational positions and, therefore, put forward proposals conceived for all Europeans

 A need which cannot wait any longer: to demand an increased and direct accountability of European institutions and decision makers

The lack of democracy in EU decision-making leads to a crisis of confidence as fundamental measures are often prepared by a few who have no European political legitimacy. We demand that the European authorities exercise and assume fully their political responsibilities.

 To make the European public opinion more familiar with the European political context

A huge effort of pedagogy on the functioning of the EU needs to be done

 

2. A PIONEER AND INNOVATIVE POLITICAL PARTY WITH SOLID VALUES FOREU PUBLIC LIFE

 A European party at its grass roots

Members of PACE belong to any EU country and debate horizontally without any distinction of nationality. They constitute therefore a laboratory of the European political identity

 A decision-making process which is entirely europeanised

In its positions and proposals, PACE represents a single “constituency”. The harmonisation or conciliation between diverse national perceptions, and between potentially contradictory national interests, is done within the party. This will lead to political stands representing the European general interest as perceived by PACE’s members.

 Full transparency in the party’s functioning and financing

PACE commits to operate in a transparent way, in particular through opening its main meetings to observers, putting them on line and publishing minutes.

As far as financing is concerned, it is today exclusively secured by membership fees and donations from members. The certified accounts are publicly available.

 A rigorous internal code of ethics

The lack of ethics of leaders, and in particular their relation to money, is often perceived by many citizens as a plague of political life: conscious of the damages caused within the general public by the lack of moral rigour, PACE intends to place ethics at the core of its action.

 

3. A REALISTIC AND PRAGMATIC IDEOLOGICAL CORPUS WHICH REFLECTS THE FEELINGS OF A MAJORITY OF EUROPEANS

 To avoid a simplistic right-left split

 To be pragmatic in our proposals for public policies

 To defend clearly a Social Market Economy

 A free and non-administered economy in which the central focus is on human beings and social balance

The private sector, in particular SMEs, is the main engine for wealth creation. Priority should be given to policies which encourage and reward innovation and competitiveness with regard to the world market.

A social protection and the existence of social rights are two characteristics which define the European project. In order to guarantee their preservation and development, it is necessary to implement policies which place the human being at the core of the economic activity and defend in particular educational and health systems which guarantee a universal and egalitarian access to quality services.

 To promote a democratic European economic governance and put the financial sector at the service of the real economy

In the current context, to push a bold and responsible reflection on the economic governance of the EU, in contrast with the logic of improvisation-based decision making; this has prevailed since the introduction of the Euro.

It is necessary, also, to reassert and organise the subordination of the financial sphere to the real economy.

To place the protection of environment and biodiversity as a permanent political priority embodied in all policies

The human beings, who must be placed at the very heart of political reflection, have no future without their natural environment. Despite the current economic difficulties, one should not lose sight of the VITAL OBJECTIVE of safeguarding ecosystems, biodiversity and wildlife, and of slowing down global warming; to this purpose, the transition from fossil energies to renewable one has to be undertaken. PACE intends to turn the ecological objective into one of the economic engines of Europe.

 To deepen the political integration between the countries whose populations wish to move forward

The scenario of a multispeed Europe is already a reality (i.e. Eurozone and Schengen Area). It is now time to find ways of allowing the EU member States which want to move more quickly towards political integration, in particular in the field of economic governance – but also, perhaps, in education and culture (i.e. European multilingual schools).

 To guarantee and strengthen public liberties and civil rights in the whole EU

The EU is an area where each citizen should have the possibility to blossom through the expression of one’s personality and peculiarity, while respecting the values mentioned at Article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union: “The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, nondiscrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail ».

 To promote effectively peace, democracy and human rights in the world as strategic and ethic requirements inseparable from the European identity

Double standards, huge waste of means (i.e. multiplicity of Embassies), conflicts of national interests, incapacity to react, bureaucratic obstacles and a lack of clear leadership are some of thechallenges to be addressed in the EU external relations.

Adopted at PACE ordinary general assembly, Brussels, 9th June2012