Is The EPP About Power Or About Politics?
The Strasbourger: How much real power does the European Parliament hold in reality?
Karas: The Lisbon-Treaty has established a level playing field between the Council and the European Parliament. The Parliament now has equal rights in the law-making process. „Power“ though entails more than paragraphs and resolutions. Political will is vital, as much as personal authenticity and democratic legitimation.
But the current attempts of Heads of State and Government to take decisions „in camera“ (behind closed doors), and without the European Parliament, defeats this spirit. I am convinced that no legislative or factual political act in the European Union should happen without the Parliament's involvement. The true power of this institution lies in the fact that it is democratically legitimized - it represents 502 million people!
The Strasbourger: So, is the Parliament weakened by the latest developments that you came to describe?
Karas: The intergovernmental treaty is less-than-ideal. However, the refusal of the United Kingdom, to find a solution according to the community method forced the remaining Member States to go ahead . Nevertheless, it is an emergency solution.
What is worse though, is the fact that none of the measures that have been agreed on in principle at various summits within the last year have yet been implemented. That's because of the unanimity- rule. The truth is that Heads of States and Governments are weakened by the unanimity clause, as they are prone to be politically blackmailed and incapable of action. In order to have a capable and democratic European Union we need two things: the abolishment of the unanimity-rule in the Council and a permanent application of the „méthode communautaire“ in all legislative areas and topics. Hence, the European Parliament as the elected Chamber of Citizens, and the Council, as the body of the Member States, must decide side by side. It’s a fact that internal struggles between institutions and between different political layers have weakened the EU altogether. This means that we are actually weakening ourselves.
In the face of global challenges though, it is careless, even negligent, to play those games! By seemingly taking the „easier route“, like neglecting the European Parliament, we are weakening democracy and we are degrading the European Union itself!
The Strasbourger: According to the public opinion, counter-crisis measures were predominantly driven by the Franco-German axis - without caring too much about democratic approvement. The need for speed serves as legitimation, the power of facts as a justification. What is the European Parliament's answer?
Karas: Now we put the tap for the failures of the last decades. We have never forged a valid mechanism on how to deal with sovereign debt. The capacity to act is lacking credibility. By keeping unanimity in the Council, and considering the failure to develop an Economic and Social Union, decisions can not be taken with the adequate pace required. And the ones that are taken are lacking democratic legitimation. Now we are faced with an emergency-situation where the Council has to take the helm in its hands. The European Parliament will certainly not be obstructive. However, we need to make clear that this political solo-attempt must be a temporal one. There's no way around a speedy and efficent transposition into European Law. As a next step we need to set up a Convent and strive for preparations towards a Political Union.
This, though, is not a party-political question. Rather a conflict between the ones that still believe that by doing their own thing, Member States are able to deal best with the effects of globalization. And on the other hand, those who have realized that only a strong and politically united European Union can face these challenges and live up to its ideals.
The Strasbourger: So, what is your political strategy to tackle this dwindling loss of power?
Karas: The actual, dramatic loss of political clout is the imminent decline of influence that Europe will eventually face, if we don’t come up with innovative ideas! Again: Power struggles between Member States or among the various European Institutions and levels within the EU is a catastrophic development right into provinicialism. The outcome inevitably will be a decline in European influence.
The European Parliament stands ready to counter this development. We can only tackle economic challenges and global developments by daring to undertake a quantum-leap. A leap that would mean enhanced political co-operation. If we want to keep our level of welfare, our high living standards and our implicitness we need to enforce a Political Union. We have to constructively think about the „United States of Europe“ !
The Strasbourger: Thank you for the interview!
Karas: I have to thank you!
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