Consultation: | FYEG General Assembly 2021 |
---|---|
Agenda item: | 2 New FYEG Political Platform |
Status: | Submitted |
Submitted: | 07/01/2021, 17:43 |
History: | Version 1 |
PP2-IInew6: FYEG Political Platform - A Democratic Europe
Political Platform text
2. A Democratic Europe
Democracy is increasingly under attack, both in Europe and elsewhere.
Authoritarian leaders ignore democratic principles and violate the rule of law*
– even within the European Union. Some states proclaim themselves to be so-
called “illiberal democracies”*. At the same time, technological and digital
developments are having wide-reaching implications for fundamental rights,
posing substantial challenges to our democracies, while also bringing new
possibilities for democratic participation and new forms of activism.
FYEG fights for a Europe and a European Union which are truly democratic and
embrace and encourage the active participation of their inhabitants. We advocate
for the strong protection of the rights of these inhabitants, especially the
most vulnerable, young people, and those that engage in activism in order to
better our societies.
a. The rule of law
The rule of law is an essential element of democratic societies. In recent
years, attacks on the rule of law have multiplied in several European countries,
with women and minorities most strongly affected. FYEG stands for reinforcing
the independence of the judiciary, accelerating the fight against corruption,
and guaranteeing the independence of the media.
In the EU, we call for the full implementation of Article 7 of the Treaty on
European Union* allowing for the scrutiny and possible suspension of a Member
State’s voting rights in the Council of the EU if they fail to respect the
fundamental values of the Union including the rule of law, in the short term.
This decision should be taken via qualified majority*. In the long term, the
power to impose sanctions on member states and to suspend voting rights of
member states in the Council should become matters for the Court of Justice of
the European Union* (CJEU). FYEG also supports the implementation of a strong
rule of law mechanism*, according to which the granting of EU funding is made
conditional upon Member States’ respect of the rule of law and fundamental
rights.
While implementing those tools, we must ensure that citizens are not
disadvantaged by their governments’ poor behaviour. It should be made possible
to bypass corrupt national governments and for EU funds to be directly assigned
to local authorities or final beneficiaries. We also call for increased support
for individuals and organisations that are fighting for democracy, press
freedom, fundamental rights, and the rule of law, for example through the EU
Rights and Values programme*. In particular, whistleblowers must benefit from
specific protection and support, as they reveal informations and documents of
public interest and for the common good.
The European judicial system should be reinforced. The Court of Justice of the
European Union (CJEU)* should have more power to protect citizens and uphold
fundamental rights, including human rights, democracy, freedom of the press and
independent justice.The task of imposing suspensions and sanctions is
transferred to the Court. We support reinforcing the prerogatives and powers of
the European Public Prosecutor’s Office* to investigate and press charges in
more fields, beginning with corruption, the misuse of public money, and
international crime.
b. Democracy
FYEG supports representative democratic systems in which citizens elect
representatives to debate issues and make decisions on their behalf. We support
parliamentary systems* over presidential systems* in which power is concentrated
in the hands of a single person and proper debate is not possible.
Representatives should be elected using a system of proportional
representation*.
Those current systems in which elected officials are seen as being cut off from
citizens and not accountable to the electorate are clearly not functioning well
enough and are creating mistrust in democracy itself. Action is needed at
several levels to protect and improve our democratic systems.
To complement representative democratic systems, FYEG supports introducing and
reinforcing direct democracy mechanisms such as participatory budgeting*,
special assemblies composed of randomly chosen citizens, citizens’ initiatives,
the right to petition, citizen-initiated referendums*, especially on a local
level, the right to challenge*, and representative recalls*. Democratic
institutions should also be made more transparent, with all debates open or
publicly available, public registers detailing the financial interests of every
elected official, and full transparency on lobbying activities.
But this is not enough: any democracy which does not provide adequate space for
debate and reflection is no true democracy, and FYEG therefore supports efforts
to create deliberative democracies. Through providing public spaces and
opportunities for rational debate and discussion between members of the public
and not just talking political heads, through citizenship, deliberation, and
participation education in schooling we can ensure that the policies of today
that will shape the future - such as on climate change
FYEG is also supportive of the subsidiarity principle*. Every decision that
affects the lives of citizens should be taken at the level that is closest to
them, where they can more easily play an active role and hold their
representatives accountable. Local and regional governments should be given more
power, and their participation in decision-making processes at the European
level should be reinforced. Forms of democracy inspired by the principles of
commons* and based on the public, democratic management of the commons should be
implemented to the greatest possible extent. Our aim needs to be to create
liveable, democratic spaces in our towns and cities.
The right to take part in democratic processes should be open to as many people
as possible and should be based primarily on a person’s place of residence
rather than nationality. All foreign citizens should enjoy the right to vote in
their place of residence for all elections. Nobody should be deprived of the
right to vote because of their age, nationality, ethnicity, the fact that they
are in prison, or any other criteria. Young people in particular are
systematically excluded from decision-making processes. FYEG stands for lowering
the voting age, starting with giving the right to vote to everyone aged 16 and
above.FYEG also stands for lowering the voting age to 16 with the prospective to
lower the voting age further. Gender quota systems for elections are important
tools to redress the underrepresentation of women in politics and should be
further adapted to include all underrepresented genders.
Action needs to be taken to enable the civic participation of groups and
communities that are excluded from participation in decision-making processes.
FYEG recognizes that in our society, women, non-binary people, gender non-
conforming people, socio-economically disadvantaged people and young people are
subjected to higher burdens to political participation, as well as to violence
and tokenism. Discrimination constitutes an attack on democracy. Strengthening
training, supporting youth political organisations, using non-formal education
methods, using genered speaking lists and quotas are all examples of
interventions that build towards full and meaningful participation of all groups
in society, thus to the legitimacy of democratic processes.
c. An activist Europe
Democratic participation must never be limited to the polling booth. The right
to protest is a fundamental part of democratic culture and must be protected. We
encourage active participation in our democracies, not only through political
organisations but also through civil society and activist work. The EU, its
Member States, and other European states must actively support and encourage
civil society and youth political engagement. FYEG engages itself to promote
regenerative forms of activism that protect members’ physical and mental well-
being, and urges the social and environmental movements it partners up with to
do so as well.
The right to organise and to take part in protests freely, without experiencing
threats, intimidation, or violence, should be protected. We also defend the
right of journalists and citizens to document demonstrations and police
activities during those demonstrations.
In their work for a better society, activists often make use of civil
disobedience*, . While the authorities may not welcome its use, their reaction
to civil disobedience is often disproportionate to the point of being
unacceptable. The rights of activists must be defended under all circumstances.
This also applies to cases in which actions to bring about effective climate
action or defend human rights go against the law as it stands.
d. Towards a federal Europe
Most of the challenges Europe is facing cannot be solved at the local or
national level alone. A stronger, more integrated, and federal Europe* is needed
to address citizens’ demands.
As the only directly elected EU institution, the European Parliament* is key to
building a stronger Europe. In the short term, its Members should be elected
partly on national lists and partly on Union-wide lists, while ensuring the fair
representation of all Member States. Instead of being presented with the
European Council’s* choice of European Commission* president, the European
Parliament should be able to elect the candidate of its choice. We believe
Commissioners should not be appointed by Member States but chosen by Members of
the European Parliament while guaranteeing fair representation of Member States.
Moreover, the European Parliament should have the right to initiate legislation.
We call on Member States to find a solution to the issue of the seats of
different EU institutions, while making sure all decision-making bodies are not
concentrated in the same city, country or part of the EU, but are spread accross
the whole EU. Moreover, the costly moving circus of the European Parliament
should be stopped.
Many long-awaited progressive initiatives have been blocked by the Council of
the European Union*. In the short term, decisions at the Council should be taken
by qualified majority* and not by unanimity* on budgetary, social, and fiscal
policy. This would both facilitate European action in many fields and reinforce
the influence of the European Parliament.
In the long term, FYEG demands the election of a European citizens’ convention.
This body would be responsible for drafting an EU constitution that would
replace the existing treaties and pave the way for a federal and truly
democratic EU. This EU constitution should then be voted on through a Union-wide
referendum.
A stronger EU requires a real EU budget. The EU budget should be substantially
increased, in particular by the creation of new “own resources”* such as a
European kerosene* tax, a carbon tax*, a carbon border adjustment mechanism*, a
tax on tech giants, and a tax on financial transactions* (see Chapter 4 – Fiscal
policy). The EU should also be able to issue bonds to contribute to its budget.
We call for deepened European defence cooperation and in the long term the
development of further interoperability between EU member states armies.
e. Public safety
We believe that every person in our societies should be safe and feel safe.
Today’s mainstream public safety policies are not fulfilling that objective:
many citizens still feel unsafe and are being attacked based on their gender,
appearance, supposed sexual orientation, or gender identity, and on racist and
xenophobic* grounds. Violence is still a major part of our societies. A public
safety policy that aims to end violence by employing even more violence, and
that is executed at the expense of public freedoms and fundamental rights, is
doomed to fail. FYEG stands for a reinvention of public safety policy based on
prevention and rehabilitation rather than violence and repression.
Prevention should be central. We believe that, among others, better education,
the teaching of nonviolent communication, gender equality, and tackling racism
contribute to reducing the level of violence in society. Public safety is
interlinked with social policies. Implementing stronger social policies and
fighting against poverty is key to improvement in the long term. We support the
integration of stronger, more situation-specific social policies in
neighbourhoods with the highest levels of poverty. Prevention recognises that
the police cannot be the solution to every issue. Specific personnel such as
psychologists and street and other social workers can work better with people in
certain psychological states, with homeless people, and with victims of
violence. These jobs should be supported and better funded.
The police has become a cornerstone of failing public safety policies. While we
believe some form of policing is needed, the police needs to be fundamentally
changed. A zero-tolerance policy on racism, sexism, and other hateful conduct in
the police is essential. The police should be made accountable for its actions
and an independent police oversight body should be put in place to investigate
police violence and other complaints. Democratic scrutiny of the police, in
which police chiefs are accountable to local assemblies and regularly answer
questions during public sessions, is of critical importance. Additionally,
policing must be demilitarised. It is unnecessary for the police to have
military-like vehicles and heavily armed officers with assault rifles and
grenades. There must be structural change – a movement away from state-sponsored
violence and repression and towards prevention and cooperation as tools for
dealing with conflict in our societies. Defunding the police would lead to this
structural change by refocusing public money towards social good.
We also support the improvement of the employment and working conditions of
police employees. Police employees should receive better training, especially
concerning gender-based violence, the tackling of unconscious bias*, nonviolent
communication, and nonviolent conflict resolution techniques.
Certain policies such as drug policies and migration policies create avoidable
violence. The criminalisation of the use, cultivation, and selling of drugs, as
well as the criminalisation of migration, actively supports the development of
underground mafia systems who rely on the use of violence. FYEG stands for the
legalisation of drugs* and opening borders as a way of reducing violence and
reinforcing security (see Chapter 5 – Health).
The judicial system also has a role to play in the prevention of crime by repeat
offenders, by ensuring that convicted people receive adequate psychological
support, prioritising alternatives to prison, and promoting the rehabilitation
and reintegration of convicted people.
f. Digital rights
As citizens’ use of digital products increases, digital rights become more and
more important. FYEG believes digital rights are key to fully exercising other
fundamental rights, such as the right to access information held by public
authorities, to freedom of opinion and expression, and to political activism.
Digital activism has become an important part of political activism and must be
defended. We therefore stand for an internet in which those rights can be fully
exercised and for a regulatory framework that fully protects citizens.
Digitalisation* should not be an excuse for states and companies to spy on
citizens. Communication via the internet must be protected by encryption. We
oppose government-requested loopholes or the weakening of that encryption. The
secrecy of correspondence* should be extended to include all digital
communication, including metadata*. We defend the principle of self-
determination in relation to one’s personal data, as well as the outlawing of
mass data retention* by private companies. Targeted advertisements and third-
party cookies should be made illegal. The right to be forgotten* should also be
protected.
FYEG believes in the power of free software and open source-based platforms*,
which must be strengthened by the European Union in order to guarantee full
transparency in the fight for consumer rights. Alternatives to tech giants
should be established that abide by these principles. In order for alternatives
to emerge, it is essential to defend the principle of net neutrality*.
We fight for access to the internet and an accessible internet. This means
universal access to the necessary infrastructure and broadband, as well as
internet access at no charge. It also means accessibility for disabled people
through the mainstreaming of subtitles, alternative text*, etc.
It is also vital to ensure that people from different backgrounds have equal
opportunities to use digital domains. For language minorities it is often
difficult or impossible to use their own languages digitally as they lack
sufficient digital infrastructure, such as localised software, keyboard layouts,
grammar checkers and online dictionaries. The development of language technology
resources for minority languages must be supported in order to ensure digital
language equality.
In times in which almost everyone and everything is digitally connected, we also
fight for a stronger right to disconnect* for workers.
Digital and technological developments have the power to fundamentally change
our societies. The opportunities these technologies bring must be used to
strengthen democratic participation. Online pseudonymity must be protected as
this is key for people to express their political or personal opinions without
fear and without risking negative consequences.
The digital sphere is not a lawless space. Private companies that are active in
the digital sphere must be regulated and pay their fair share of taxes.
Discrimination and hate speech in the digital sphere must be recognised as
problematic, and combatted. This includes developments in the realm of
artificial intelligence*, which has the potential to transform our societies for
the better but also risks reinforcing existing discrimination through biased
algorithms. More attention should be paid to the negative consequences of
automated decision-making. Automated decision-making that can lead to
discrimination and ethnic profiling should be regularly tested and adapted to
counter this.
The spread of disinformation and fake news has the potential to undermine our
democracies and must be dealt with accordingly by effective legislation and
training. This includes protection against foreign interference in democratic
processes and the fight against terrorism. The pursuit of these goals must never
be used as an excuse to pass legislation that restricts the freedom of
expression, freedom of assembly, or other fundamental rights. We oppose the use
of upload filters*.