Altiero Spinelli's grave, Ventotene. Flickr/ Jon Worth. Some rights reserved.Mr. Varoufakis: beyond
your slogans, what is your practical plan to initiate a surge of democracy in Europe? This question
is frequently asked in many different ways on (social) media. Though it's a fair
enough question, it is addressing the wrong person.
Yanis Varoufakis, main
initiator of Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), says the organisation
is horizontal. So it has no fixed leader – in theory anyway. Be very aware of
the radical implication. Anyone who offers a great idea could be a leader in a
certain phase of such a movement. If your suggestion is accepted by an
overwhelming majority of the whole movement, you can effectively direct the
movement. You don't need to wait until the organisational structure and next
steps are clearer. Now it's you who may bring it forward.
If anyone may run
things in this movement, will even a dead leader do? Odd question. Let me
explain. The long term vision is a federation. Varoufakis elaborated on this a
little in an interview with euronews'
Isabelle Kumar: 'Where we can have a federal government on the basis of a one
person one vote system.' I would argue,
whoever says European Federation, says Altiero Spinelli.
Altiero
Spinelli
Spinelli (1907-1986)
started his political life at age 17 as an Italian communist. As a member of an
anti-fascist movement he fought Mussolini. In 1927, because of his involvement
in the resistance he was sentenced to 16 years of imprisonment and internment.
In 1937 he broke with the communists when he heard about Stalin's purges. He
absolutely opposed totalitarianism.
After that rupture he
studied federalist ideas. In 1941, together with Ernesto Rossi, he wrote the
famous Ventotene
Manifesto (on cigarette papers): Towards a free and united Europe. This
federalist manifesto eventually laid the basis for European cooperation. The
Italian constitutional theorist is considered one of the founding fathers of
the European Union. Spinelli wrote in his autobiography:
My life can be
described by six courses of action, each founded on a different hypothesis.
I. Between '43 and '45
my working hypothesis assumed an impetuous revival of democracy that would
depart from the destruction of both the previous European order and the
internal ones of almost all European nation states.
II. Between '47 and '54
my working hypothesis was that the most important moderate ministers in Europe,
encouraged by the missionary democratic spirit of US foreign policy and scared
of the developments in Eastern Europe, would listen to us and would start
building the federal union.
III. Between '54 and
'60(?) my working hypothesis was that it might be possible to mobilise the
already widespread Europeanist feeling into a popular protest – the Congress of
the European People – directed against the very legitimacy of the nation
states.
IV. Between '60 and '70
while I was almost completely retiring from political action I profoundly
contemplated the meaning of the European Economic Community, the new aspects of
military defence introduced by nuclear weapons and the possibility of
relaunching the federalist action.
V. Between '70 and '76
my working hypothesis was that the European Commission could take the role of
political guide in restarting the construction of the political union.
VI. Between 76 and '86
my working hypothesis was that the European Parliament should take the
constitutional role in the European construction.
Altiero
Spinelli: Come ho tentato di diventare saggio (Società editrice il Mulino:
Bologna 1999 p. 348)
At the end of his life,
Spinelli felt disillusioned. Only small steps were taken towards his dream,
which he chased mostly in vain.
Steps beyond
history
This list of
hypotheses shows that more roads could lead to Rome. Guy Verhofstadt, leader of
the liberals in the European Parliament, is trying route 6. Obviously, DiEM25
follows the path of Spinelli's third attempt. In order not to repeat old
mistakes, adherents to the movement especially need to know the fate of the
Congress of the European People. Up till now, three reasons seem to have caused
Spinelli's failure.
Firstly, in 1954, just 9 years after WW-II, hatred for the Germans
was deeply felt by many Europeans. A European federal state was therefore
destined to fail.
Secondly, life for western Europeans turned out rather well in
the booming years after the war. So, it was felt that there was no need to
challenge the leading political figures.
And thirdly, democratisation and
federalism are primarily about a political structure, not the instant access to
a more prosperous life that is on so many people’s minds. Hence they lack a
certain mobilising force.
But times are changing.
After seventy postwar years, in general, Germans are not seen as bogeymen,
rather the consensus is that the Nazis were the most horrendous representatives
of a fascist wave that ravaged the whole of Europe. Furthermore, the EU is
going downhill fast now, even disintegrating – so Brexit is possible.
These two circumstances
create quite a contrasting scenario with Spinelli's third period of action and
favor DiEM25. When it comes to the last reason, however, the lack of a
motivating force remains a challenge. So socio-economic issues have to be
connected urgently to the agenda of democratisation.
The Transatlantic Trade
and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and similar treaties, are of course a major
threat to democracy, as well as to food safety, any possibilities for economic
activities in rural areas, and so forth. They should be rejected. Let more
plans on other socio-economic issues be made.
—–
Thanks to Mikael Böök for drawing attention to
Spinelli's passage and to Michele Rotunno for its translation.