Daniel Freund

14. June 2022 Anti-Corruption

End vetoes in European politics! - Support Our Call for an EU-Convention & Sign Our Petition

Support our campaign against undemocratic vetoes in EU politics and sign our petition HERE: https://www.change.org/p/end-vetoes-in-european-politics

Why?

We want a Europe that moves forward. We want a Europe that quickly finds the right answers to crises. We want a Europe that resolutely opposes the threats to our democracy.

But in light of a growing number of crises, the EU is incapacitated. Our Union suffers from a serious structural flaw: Important decisions can only be taken with unanimity among all member states. In effect, this means that a single head of state or government can prevent urgently necessary action for 450 million Europeans with a single  veto.

The veto is undemocratic. It prevents Europe from speaking with one voice. It has negative effects for all of us. It should be abolished!

  • Viktor Orban’s veto prevents decisive sanctions against the warmonger Vladimir Putin. His goal: to extort money from the EU.
  • Poland is currently blocking that large corporations pay at least a minimum of taxes.
  • Our fundamental values and the rule of law are under attack because the governments of PiS in Poland and Viktor Orban in Hungary protect each other with vetos.

All these decisions require unanimity. Overwhelming majorities among Europeans are being torpedoed by individual vetoes. Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping only need to “flip” one head of government and thus paralyze the EU. This is not how we move forward in Europe.

Our message is clear: We want to put an end to national vetoes in European politics.

For this we need your support. NOW, there is an opportunity to abolish unanimity and make the EU more democratic. Together, with national parliaments, governments and EU citizens, we have initiated the necessary reforms. Our top priority: The end of unanimity.

To do this we need a Convention. But some EU governments are resisting. Time is pressing: the vote is due at the end of June. We are saying clearly, loudly and unambiguously:

Not with us. We want a democratic Europe. A Europe that leads the way. A Europe that knows how to defend itself against dictators and enemies of democracy.

Please sign this petition to the heads of state and government in the European Council!

https://www.change.org/p/end-vetoes-in-european-politics

Hundreds of European citizens, politicians and civil society activists have already joined our call. Among the initiators of our campaign are:

Daniel Freund (MEP Greens/EFA, President of the Spinelli-Group)

Spinelli Group in the European Parliament

Sven Simon (MEP EPP)

Gaby Bischoff (MEP S&D)

Domenec Ruiz Devesa (MEP S&D)

Guy Verhofstadt (MEP Renew)

Pascal Durand (MEP Renew)

Dimitrios Papadimoulis (MEP Left)

Omri Preiss (Alliance 4 Europe)

Antonio Argentziano, President of JEF Europe 

Rene Repasi (MEP S&D)

Delara Burkhardt (MEP S&D)

Maria Noichl (MEP S&D)

Niklas Nienass (MEP Greens/EFA)

More

Climate catastrophe, companies that pay no taxes, the impact of digitalisation - no single country can solve these problems alone. For this we need a strong European Union that is capable of taking action. For the Greens/European Free Alliance, I am responsible for leading the work on the conference on the future of the EU.