Darmell 2019 EP election campaign

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Take democracy seriously, or you don't deserve it

The turnout in the European elections was the lowest in the history of the parliament.

Thousands of grassroot activists around Europe was working very hard to turn the negative turnout in the European elections in to a positive, but it didn't give the result that Europe needed.
Their work wasn't only about convincing Europeans to vote, but also to advocate for a better and more democratic Europe.
The small steps that was taken for a better democracy, with the presidential candidates wasn't enough and media across Europe didn't help to promote the democratic development and definitely not the hard work of the pan-european grassroots movement for democracy.
Without naming any names, the national leaders of Europe have a huge responsibility for the low turnout. We must let them know that!

The consequences of the election results, including the low turnout are the so called success of the far-right populists. How this will effect EU policy in the comming years is uncertain, but it will most likely effect the results in comming national elections and give more air under the wings of leaders such as Victor Orban.

And finally, if we the people don't take democracy more seriously, we don't deserve it.

Get12vote

Imagine if everyone who woted in the European elections in 2009 could convince just one person who didn't to vote in this year's election the turnout would break the roof.

Does it sound like a crazy idea? Maybe, but imagine how the idea of European elections would of sounded in 1950. You get the point!

EP2014 will probably have a impact and consequences far beyond the mandate of the European parliament. So if we can make this happen I'm certain that the impact and consequenc will be positive for the voters and therefore for Europe.

Let's show the world that Europeans care about democracy and that European values are worth saving.

#Get12vote

Hungarian nationalism is on fire

Hungarian nationalism haven't made Hungary or Europe a better place.
Instead we have seen concentration of power and unacceptable compromises with democracy and the rule of law.

Just as all European populists and nationalists, the Hungarian government blames EU and the rest of Europe for their own problems and shortcomings.
EU work's as a great scapegoat for Orban and his party Fidez who with great success managed to hide their "personal" agenda by making the EU into the enemy.

What will happen next?

If the "new" government continues on the same path of nationalism and questionable reforms, Hungary's future within the union is very uncertain if not even impossible. ( with great sadness )

There are lessons to be learned for the rest of Europe from Hungary's political development.
When you start accepting nationalistic rhetoric it's like playing with fire and when the fire spreads it's very hard to put the fire out.

We are Europe

We can't option ​​out of Europe without deselecting large parts of ourselves. Europe are in many ways just as integrated as most of its member states are, in terms of culture, trade, economy, science and higher education.

Something we rarely think about when we are talking about European integration is that its not comprehensive or complete in any political, cultural or geographicall area.
European integration "in deversity" is best illustrated as a quilt or as number of rings that are more or less integrated in each other.

European integration is much older then our union and much older than our nation states.
The democratic integration, however, is a creation during the postwar period with the aim to pick up where nationalism and the nation state failed, to bring Europe stability and a peaceful development.

The aim of European integration has never been to create a homogeneous Europe where regional and local cultural differences are blurred or weakened, but to strengthen diversity through democratic collaboration. It has influences of cultural federalism, which is in direct contrast to the goal with the nation-state, a culturally homogeneous society witch is organizational characterized by central government, replacing local and regional self-governance.

Nation states set limits and build walls for culture, commerce and people in Europe. Nationalism created more organized unrest and division in Europe than there ever was before. Sadley the nation-state quest lives on in Europe and even within our Union, where we see how nationalism acts against bringing down walls and barriers for culture, commerce and people.

What if the borders and walls are built again? We can only learn from the past, walls do not create stability and peace!

The most important election this century

This May it is time for Europeans to go to the polls in an election that in many respects is special and maybe even critical to Europe's democratic future.
For the first time , the voters have the opportunity to directly influence who will become the European Commission's next president. This is done by the major party groups in the EP in advance nominated its candidate for the presidency, which roughly means that the post-election largest party group's candidate becomes the next Commission president.

It is a commendable initiative to strengthen European level democracy by the EU party groups and to give the Commission greater legitimacy among the European citizens without any major reforms that would require new treaties between the national governments.

There is allot more to be desired when it comes to democratic reform of the EU but it is above or "below" the powers of the Parliament. It is in the hands of our national governments and parliaments. 
Unfortunately, the resistance at national level about giving more power to the voters over European politics are great.

Parliament elections in May, however have a great potential to bring democracy much needed focus and put it on the agenda for future national elections in Europe.

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Short-term priorities for reform in Europe

Ten short-term priorities to create and implement the necessary reforms and changes in Europe. (In no particular order)

1. Electing federalists into EP and NP in coming elections.

2. Electing more women and youth into parliaments and governments.

3, Mobilise the European voters to increase turnout and legitimacy.

4. Nurture debates in schools, workplaces, streets and on squares.

5, Strengthen Pan-European party organisations.

6. A joint election authority for the European elections.

7. Pan-European TV
debates between the presidential candidates.

8. Introduction of Pan-European political reporting. (Public Service)

9. Facilitate the ability of  voters to vote in the EU state they are resident in. including NP elections!

10, Require a political and national independent committee to review European democracy and systematics.

Power to the voters

This May it is time for Europeans to go to the polls in an election that in many respects is highly significant and perhaps even critical to Europe's democratic future.
For the first time, voters have the opportunity to directly influence who will become the European Commission's next president. This is done by the major party groups in the EP nominating their candidate for the presidency in advance, which roughly means that the candidate from the largest post-election party group becomes the next Commission president.
This is a commendable initiative by the EU party groups to strengthen European level democracy and to give the Commission greater legitimacy among the European citizens without any major reforms that would require new treaties between the national governments.

There is alot more to be desired when it comes to democratic reform of the EU but much of what is needed is above or "below" the powers of the Parliament. It is in the hands of our national governments and parliaments. Unfortunately, there is significant resistance at national level against giving more power over European politics to the voters.
Parliamentary elections in May, however, have a great potential to bring democracy much needed focus and put it on the agenda for future national elections in Europe.

The EU wants nothing by itself and does nothing by itself

For those of you who don`t know, the EU does not have its own will! The European union that we all are citizens in consists of several institutions that our national politicians fill with content and of various intergovernmental agreements between Member States. To one of these institutions the citizens directly elect the members, in the other institutions the members are indirectly elected by our national governments.

The conclusion of this is that the EU wants nothing for itself and does nothing by itself and can`t therefore be the object of criticism when it comes to the policy implemented within the union.
The fact that EU is the scapegoat for national politicians and their failed politics is a threat to democracy itself and not only to the union. It keeps voters from debating the real issues that we desperately need to debate and keeps voters focused on the institutions instead of the politics.

Euro skeptics and nationalists have air under the their wings

Euro skeptics and nationalists have gotten plenty of air under the their wings during the current global economic crisis. Criticism against the euro and the political battering on how to handle the crisis has rightly been very strong. Unfortunately, skeptics and nationalists failed to produce any concrete solutions to the proven weaknesses of Europe, but rather demanded that Europe once again be isolated behind nationalist walls. Unfortunately, the media have often uncritically blown air under the wings of nationalism during this crisis which in itself deepened the crisis and hampered the recovery. Above all, the political crisis in Europe has been affected.

What should be of interest in the media are the forces that did present and campaigned for various economic , but above all political solutions to the crisis.
Organised federalists and engaged citizens presented, through various initiatives proposals for reform and dared to debate them in various forums. Their work has had a major impact on social media and on the streets around Europe while traditional media focused almost exclusively on reactionary and doomsday prophecies, giving nationalists and sceptics a much bigger media coverage then their popular mandate.
A consequence of this is that the established politicians and parties did not and do not dare to lead the public debate, which in itself strengthens the democratic deficit in our current Union.
There is an urgent need to critically study the structure and policies of the EU if we are to emerge from the crisis and build a Europe that we want to leave to coming generations.

Our strength lies in our goals and our arguments

You can not measure what the European union has meant for Europe's democratic and economic development in the postwar period. 
From the historic turmoil in Europe, no one can imagine a Europe without the ambition to unify the European pot of historic good and evil and create a stable Europe for its people.. 

The Union has built a foundation which rests on its citizens. It is now up to us to build on this foundation and create a democratic and stable Europe, that not only Europe needs but the globalised world 
needs. We don't have a easy journey ahead of us, the resistance is established and sometimes economically strong, but our strength lies in our goals and our arguments. 
European Parliament is sadly not the institution that determines our future, it is up to EUCO and our national governments, but the elections in 2014 to the European Parliament is without a doubt the best tool in the near future to set the agenda for our struggle for a better and a more democratic Europe. We must therefore gather all our strength and courage to take the debate whenever the opportunity is given.

With democracy we shall win more democracy!  

I call for a PAN-European referendum

Europe needs to move forward! but it wont happen if we continue with the national battering we have in the council.

I call for a PAN-European referendum on a democratic federal European constitution. Let the people decide about their future. This referendum should be followed by national, on or off referendums in every member state.
This is the federal way, more democracy and in some cases more Europe and in others less Europe.

This would put an end to the unions within the union, it would mean no more first and second class citizens and it would mean that we could see the creation of a European federation of citizens. 

Federalism is about securing democracy and diversity in Europe.

"Federalism means sharing of sovereignty and dividing power and competences. Federalism means no monopoly of power, no unique power center, but a number of power centers. Hence, federalism means democracy." - Herbert Tombeur

Most Europeans needs to be informed and educated on the essence of federalism before they can fully take part in the debate about European future, because the debate is largely about federalizing the union or dismantling the union. Sadly, sceptics still compere a federal Europe to a imperialistic super state. Nothing could be further from the truth but it works well for them and will do so until federalist manege to reach out to the masses and educate. 

Thanks to internet and social media the possibilities are greater then ever. Federalists have a unique opportunity to get the message out all over Europe and this in times when the future of Europe more then ever is open for the people to build there own future. 

Federalism is about securing democracy and diversity in Europe. 

European identity

European identity is just as real and authentic as any local or regional identity in Europe.

" United in Diversity" sums it up pretty well, but I'll try to describe, according to me what is our European identity.

It's hard to find a place on earth where all or even a majority's of the people share a general identity. I think you must search in isolated tribes of indigenous people to even come close.

In most democratic parts of the world, just like in Europe, countless identities coexist with each other, locally, nationally and in larger unity's. They are cultural, political, religious and even academic identity's. Its not always without conflict but still in coexistence and with different levels of integration among themselves.

The European identity is found in and around us. Not least culturally where local and regional identity's are clear and strong on there own but just as clearly intertwined with other local and regional identities. It is equally evident in the political struggles that's been played out in Europe, where we currently, without taking something for granted can say that democracy and freedom have taken the longest straw across the continent. I don't stick my neck out by saying that no fight, no struggle and no victory for democracy has happened separately from others in Europe.

Europe has been the centre of two world wars, the Cold War and that's only in the last 100 years. Europe is also the place where the industrial revolution took off and changed conditions drastically. Religion had its borderless fights for century's. In all this, Europeans has for more than 1000 years intertwined in social, cultural and economic enterprises that shaped and developed Europe.

Many women and men from all over Europe have fought and sacrificed there life and limb for liberty and peace so that Europe would achieve what Europe is today.

It is not possible to hide from our European heritage and identity, just as we cant forget the traditions of the community that we where born in. If we do, we do nothing but lie to ourself and our children.

Öppet brev till ordförande för Europeiska kommissionen, ordföranden för Europeiska rådet och ordföranden för Europaparlamentet. (Swedish translation)

Öppet brev till ordförande för Europeiska kommissionen, ordföranden för Europeiska rådet och ordföranden för Europaparlamentet 

José Manuel Barroso, Herman van Rompuy, Martin Schulz

Vi är djupt oroade över Europas framtid.

Den pågående politiska, sociala och ekonomiska krisen hotar att återigen dela upp kontinenten. Misslyckandet med att effektivt hantera krisen har skapat en stor misstro mot unionens institutioner bland sina egna medborgare. Populism och nationalism är på uppgång i alla medlemmsstater och i kölvattnet av krisen finns starka politiska krafter som öppet förespråkar en upplösning av vår union. Detta är en mycket farlig utveckling! Krisen har också lett till skapandet av ett antal organisationer bestående av engagerade medborgare som förespråkar ett mer demokratiskt, starkare och solidariskt Europa. Dessa organisationer och individer tar olika initiativ och skapar forum för debatt, information och kampanjer för att öka medborgarnas deltagande i uppbyggnaden av det framtida Europa.

Vi är alla mycket stolta över vad EU har åstadkommit under de senaste 60 åren men vi ser också att det mellanstatliga systemet inte längre kan möta utmaningarna i det moderna Europa. Detta system har också en top down-strategi som skapar en stor klyfta mellan ledare och medborgare. Vi söker efter alternativ till detta system. Vi söker delaktighet, demokrati och ansvarsutkrävande. Det demokratiska underskottet kan inte längre tolereras.

Krisen har gjort det mycket klart att om vi ska rädda Europa måste vi bygga om och reformera EU, inte bara ekonomiskt utan även socialt och politiskt. Vi står vid ett vägskäl där vägen vi väljer kommer att påverka många generationer framöver. Detta är utan tvekan den största utmaningen som det enade Europa har mött.

Europa går mot en federation eller en upplösning. Ett uppbrott skulle sannolikt flytta Europa mot en ny era av divisioner och kriser som ingen av oss vill uppleva eller lämna som ett arv till våra barn och barnbarn. Allt fler medborgare ser ett federalt Europa som den mest pragmatiska och långsiktiga lösningen för Europa. Frågan är, skall denna federation baseras på ett fundament av medborgare eller på nationalstaterna?

Detta brev speglar den starka övertygelsen som en grupp av EU-medborgare från många medlemsstater har och vi inbjuder, ordförande José Manuel Barroso, ordförande Herman Van Rompuy och ordförande Martin Schulz till att främja en ny fas i reformen av Europeiska unionen, mot en demokratisk federation av medborgare.

För ett Europa vi alla vill leva i!

Brevet i orginal hittar du här.

EP2014 is a crucial election for the future of Europe

The European Parliament is a institution that won't determine the future of Europe, still the European elections in 2014 will be one of the most important elections ever in the history of Europe.

The Elections in 2014 is the only way, at the moment when all European citizens have the chance to make a mark and say what kind of Europe they want to build. It is an opportunity that we citizens cannot miss or take lightly upon.

Europe is facing major structural changes. It is necessary changes but they need to be driven by us citizens if Europe shall stand strong. The election next year is therefore crucial.
Politicians first priority must therefore be to greatly increase the turnout.