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More than a dozen local elected officials on the European elections’ “Notre Europe” list have called for a brief calling for a strong but decentralized Europe that is closer to the everyday concerns of local actors.
On Tuesday, Jean-Christophe Fromentin, the mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine in the Paris region, France’s second-richest city after the capital, and more than a dozen other local elected officials signed a newspaper article. Le Monde They are calling on the EU to hand power back to local people.
“We have never needed Europe more.” […] But never before has Europe seemed so distant, bureaucratic and disconnected from our everyday concerns,” they write.
Members of Mr. Fromentin’s Notre Europe list see themselves as the inheritors of right-wing, pro-European Christian democracy, but they have received grassroots support from mayors, local and prefectural councilors, and members of civil society. They provide specialized knowledge.
At a time when the EU is under attack from all sides, whether from extreme political parties or from large swaths of the right who are looking for reasons not to act publicly amid peasant anger, the authors argue that “further Europe,” and above all, “more Europe.” “A better Europe”.
In their view, it is unacceptable that local elected representatives “do not have direct confrontation with European institutions” and that they are “isolated from the region.”
“The starting point must be at the local level, because that is where each of us lives on a daily basis,” the signatories said.
shared sovereignty
As explained in the article, subsidiarity should create “shared sovereignty.” At the local level, local political and economic actors are “more creative, more entrepreneurial, and more competitive.” They are also “best placed to develop strategies for activation and differentiation.”
Mr Fromentin has been campaigning in recent weeks for local authorities to be exempted from European directives if they do not meet local needs.
Meanwhile, the state needs to strengthen its role in key areas such as education, health, justice, local ecology, police and the military. Conversely, the EU must secure geopolitical, economic and technological power in the face of other major groups such as the US and China.
According to members of Notre Europe, clearly defined and balanced subsidiarity leads to greater efficiency and greater freedom, two “essential aspirations of our fellow citizens”. I am.
Although this list has not yet made it to the polls, it still has the potential to sway fellow liberal-conservative candidate François-Xavier Bellamy (Republican/EPP), who is currently hovering around 10%. .
(Hugo Struna | Euractiv.fr)
Read more at Euractiv
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