'Celebrating 80 Years of Freedom: Democratic Resilience for the Way Ahead’ event

We are Pro European: European integration remains the best available framework for peace, rights and shared prosperity on the continent

Maastricht itself, where we are today and where the 1992 Treaty on the European Union was signed is proof of European cooperation can build, with consensus on shared interests and

But believing in Europe and European values and defending them blindly are not the same thing. Europe is built on facing difficulties and addressing them. Having the capacity to critically analyze our reality, point out at the shortcomings of our institutions and propose solutions is an exercise of democracy and responsibility.

Democratic resilience cannot be built only from the central, state, or EU-institutional level - it must include the perspective of the peoples of Europe, the minority communities and regional governments. More legitimacy for the European project stems from a better inclusion of the groups that have structurally had weaker capacity to influence decision making.

Trust is Democracy and European Institutions has been sliding as we face an increasingly more transactional international relations and a weakening of some basic democratic principles like multilateralism and rule of law.

For us the most critical point to address is not what third countries or super powers do to compromise our future but what we, Europeans, can do to improve our institutions.

Institutional distrust deepens when citizens don’t feel heard or represented, when peoples feel governed by a faraway administration that doesn't reflect their own interest or recognize their priorities, identity or language.

This is a problem that disproportionately impacts peoples without direct representation in and recognition by the Institutions, including local and regional governments.

• for example – for more than 2 years the European Institutions have been discussing about official status of languages spoken by millions in Europe: Catalan Galician and Basque. And nothing seems to come out of this. This discrepancy between discourse of diversity and de facto exclusion of languages generates disillusion in many.

• for example, the discussion on the new MFF that seems to be leading to an important centralization of decision making over European Funds in an area that is currently reserved for regional governments through the cohesion funds.

We need to bridge the gap between citizens and institutions, all citizens, including those leaving in remote or peripheric areas, including those leaving in islands, including those belonging to minorities or nations without the direct access central governments enjoy.

Cities and regions, including sub-state and supra-state groupings within the EU, are structurally closest to citizens and best placed to rebuild trust through visible, responsive democratic practice - this is where resilience is actually made.

 A critical look at the European Democracy Shield

The idea behind the Shield is right, and worth supporting.

But as some critical voices point the European Democracy Shiel has a narrow understanding of what threatens democracy. It focuses heavily on foreign information manipulation and interference, particularly from Russia, while giving insufficient attention to democratic erosion inside the EU itself. Inequality, political disillusionment, declining trust in institutions, attacks on minorities, the concentration of economic and media power, corruption, the weakening of civil society and the rise of authoritarian and far-right politics are not treated with the same seriousness. In our opinion, the most dangerous threats to democracy may come “from within”.

The outcome of last Sunday’s elections in Saxony-Anhalt is an example of that.

Furthermore. current European leaders lack a common vision on future of Europe. Often, particular national polices and interests are more important that the European project. That's a weakness, since we cannot defent democracy if we don't agree which kind of Europe we want. The incident in Ceuta last July is a close example of that. The lack of solidarity of most European Governments and the decision of the Italian government on closing Schengen is a practical case of that.

Translating the Democracy Shield locally

Defending democracy cannot mean defending the status quo, we have to go beyond: 

-    More democracy - Stronger application of the subsidiarity principle - decisions taken at the level closest to citizens

-    More civic space and more dialogue, genuine democratic mechanisms for citizen participation, reinforcing the role of the European Parliament and of course the Committee of the Regions and the Social and economic council. not one-off consultations: permanent, structured spaces where input an influence the outcome and that corrects for the overwhelming influence policy of corporations. 

-    Real representation for the level of governance nearest to citizens - cities, regions, and peoples - not only member states and the EU institutions.

-        Better funding for human rights and civil society organizations. This is the oil in the engine of democracy and participation.

-     Also, on the issues of funding, we advocate for a more balanced distribution of the funds available to European political foundations, so that the gap between bigger and smaller foundations is not as big, and more importantly, to ensure the continuity of the foundations like ours that represent minorities and will be structurally small.

-        Freedom of communication, expression and the press: concrete protection for activists, politicians and journalists. Also, for minority languages.

-        Self-determination should be treated as a core principle of the Democracy Shield and as legitimate democratic expression, allowing the peoples the capacity to have agency over their own future reinforces institutions and their sense of belonging, in turn reinforcing the European project.

-     Election integrity and citizen-engagement measures need to be built for multi-level Europe - state, regional, and local - each requiring its own architecture, not a one-size-fits-all approach. These policies have to respect internal distribution of competences in member states, so that European measures are not seen as a de facto way to bring devolved competences back to the states. This needs to be in the design of every policy, including democracy and participation policies and be accompanied by funding and decision-making powers for regions.

Democratic resilience in Europe relies on bridging the gap between citizens and institutions.

The strongest shield Europe can build is not a wall against the outside, but deeper democracy on the inside. Coppieters Foundation is ready to help build it.