Yes, I guess this is a good idea to create a DD political party. As for us (Academy of Direct Democracy, Ukraine) we see no way to create
it for now but as the idea it sound good for us.
My best regards, Maria Ivanova
=========From: "Bruce Eggum" <bruce.eggum(at)gmail.com>
To: "WDDM world wide" <wddm@world-wide-democracy.net>,
CICDD <cicdd(at)yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [WDDM] Parties and Politics
Date: Thursday, October 26, 2006 12:27 AM
EUOBSERVER
I thank Vladimir Rott for forwarding this information. As I read this, I see
the value "parties" have in democracy. We want to "network" our interests,
but isn't a "party" a network of people with similar views? If we disagree
with some of our "Parties" (network) views, we must bring strong
documentation and proof supporting our views I suggest if we want DD, we
may need to from a DD party or introduce DD to our party to carry that view
into government.
Please comment on this, it could help us "network" our DD goals. Bruce
24.10.2006 - 09:33 CET | By Steen Gade, Sofie Carsten Nielsen and Søren
Winther Lundby
EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - Today we are joining a new party. We are already
members of the Danish centre-left parties SF, the Social Liberals and the
Social Democrats respectively. We have no plans to change that. The world
has changed, however, and so has the EU. We can no longer make do with being
members of a national party. It is for this reason that on 12 October we
sent in our applications, together with a membership subscription of €20, to
the three parties in the European Parliament where our Danish parties sit.
There is only one problem. The parties do not yet exist. Or to be more
precise, they exist in the European Parliament as political groupings but
lack some of the characteristics needed to be proper parties. Most important
of all, they lack members!
'European parties' today consist of parliamentarians in the European
Parliament and work with national parties. This is good, but nowhere near
good enough in light of the enormous challenges which face us in the 20th
century.
For decades, the heads of state and government in the European Council
constituted an essential driving force for the development of binding
co-operation in the EU. This will not necessarily be the case in the future.
It is by no means certain that the European Council will be in a position to
secure future co-operation so that the EU becomes an even better tool for
handling challenges that cannot be met at national level.
The continuous expansion of the EU has complicated the political game in the
European Council, which after new year will see 27 heads of state and
government sitting around the table.
*European parliament overlooked*
One overlooked point in the debate on Europe's future is that things are
quite different at the European Parliament.
Here, MEPs are grouped according to their views. The number of players in
the European Parliament has therefore largely remained unchanged. There are
still four to six parties which form the fulcrum of the decisions that are
made. And there is no reason to assume that the picture will change as the
EU expands still further. Even when Turkey joins the EU, we will continue to
see political competition, which primarily exists between the right and the
left - precisely as we know it, for better or worse, from domestic politics.
From this point of view, it makes good sense that the European Parliament
has been gaining ever more influence. In New Europe we have always been
supporters of this development towards a sort of two-chamber system,
although there is still a long way to go.
All the same, an increasing number of EU laws come into existence on the
basis of a double passage at the European Parliament ('the citizens'
chamber') and the Council ('the governments' chamber'). It is possible that
we will move towards a more genuine balance between these two institutions.
This makes it all the more important to ensure full exploitation of the
democratic potential the European Parliament provides. This is where
European political parties come into the picture.
*More influence*
If the European Parliament is important, then it is also important that the
parties represented in the Parliament have their base among the citizens of
Europe. We need to have proper European parties if we as citizens are to
have better opportunities to exercise influence on the EU. It is important
to remember that all nationalities are minorities on the European and global
political stages. Even if all 5.4 million Danes found a common cause, we
would still be in a weak position in Europe.
In other words, there is no way of getting round this problem. If we are to
have a chance of getting issues in which we stongly believe through the
system, we must seek those of similar views across member states. It is here
the potential lies.
In Europe there are millions of people who would rally to many of the causes
which we as centre-left players regard as essential. We must also divide
ourselves into groups according to our views at the European level, too.
Just as we have done for decades in domestic politics.
Thus, European political parties must be pivotal in drafting coherent
political programmes which form the basis of day-to-day political work as
well as the election campaign the parties must contest in every five years
when the EU's citizens elect a new European Parliament.
It goes without saying that the political programmes must pack a punch.
Ahead of the 2009 election it would be a good idea for the parties each to
select five key issues. Green, liberal or social democrat voters in
Trollhättan will thus be able to give priority to the same five points as
green, liberal or social democrat voters respectively in Thy, Terezín, Turin
and Toulouse.
*Shaping the programme and the issues*
The European parties must at the same time also choose a front figure who is
able to communicate the party's policy and be its face to the outside world.
It was considerations of this kind that led to New Europe writing to the
Parliament's parties prior to the European Parliament elections in 2004 and
asking: Who is your candidate? Because of course it is on the cards, as well
as between the lines in the stranded European Constitution's article 20 and
27: the parties must prior to elections to the European Parliament announce
their candidate for the post of president of the European Commission.
We want to be able to influence the programme our respective European party,
as well as influence the choice of five issues that are to constitute the
crux of the election campaign.
We want, for example by means of a European ballot, to be able to influence
those who want to lead our parties and thus be candidates for the post of
president of the European Commission. The world and the EU have changed over
the last 50 years, but the way forward is still the same. It is all about
more democracy and about developing a common public sphere across national
boundaries.
*The authors are members of 'New Europe' a centre-left organisation that
aims gather all forces to prepare concrete proposals for political action in
the EU.* http://euobserver.com/9/22704/?rk=1
(c) 2006 EUobserver, All rights reserved --
Bruce Eggum, Gresham Wisconsin, USA
Free Movie on Gov http://www.truemajorityaction.org/takeback/
www.doinggovernment.com/
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