15 September, 2010
Federalist Campaign grows - new Spinelli initiative
UEF President Andrew Duff has welcomed the launching of the Spinelli Group ‑ a new formation of politicians and thinkers committed to building a federal Europe.
Duff, who is also chair of the Federalist Intergroup of the European Parliament, took part in this afternoon's meeting which was co-chaired by Guy Verhofstadt and Dany Cohn-Bendit.
Duff said: "The federalist message must be reinforced in Europe as the EU approaches some difficult questions, such as those concerning:
- the popular legitimacy of the European Parliament;
- the growth of the EU's budgetary capacity, including new sources of revenue;
- reinforcement of the economic government of Europe;
- the future of Turkey's relationship with the EU;
- the formation of a core group of EU states in security and defence.
"Existing federalist forces and organisations, such as the UEF and the Intergroup, welcome this new initiative.
"I particularly welcome the idea of convening a 'shadow European Council' to address some of the agenda items of the official European Council ‑ as well as some of the things which the heads of government are too timid to tackle."
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