MAKING EUROPEAN CITIZENS: CHALLENGES TO SOLIDARITY AMONG EU MEMBER STATES Evaluator Conny Reuter Director of the Progressive Alliance & Former Secretary-General of the EU NGO network SOLIDAR Faculty Advisor Sabine Lang Director of Center for West European Studies Program Coordinators Addie Perkins Lexi Kinzer Editors Lexi Kinzer Addie Perkins Report Cover Erik Levi Stone Authors Madison Rose Keiran Lexi Kinzer Esmé Lafi Mahilet Mesfin Olivia Nicolas Juliet Rose Romano-Olsen Addie Perkins Evple Peng Tommy Shi Erik Levi Stone ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Our deepest gratitude goes to Professor Sabine Lang, who was like our own personal library of all things European. You showed us a great deal of patience, gave us suggestions that we didn’t even know we needed, accelerated our learning and pushed us like baby birds to dive down towards the depths of the Europeans Union’s policies. Danke sehr! We would also like to thank the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies for making Task Force possible, and bad education impossible, for supporting students in their research endeavors and continuously challenging us to think critically about the world. To Kian Flynn, who helped us begin out research journey, thank you! We are also appreciative of our evaluator Conny Reuter for taking the time out of his busy schedule to not only evaluate our report but also discuss and debate with us about the realities and uncertainties behind EU solidarity and what it holds for the future of Europe. Finally, we are sincerely grateful to all the ten authors who contributed to this Task Force Report, who are most likely snoozing, right this moment, in solidarity. Thanks for the 100+ hours of writing, critiquing, showing up in class, trying to convince the rest of us you can always stay up just a bit longer, and writing yet again. Because of your relentless efforts, we took a small concept map, put it in a blender with some energy drinks and tough love and turned it into a 155-page report. You rock! LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CEEC — Central-Eastern European Countries EESC — European Economic and Social Community ECB — European Central Bank ECDPC — European Center for Disease Prevention and Control ECI — Europeans Citizen Initiative EDPB — European Data Protection Board ex-ENF — Identity and Democracy ERASMUS — European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students EP — European Parliament ERDF—European Regional and Development Fund ESF— European Social Fund Plus EU — European Union/Brussels GDP — Gross Domestic Product GDPR — General Data Protection Regulation HEIs—Higher Education Institutions ICT — Information and Communication Technology ISM— International Student Mobility NPI — Non-pharmaceutical intervention PPE— Personal Protective Equipment SME — Small and Medium Enterprises TFEU — Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union UBI — Unconditional Basic Income WHO — World Health Organization HEI — Higher Education Institutions MEP — Member of European Parliament TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................ 1 SOLIDARITY AND THE EU ............................................................................................................................................... 1 THE RISE OF EUROSCEPTICISM IN MEMBER STATES ........................................................................................................ 5 CRISES TESTING THE EU’S SOLIDARITY .......................................................................................................................... 6 THE CONFERENCE ON THE FUTURE OF EUROPE ............................................................................................................ 11 OUTLINE OF OUR TASK FORCE ..................................................................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER ONE: EDUCATIONAL EXCHANGE PROGRAMS AND ERASMUS+ ...................................................... 15 1.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................... 15 1.2 PARTICIPATION IN ERASMUS ................................................................................................................................... 17 1.3 ERASMUS’S IMAGE ................................................................................................................................................ 21 1.4 STUDENT’S VOICES ............................................................................................................................................... 24 1.5 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................................ 25 1.6 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................................................. 26 CHAPTER TWO: EUROPARTIES ............................................................................................................................... 27 2.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................... 27 2.2 INCREASING VISIBILITY OF EUROPARTIES ................................................................................................................ 29 2.3 UNIFYING THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM ........................................................................................................................ 36 2.4 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................................ 39 2.5 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................................................. 39 CHAPTER THREE: THE EUROPEAN CITIZENS’ INITIATIVE (ECI) ......................................................................... 41 3.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................... 41 3.2 THE ORIGIN AND STRUCTURE OF ECIS ................................................................................................................... 42 3.3 KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS OF THE EUROPEAN CITIZENS’ INITIATIVE ..................................................................... 46 3.4 ECI MOBILIZATION AND FOSTERING A EUROPEAN PUBLIC SPHERE ............................................................................ 49 3.5 EU RECEPTION AND FOLLOW-UP PROCEDURES ...................................................................................................... 53 3.6 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................................ 57 3.7 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................................................. 57 CHAPTER 4: COMBATTING DISINFORMATION IN THE EU .................................................................................... 58 4.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................... 58 4.2 THE EU’S DATA POLICIES ...................................................................................................................................... 60 4.3 ISSUES AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................................................ 62 4.4 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................................ 73 4.5 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................................................. 73 CHAPTER FIVE: MIGRATION IN THE EU .................................................................................................................. 75 5.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................... 75 5.2 MIGRATION AND EU SOLIDARITY ............................................................................................................................ 77 5.3 DUBLIN REGULATION AND SAFE THIRD COUNTRIES .................................................................................................. 78 5.4 FAITH IN THE EU, BURDEN SHARING, AND ENFORCEMENT ........................................................................................ 81 5.5 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................................ 86 5.6 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................................................. 87 CHAPTER SIX: THE RECOVERY PLAN FOR EUROPE AND ECONOMIC SOLIDARITY ....................................... 88 6.1 INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................................................