EU POLICY PAPER DECEMBER 2020 Building a Stronger Union Young Fine Gael’s Submission on the Future of Europe - Second Edition (2020) BUILDING A STRONGER UNION EU POLICY PAPER | DECEMBER 2020 Contents Foreword 4 Introduction 6 Competitive 8 Assertive 12 Secure 14 Conclusion 18 YOUNG FINE GAEL Building a Stronger Union Foreword A chara, I am delighted to preside over the second edition of the YFG International Committee’s Building a Stronger Union EU Reform Document. I am proud to have played a part in contributing to the previous iteration of the document when I was a member of the International Committee in 2018 and witness how well received the document was at the time. Yet again in this second edition of the document, YFG’s International Committee remains at the cutting edge of developing pioneering, relevant policy related to the European Union and its place in the world. On behalf of the National Executive, I would like to commend the International Secretary Paula Campbell, the Deputy International Secretary Eoin Scarlett and all of the team on the International Committee for their work on this excellent document. We look forward to engaging with Minister Simon Coveney, our Fine Gael team of MEP’s, YFG’s Cllr Eileen Lynch, Secretary General of the Youth of European People’s Party (YEPP) and all of our friends in YEPP and the Nordic Conservative Student Union (NKSU) as we discuss our ideas of how to protect and progress the European project in these changing times. Above all else, COVID-19 has shown us just how important the power of unity and togetherness is as we tackle a pandemic that knows no race, no gender, no socio- economic status and no borders. The European ideals of “Unity in Diversity” are not only more relevant than ever before but they represent an opportunity for us to come together and chart our path forward as one Union built on shared ideals and interests: respect for the rule of law and democracy, liberal democratic values, our shared security and our shared future of economic and social success. Now is the time for us to send a resounding message to the rest of the world that working together, Europe will stand stronger and more resolute than ever before. I hope that you enjoy reading this document. I am proud that YFG continues to assert itself at the heart of the conversation on the future of the European Union. Is mise le meas, Daire Lawler President of Young Fine Gael, 2019-2021 4 BUILDING A STRONGER UNION EU POLICY PAPER | DECEMBER 2020 Dear Member, As Young Fine Gael’s International Secretary, I am pleased to see the second iteration of YFG’s European policy document launch and that YFG remains fully engaged with European policy, after our initial document in February 2018. With this document, YFG is focusing on the policies we wish to see advanced as the need for closer European ties and cooperation came into the spotlight earlier this year through our combined efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Our document has not deviated from the structured asks of before as we still believe that the key asks are for a more competitive, assertive and secure European Union. We in Ireland stand to benefit enormously from a better functioning EU - from better competition and better quality services for consumers, to collectively standing up to and sanctioning those who continue to violate human rights. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the current International Committee for all their efforts in putting this document together and their continued work on the committee: Eoin Scarlett, Áine Cooke, Sarah Canavan, Mourad Mejdi, Luke Byrne, Art O’Mahony, Jude Perry, Drummond McGinn, Conor McArdle, Ali Khan, Jamie McCourt I would also like to thank our two National Executive liaisons Shane Price and Obi Ekoba as well as YFG President Daire Lawler and Vice President Garry O’Sullivan for their input and continued support. Is mise le meas, Paula Campbell International Secretary Dear Member, I am proud to present to you the second iteration of Young Fine Gael’s policy document on reforming the European Union. Work on this document began in February 2018 following on from a YFG meeting I organised with Brian Hayes MEP to discuss the future of Europe. What emerged from the meeting was a great number of ideas from the YFG membership about how to reform the EU. I decided, together with our International Secretary Paula Campbell, to use these ideas as the basis for YFG’s submission to the European Commission’s Future of Europe public consultation process. The rest of the International Committee soon edited and added to the policy paper. The first iteration of the document was completed at YFG Summer School in Bundoran in July 2018. In Bundoran, all members of YFG had an opportunity to suggest amendments to the document and it was passed as official YFG policy unanimously by our membership. The first iteration of the document was submitted on behalf of YFG to the European Commission’s consultation process in Autumn 2018. The International Committee also met with a number of important figures in Fine Gael and the EPP to present them with the document and lobby on its contents. These included: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney TD; Leader of the EPP in the European Parliament Manfred Weber MEP; Minister for European Affairs Helen McEntee TD; Sean Kelly MEP; Mairéad McGuinness MEP; Brian Hayes MEP; and Deirdre Clune MEP. The first iteration also formed the basis of YFG’s Youth Manifesto in the 2019 European elections. Work on the second iteration by a new International Committee began during the height of the COVID-19 crisis in Spring 2020. Paula and I proposed writing a second iteration in recognition of how dramatically the political and economic environment in the EU has changed since the last European Elections. However, we believe COVID-19 has not undermined the possibility of the reforms we proposed in 2018, but rather has accelerated the need for them. For this reason, we have retained all of the proposals we put forward in our first iteration. The purpose of this second iteration, therefore, is not to fundamentally change our vision of a reformed union, but to add to it. We also hope this new iteration will not only take into account and offer solutions to the COVID-19 crisis, but also better respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by the rise of China and the 2020 U.S. General Election. Dramatic times require dramatic action. For this reason, the second iteration of our policy paper is more radical and extensive in its scope. Young Fine Gael’s vision for a reformed European Union can still be summed up in three words. This is why the sections in this document are named “Competitive”, “Assertive” and “Secure.” We want to create a more competitive union that allows the EU to compete better economi- cally in a rapidly changing global economic environment. We want the EU to become more assertive in global politics, with the ultimate aim of the EU becoming an equally powerful voice alongside the United States for western liberal democracy and the rules-based international order. We want a more assertive union to challenge a rising China and the authoritarianism it promotes, at home and across the world. Lastly, we want a more secure union, better defended against threats such as terrorism, Russian aggression and cyber warfare and one in which EU citizens are more economically secure. We also want the EU to be a champion of the fight against climate change both internally and exter- nally. Making the EU more competitive, assertive and secure will, we believe, build a stronger Union. Eoin Scarlett National Executive Liaison Officer on the International Committee 5 YOUNG FINE GAEL Introduction In 2020, the European Union finds itself at a crossroads. The of this division. We in Young Fine Gael believe that this unique COVID-19 pandemic is forcing Europe to make hard and dramatic position gives our small country the opportunity to help forge a choices about its future for decades to come. The pandemic compromise that will save and strengthen the European project. has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Europeans. This has already been reflected in Minister Paschal Donohue’s It has taken away the jobs of millions more. COVID-19 has also recent election as President of the powerful Eurogroup. highlighted many of the divisions, contradictions and structural The domestic challenges confronting Europe are immense. The flaws within the EU. Added to the enormous problems presented most urgent of these is the need to resolve the unfinished nature by the pandemic, Europe faces many other longer term domestic of the monetary union. The incompleteness of the Eurozone and international challenges. has been exposed as a major weakness by both the pandemic, The introduction to the first iteration of this document took and the recent decision of Germany’s constitutional court. The particular note of the worrying growth of extremist political acceptance by the European Council of the Franco-German parties in Europe on both the hard left and the hard right, and their compromise over the issue of the next seven-year EU budget exploitation of rising Euroscepticism. Much of this Euroscepticism and the COVID-19 economic stimulus package represents a way was grounded in the same fears that led British voters to choose forward. However, the primary structural failings of the Eurozone to leave the EU in the 2016 Brexit referendum.