Gunning for the YES

At the Green Party's Special Convention on the Lisbon Treaty tomorrow, I won't be speaking, in fact I'm not even certain I'll be voting. However, if I were going to take the floor for 3 minutes, I would probably say something along these lines...

First, I want to begin by reminding you how Europe has evolved. A look at its trajectory, over 5 decades, from Paris to Maastricht, from 6 nations to 27 and counting, from its initial narrow economic focus (on coal & steel sectors) to legislation spanning areas from the environment, to human rights & international law - is cause for enormous optimism. It proves that when considering the development of Europe, nothing should be ruled out, but also that we should not look to the past for inspiration of what the European project is about, but rather ahead, we are shaping it now, as we move forward.

The Greens have a place, unlike any other group, in this new order, and a responsibility that goes with it. As a modern & progressive party, it has attained a level of co-operation and united status between the Greens parties across europe, far & beyond any other party. This is why Europe is a forum where the Greens come into their own, where they can be empowered, engage in dialogue, and promote the values of tolerance and collaboration by leading by example.

We cannot retreat into our own national political universes anymore, shut the rest of the world out, talking about "sovereignty" as if this were something inherently good - it is only ever important and meaningful when a nation is under threat. The EU is not a threat but a vehicle for progress, for the diffusion of values, and the echange of information. Furthermore, EU & state are not mutually exclusive, the EU was never intended to replace it, rather to complement it, to exist in parallel, as a forum for debate & cooperation, common regulation of areas that NEED to be regulated centrally (refer to the many progressive environmental that policies began in the EU).

That is not to say that there are no aspects of the EU that are not entirely benign. The move towards social europe hasnt happened yet, but as mentioned above, nothing should be ruled out. We've seen pan-european social mobilisation and strikes - the advent of "europrotestations" and pan-european workers rights movements. We've seen huge progress in development, integration, and the free movement of peoples. National boundaries are not so impermeable as they might one have been, and this is a fundamnetal reason behind the need for supranational regulation & CONSENSUS on these important issues with which we are all confronted, and cannot effectively deal with in isolation, such as migration and environmental degradation.

We need a different kind of europe, but let's not allow that to make us lose sight of the fact that we want & need Europe.To give europe the political weigth to make a real difference, to influence, to be a leader, we need to steer it in the right course, and this can only be done through a democratic process of consulation, of dialogue, in the words of Senator Deirde De Burca, of "critical engagement". One of the formal institutional measures towards this end provided in the treaty, is the attribution of more power to the Parliament, which allows citizens to vote directly in European elections - crucial to resolving the democratic deficit and promoting a sense of European identity & awareness. We need to encourage the taking of measures to enable people to engage, necessary for the process to be democratic.

The original aim of the constitutional treaty was an attempt to simplify Europe, to make it more comprehensible to the citizens of Europe, to frame its policies in a comprehensive & clarified system. Beyond this, it recognises the crucial element of fundamnetal rights - the charter will gain binding legal status, giving much-needed substance to this framework for citizenship. Yes it is too weak (the result of compromise upon compromise) incomplete and imperfect, but nevertheless part of a process that gives us cause for enormous optimism. Let's be clear, it is NOT a solution, but it is a step.

Europe is a political process which is unfolding day by day, progressing by trial & error, and we must to hold those driving the process forwards accountable at every step & make demands, this is essential to the democratic process, and for establishing conditons under which a meaningful european citizenship can emerge.

A European consensus, deveoping alongside a rapprochement of nations & the integration of its peoples, must be rooted in a spirit of tolerance & co-operation, ever broadening in reach & scope. Co-operation is difficult to acheive, but it is not constructive to obstruct it, and we should remember the symbolic aspect of a vote on such an unprecedented european-wide document, in its implications for European unity & integration, both now & in the future. Clearly, it is difficult enough to come to a europe-wide consensus given the diversity of opinion - without protest votes in national referendums, where far-right and far-left both perversely vote the same way for vastly different reasons - which certainly does not send a clear or useful message to the creators of this document, and the leaders of Europe.

Therefore I implore you, do not allow your reservations on individual clauses of this reform treaty that is perhaps merely an attemp on behalf of europoliticians to save face, put the crisis behind them and move forwards, to make you lose sight of the greater picture, and the challenges & difficulties ahead, please don't vote no to europe.

Recall Caroline Lucas's wise spanish proverb: "there is no path, paths are made by walking." We must fashion our own, in our name and in the name of our convictions, but first we must be brave enough to take that step.