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ECAS reacts to Juncker’s State of The Union on EU Observer: ‘Big on Big Things, Small on Small Things’ – How About Citizens?

13 September 2018

ECAS’ reaction to Commission President Juncker’s State of the Union speech of 12 September featured in an opinion article on EU Observer, published today.

In his speech, President Juncker emphasized the EU’s priority to be a strong global actor, the eurozone and security union, however he only mentioned the word ‘citizens’ 5 times. Moreover nothing was mentioned about the potential of digital technologies to empower and better engage European citizens.

ECAS believes that European citizenship rights are “fundamental to the development of a shared sense of belonging of citizens to a Union based on the rule of law, in order to counter the growing threat that populist movements and nationalists pose to its sustainability”.

This speech was delivered at a time when the legitimacy of the European Union is being questioned by the rise of Eurosceptic populist movements and the departure of a member state from the EU. Therefore ECAS firmly urges EU leaders to consider this potential in order to respond to growing political disaffection among European citizens, which is leading.

Read full opinion article here.