Roberto Castaldi
Associate Professor of Political Philosophy, Director, Center for Studies, Training, Communication and Design on the European Union and Global Governance (CesUE). Editor, Euractiv Italy. Secretary, Movimento Federalista Europeo (MFE)
Alberto Majocchi
Professor Emeritus of Public Finance, University of Pavia
Antonio Padoa-Schioppa
Professor Emeritus of Legal History, University of Milan
Simone Cantarini
Chief editor at Euractiv Italy
Emanuele Itta
Member, MFE.
Lorenzo Marsili
Philosopher, Activist, Author, and Director of the Berggruen Institute Europe
Henri Lastenouse
Professor of Political Philosophy, Catholic University of Lyon
Pietro Terna
Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Turin
Antara Haldar
Associate Professor of Empirical Legal Studies, University of Cambridge
Sergio Mattarella
President of the Italian Republic
Domènec Ruiz Devesa
President, Union of European Federalists. Former Member of the European Parliament and former Vice-Chair, Committee on Constitutional Affairs
Giampiero Bordino
Professor in Contemporary History and Political Analyst. President of the Einstein Center for International Studies.
Joseph Borrell
Former Spanish minister, former President of the European Parliament and former High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vicepresident of the European Commission
Alessandro Cavalli
Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Pavia.
Yuyun Wahyuningrum
Representative of Indonesia to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights
Michele Fiorillo
Political Philosopher; Spokesperson, Citizens Take Over Europe
Olivia Gauvin
Research Fellow, Freedom House
Zhiyong Xu
Professor of Political Theory, Renmin University of China
Mathias Koenig-Archibugi
Associate Professor of Global Politics, London School of Economics
Collective
Fernando Iglesias
Member of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies; President, World Federalist Movement
Ingmar Rentzhog
CEO and Founder, We Don’t Have Time
Petition for a European Army – Volt
Eighty years later, we continue the European Resistance against new imperialisms and nationalisms.
On April 25 we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Italy from fascist regime and Nazi occupation. From the liberation of the oppressed peoples of Europe and from the Resistance movements - which united Europeans in the struggle against totalitarianism - the project of a free and united Europe was born, conceived by the thinking of three anti-fascists confined to Ventotene.
Today, the European Union has partly realized that project, promoting democracy and guaranteeing peace among its Member States for eighty years. But it has partly betrayed it, failing to create an international order based on Law and not on the law of the strongest.
New imperialisms and new nationalisms threaten world peace, also because European states have failed to speak with one voice, to acquire a strategic autonomy and globally promote federalism, the only solution to banish war as a means of resolving disputes between states.
The European Union - conceived, designed and built by oppressed peoples who freed themselves from totalitarian regimes - cannot but stand by the peoples who are today oppressed by imperialist and neocolonial policies.
Nationalism is upstating and raising its head: the events of eighty years ago and those of today are in fact united by the same acts of overwhelming, the mythologizing of national interest above any value, and by the search for «living space“ through annexations and occupations that deny the freedom and dignity of peoples and individuals.
That is why yesterday’s resistance is today’s Ukrainian resistance against the Russian occupation, made by those fighting on the front but also by the civilians who continue their lives under the bombs. It is the resistance of the Palestinian people trying to survive a terrible humanitarian tragedy unleashed by the military aggression of the Israeli government. It is the resistance of all peoples whose rights are denied, and of migrants who risk their lives for the hope of a better future, experiencing the violence of national borders on their skin. And it is the resistance of the volunteers who try to alleviate the suffering of people victimized or fleeing wars or misery, as well as that of those who continue to document crimes and injustices of nationalism.
To date, neither the European Union nor its Member States are in a position to influence the course of conflicts and to oppose oppression and violations of the Rule of Law. Lacking their own strategic independence, they are obliged to follow the direction given by hegemonic powers at a global level.
Believing in the value of Peace cannot mean remaining indifferent to its denial. The Europeans who today want Peace find themselves unable to fight to affirm a world based on Law and multilateralism, against the imperialist nationalist model based on the oppression of the weakest ones. In order to do this, Europe must unite and make itself a State. The early militants of the European Federalist Movement knew this when, on July 30, 1943, launched the call for insurrection against Nazi-fascism. And today, more than ever, the European peoples know it, having understood that only by uniting they can emancipate themselves and not become vassals of the great powers.
If the citizens have greater lucidity than those in Government, it is up to the citizens to make themselves heard.
We therefore launch this appeal so that anyone who already sees the need to complete the construction of the European States takes to the streets with us - European Union flag in hand - at every opportunity; and join the Citizenship Committee being built or the movements that compose it.
Long live United Europe!
Long live Democracy
Marc-Olivier Lacroix
Wilfried Loth
André Philip et le Mouvement Socialiste pour les États-Unis d’Europe (1947-1951)
Lyon, Presse fédéraliste, 2024, 164 p., 15 €
Jean-Francis Billion, Pierre Chevalier, (with Jean-Pierre Gouzy and Jean-Luc Prevel)
Fédéralisme et décolonisation. Jean Rous et le Congrès des peuples contre l’impérialisme (1948 -1955)
Lyon, Presse fédéraliste, 2024, 257 p., 20 €
Bruno Poucet
Professor of the History of Education, University of Picardie Jules Verne
Robert Belot
Henri Frenay au General de Gaulle. Lettres et
rapports sur la Résistance et l’Europe
Lyon, Presse fédéraliste, 2023, 254 p., € 20
