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Common Manifesto

A Common Manifesto For A Common European Campaign
European Elections Manifesto 2004
COMMON PREAMBLE
As adopted at 15th EFGP Council, Luxembourg, 8th November 2003

EUROPE CAN DO BETTER – YOU DECIDE!
Greens make the difference in Europe. The outcome of the 2004 European elections, which will be held in an enlarged European Union of 25 countries, will determine our common future. Greens have been among the most convinced promoters of fair enlargement. The reunification of Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall was and remains one of the main duties of the Union. Greens in Europe are already playing a crucial role in building a more tolerant, social, ecological and democratic Union.

A strong Green presence in the European Union is the best guarantee for a European commitment on better governance of globalisation. Economic and trade rules must be put at the service of environmental and social objectives. We Greens want the EU and all of Europe to make a difference for peace, solidarity, respect for diversity and equity in an increasingly fragile and divided world that needs concrete proposals for a sustainable and just future. Greens are working in favour of an independent and cohesive European foreign policy based on democratic and ecological values.

We want Europe to take up its environmental responsibilities and therefore to implement a radical shift in energy and transport policy. Nuclear energy must be phased out and replaced with cleaner and safer alternative energy. The future belongs to sun, wind, biomass, hydrological and other renewable sources.

The EU we want is open and tolerant with strong protection of both cultural and natural diversity. Our Europe is committed to high social and ecological standards on a regional, European and international scale that must take preference over purely commercial interests. In our Green Europe, the rule of law and the rights of local peoples and individuals shall prevail over military might and economic dominance. Greens are already making a difference, and with your support in the 2004 European Elections, our influence will be even more decisive in the future.

The new constitutional treaty must make the EU more accountable, transparent and democratic and bring it closer to its citizens. We are convinced that the Convention that produced the proposal for a new European Constitution went in the right direction. It wrote an historic document. The nightmare of Nice – where behind-the-scenes horse-trading decided the content of the treaty – has to be overcome. Our position is that the European Constitution should be ratified by referendum.

In order to advance the aim of greening Europe, we will not hesitate to use the possibilities offered by the clause in the constitution which obliges the Commission to propose a European law when one million citizens ask for it. Citizen empowerment and more participatory democracy for civil society and NGOs are among our priorities. We want a social Union built on the basic principles of equality and solidarity and a European Union that strives for sustainable ecological development for the whole continent.

In our Green Vision, the European Union must be synonymous with and emblematic of the concept of peace. The European Union must stand for peace and should be a prime actor in working for peace in the unstable international situation.