International Democracy Newsletter - No. 3 - February 2019

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International Democracy Newsletter No. 3 - February 2019

THE FEDERALIST DEBATE

Papers on Federalism in Europe and the world

Year XXXI, Number 3, November 2018

CONTENTS

Editorial

Governing Globalization. The Challenge of Protectionism to Multilateralism

Comments

Borderless Debate

Federalist Action

Book Reviews

T H I N K

Governing Globalization. The Challenge of Protectionism to Multilateralism

by Lucio Levi

It seemed that the world had overcome the storm of the global financial and economic crisis of 2007-2008 without repeating the mistakes of the past, first of all protectionism that, in the inter-war period, brought about the collapse of the volume of world trade and destroyed millions of jobs.

A C T

Swiss Senate Calls on Federal Government to Consider a UN Parliamentary Assembly

A postulate submitted last week by Daniel Jositsch, a member of the Swiss Senate from Zurich, instructs the federal government of Switzerland to report on whether it perceives a democratic deficit to exist at the United Nations and whether "the creation of a parliamentary assembly within the UN" may be an appropriate step to address such a deficit.

T H I N K

Protection, Prosperity, Progress: A Stronger Euro for a Stronger Europe

by Jean-Claude Juncker

It is a real honour indeed to be invited to give this year’s Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa Lecture. I knew of Tommaso even before I met him in the late 1980s.

A C T

Elected Representatives Issue Call to Action for a UN Parliamentary Assembly

A group of elected representatives was established this Wednesday at an international online meeting with the goal to promote the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, in short UNPA. The new Parliamentary Group for a UNPA adopted a call to action warning that “the United Nations, the multilateral order and democracy are under attack.

T H I N K

A Carbon Tax to Give New Meaning and Renewed Future to Europe

by Roberto della Seta

For decades scientists and environmentalists have been warning about the threat to humanity represented by anthropogenic climate change, caused above all by the ever-increasing use of fossil fuels, which is causing the greenhouse effect to grow.

A C T

World Congress of UN Associations Calls for a UN Parliamentary Assembly

The World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA), calls on UN member states, parliamentarians, civil society and its more than 100 member organizations across the world to "support steps towards the creation of a UNPA".

T H I N K

The Shift to East: China, US Dollar, and the New Multipolar World

by Miriam Campanella

Geo-economics literature has largely anticipated that the world’s economic center of gravity is shifting East. Yet how quick this seems to be happening, and what geo-political consequences this development is set to generate in the current international system, still raise surprise and concern.

A C T

The EU Calls for the Setting-up of a Permanent Multilateral Investment Court

by Andrea Cofelice

In January 2019, EU member states submitted a paper to the UN Working Group on the Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform, under the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), containing the EU’s proposal of establishing a permanent multilateral investment court with an appeal mechanism and full-time adjudicators.

T H I N K

A Conference on Security and Cooperation in the Middle East

by Rene Wadlow

In a 26 June 2018 address to the United Nations Security Council, Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General, reviewed the conflict situations in the Middle East – its profound divisions, troubling currents and the tragic shredding of its diverse religious, ethnic and cultural fabric.

A C T

Internationalisation of the Renminbi

by Antonio Mosconi

Albeit still in its infancy, there are clear signs of the internationalisation of the renminbi, confirmed by its inclusion in the SDR basket: the creation of institutions similar to the IMF and the WB, the network of agreements for mutual payments in national currencies and no longer in dollars among the BRICS countries, ..

T H I N K

Nafta at 25: the End or Just the Beginning?

by Jordan Bankhead

On the hundredth day of his presidency, Donald Trump was prepared to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), signed into law 23 years earlier by Bill Clinton on January 1, 1994.

A C T

Economists' Statement on Carbon Dividends

Global climate change is a serious problem calling for immediate national action. Guided by sound economic principles, we are united in the following policy recommendations.

T H I N K

African Continental Free Trade Area: Opportunities and Challenges

by Andrea Cofelice

On March 21st, 2018, at the end of the 10th extraordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, forty-four out of the fifty-five member states of the Union signed the Treaty establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

A C T

Teenagers Emerge as a Force in Climate Protests Across Europe

Tens of thousands of children skipped school in Belgium on Thursday to join demonstrations for action against climate change, part of a broader environmental protest movement across Europe that has gathered force over the past several weeks.

T H I N K

The ECB Is Not Enough. A Federal Budget for the Eurozone*

by Domenec Ruiz Devesa

The long debate about completing the European monetary union with a fiscal pillar has revived since the near-collapse of the single currency in 2010-2012 as a side effect of the mostly speculative attacks on Italian, Spanish and Portuguese government bonds.

A C T

The Disarming Case to Act Right Now on Climate Change

by Greta Thumberg

In this passionate call to action, 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg explains why, in August 2018, she walked out of school and organized a strike to raise awareness of global warming, protesting outside the Swedish parliament and grabbing the world's attention. "The climate crisis has already been solved. We already have all the facts and solutions," Thunberg says. "All we have to do is to wake up and change."

T H I N K

From Brussels a Minimum Income as Rossi and Spinelli Dreamed in Their Manifesto

by Giuseppe Bronzini

The paper “A Constructive Approach to Euro Area Reform”[i] prepared by 14 Franco-German economists represents a major step forward in the debate on the problems and reform of the euro area – after the various contributions of the European Commission – and has strong political significance, in particular thanks to the contribution of Jean Pisani-Ferry, who was responsible for the programme during Emmanuel Macron’s presidential campaign.

A C T

Global Action Against Mass Atrocity Crimes: a Democratic, Inclusive Approach to Atrocity Prevention

by Jelena Pia-Comella

Global Action Against Mass Atrocity Crimes (GAAMAC) (www.gaamac.org) as a community of commitment composed of states, civil society and academic institutions pledging to prevent atrocities by establishing national prevention mechanisms and policies has set an exemplary precedent for democratic engagement between governments and civil society actors.

T H I N K

Awaiting an Unpredicted Historical Turning Point

by Joseph Preston Baratta

The Israel-Palestine Conflict: A Global and Federalist Perspective

A C T

The Creation of the Latin American Criminal Court Receives Broad Regional Support

by Camila Lopez

The 1st November 2018, at the Honorable Cámara de Diputados de la Nación -the low chamber of the Argentine Congreso Nacional-, within the framework of the Parliamentary Speaker’s Summit and Forum at the G20, the conference “Towards the Creation of a Latin American and Caribbean Criminal Court Against Transnational Organized Crime” took place.

T H I N K

Fake News, Citizens’ Simplism and the Dangers to Democracy

by Grazia Borgna

When we see a big family on a festive day at the restaurant and we do not hear any conversation going, but we see everybody, from grandparents to the smallest child, compulsively hacking on smart phones, we feel that a reflection is needed.

A C T

Carbon Tax Petition

by Monica Frassoni, Alberto Majocchi and Marco Cappato

Demand a price on CO2 emissions! Save the planet. Carbon price now.

T H I N K

The Israel-Palestine Conflict: A Global and Federalist Perspective

by Oded Gilad

The “Altiero Spinelli” Institute for Federalist Studies has been organizing an international seminar on the island of Ventotene for the past 35 years. This island off the Italian coast is the place where Altiero Spinelli, author of the Federalist Ventotene Manifesto, was imprisoned during the Second World War.

A C T

Clean Energy Package - Updates

by Lorenzo Spiller

The “Clean Energy Package” is a set of laws and regulation in the field of environment and energy efficiency, which has been launched by the European Commission on 30 November 2016, encompassing several areas in which the European Union and its Member States shall reach an improvement within a 2018-2030 time frame

SPONSORS: Centro Einstein di Studi Internazionali (CESI), Centro Studi sul Federalismo (CSF), Union of European Federalist (UEF), World Federalist Movement (WFM).

EDITORIAL BOARD: editor Nicola Vallinoto (TFD), coeditor Andrea Cofelice (CSF), graphic Pietro Massafra (CESI), consultant Lionello Casalegno (TFD), editor TFD Lucio Levi.

GLOBAL LEVEL: UN Reform: Shahriar Sharei, Andrea Cofelice; International Monetary System Reform: Antonio Mosconi; Universal Ratification of the ICC Statute: Yasmina Gourchane; Responsibility to Protect: Brittany Roser; UNPA: Andreas Bummel, Nicola Vallinoto; WTO Reform: Lucio Levi; UN World Environment Agency: Roberto Palea, Lorenzo Spiller.

REGIONAL LEVELS: EUROPE. New Deal 4 Europe: Grazia Borgna, Paolo Ponzano; Eea: Lorenzo Spiller; SOUTH AMERICA. COPLA: Camila Lopez, Fernando Iglesias; ASIA AND MIDDLE-EAST. James Arputharaj; Article 9 Campaign: Klaus Schlichtmann.

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