More than 150 representatives of the social and political forces that organized in France and in the Netherlands the historical rejection of the EU Constitution, as well as social and political actors from across Europe interested in the future perspectives of the their peoples, gathered in Paris between 24th and 25th of June at a Conference aiming at the construction of a more Social, more Democratic, more Ecological, and more Peaceful Europe, and of another European Constitution.

The final Declaration of the European Conference ( http://romania.indymedia.org/en/2005/07/914.shtml), adopted by consensus, puts forth that the victory of NO in France, eventually confirmed and extended by the NO vote in the Netherlands, is that of the Social and Democratic pro-European Left.

It is a victory directed against poverty and precariousness, against unemployment and lacking of jobs, against the destruction and pollution of nature and environment, against social injustice, against patriarchy and lack of just rights for women, against war, and mostly against neo-liberalism.

It is essential and relevant at the same that the ill-willed explanations launched by the neo-liberal political structures in Romania – explanations supported and disseminated in a manipulating manner by the Romanian Mass Media which is politically entrenched and obedient to the Power – concerning the so-called causes of the NO vote were refuted beyond any doubt. According to these ‘explanations’ given to the Romanian people, the negative vote had been directed against the integration of Romania and Bulgaria and had been determined by nationalist forces and tendencies. It is true that such forces also took part in the Referendum. But on one hand the statistical weight of their vote had not been significant as compared to the consciously expressed vote of the social and democratic forces, and on the other, the motivation of the right wing had been completely different.

The adopted Declaration expresses the political will to overcome the crisis of this European construction, proposing a social, democratic, peaceful, feminist and ecological alternative of solidarity between people. This is opposed to the neo-liberal solution, which is exclusively based on the construction of a Europe ‘from above’ by the political elite through secret negotiations and having as idol the market and multi-national capital dominion, instead of considering the realities and the needs of the people. This incapacity of the neo-liberal political elite to come up with a solution to the present crisis, and their break up with the people they should represent, was mirrored by the failure of the recent summit in Brussels, summit where the British Prime Minister attempted to impose his ultra-neo-liberal policy.

The participants at the European Conference in Paris expressed clearly their political will to continue strengthening the cooperation with the peoples of Eastern Europe so as to improve the material and political conditions of their inclusion into a democratic and social Europe, and for bridging the existing gap between the two parts of the continent.

The European institutions must be democratized, the European Parliament must be invested with real decisional power, and the executive structures should have their influence and power reduced.
The policy of the Central European Bank with its negative consequences on the Eastern European countries, the Bolkenstein Directive, and the Directive regulating the working time, were heavily criticized.

The construction of Another Europe means the involvement of the people, of the social and political forces ‘from below’. It means opening a wide political debate which should eventually lead to an alternative Constitution suited for a Social, Democratic and Ecological Europe. It goes with the involvement into a vast social movement which will culminate with the European Social Forum process and with its three distinct stages: the Istanbul EPA (23rd-25th of September 2005), the International Meeting about the Alternative Constitution in Rome (12th-13th of November 2005), and with the ESF-4 in Athens in April 2006.

Peter Damo was invited as participant at the European Conference in Paris, as coordinator of the Romanian Social Forum, and as participant engaged in the alternative European Constitutional process since the NO Constitution Conference in Rome in May 2004. He reported about the impact, the consequences, and the perception of the French and Dutch NO vote in Romania. He emphasized the importance of including from the very beginning of the EU non-member states yet, such as Romania and Bulgaria, taking into account the specific historical, political, psychosocial and cultural realities in these countries, in order to avoid the mistake of the neo-liberal exclusivity.

We transmit hereby the general call in the Declaration of the European Conference, addressed to the Trade Unions, to the Social Movements, to the NGOs, to activists, and to all people.

It is a call to involve themselves into the construction of a more Social, more Democratic, more Ecological, more Peaceful, and Better Europe. We only add that we should all be starting first with constructing a more Social, more Democratic, more Ecological, more Peaceful, and Better country.

Such an approach needs, as one may have noticed in France and in the Netherlands, an organized space of meeting, debate and work, which, eventually, turn into the motor of concrete action.

The historical European breakthrough of the French and Dutch peoples was by no means the result of chance, and so much the least of chaos. It was the result of organized and coordinated hard work in solidarity of various progressive forces of the society such as social movements, trade unions, NGOs, grassroots, activists, people, and political parties.

In Romania this alternative could be the Romanian Social Forum process which was started in January 2004, an open democratic process under its way of development according to the fundamental principle ‘from below’. A process connected to the European Social Forum process and opposed to any isolated political elite organized event, a process where we, again, invite you all to be part of and construct it.

We launch this Appeal to the Romanian Trade Unions, to the NGOs, to all those who understand and wish to be part of the democratic and social refoundation of the European edifice starting ‘from below’, with the people and for the people. We reinforce the idea that the Another Europe we want should first begin with the refoundation of each country from within itself, and with revising the mentality both as individual and as group.

The documents of the European Conference in Paris can be viewed on the Romanian Social Forum website,  http://www.forumulsocialroman.ro, at the ‘Events’ and Photo Gallery’ chapters.

The Romanian Social Forum Coordinating Committee shall inform you in due time and in open manner about the events we are organizing.


Peter Damo,
On behalf of the Romanian Social Forum Coordinating Committee