La pensée des femmes catholiques en Europe. Les combats de Maria Paola Colombo Svevo

‘Equal pay for equal work’, ‘Action against trafficking in human beings’ and the ‘Role of cooperatives in the growth of women's employment’ are those three im­portant battles carried out by the women at the European Parliament in the 1990s. They represent greater justice, more dignity, increased democracy. In particular, the article wants to remember the figure of Maria Paola Colombo Svevo, senator of the Italian Christian-Democratic Party, member of the European People's Party and member of the European Parliament between 1995 and 1999.

The European Parliament in EC external Relations, From the Inception of European Political Cooperation to the Single European Act

European Political Cooperation represented one of the most innovative and yet vague and contested areas of cooperation among EC Member States. As an intergovernmental practice that left no room for supranational institutions, it did not contemplate any formal role for the European Parliament (EP). Focusing on the EP and EPC after the 1979 elections, this article aims at making three points. First, it argues that direct elections gave the EP stronger political arguments to claim more powers but parliamentary demands on EPC were not different from those emerged already in the early Seventies. Second, given Member States’ resistance to parliamentary pressures, the EP developed some original initiatives in international affairs, in order to undermine the intergovernmental features of EPC. Parliamentary actions were particularly effective on human rights issues. Finally, it points out that with the signing of the Single European Act, the role of the EP in foreign affairs remained, at best, limited.

L’Union européenne entre crise de légitimité et crise d’identité. Le rôle du mythe et de l’identité culturelle dans le processus d’intégration européenne

The paper explores the origins of the EU’s legitimacy crisis and highlights the im­portance of cultural identity as a foundation and as a unifying factor for Europe. Despite the economical and political progress of European integration, the emo­tional dimension of the union is almost absent, so that the Europeans’ sense of be­longing remains mainly national. The process of European integration has used a certain political mythology in order to generate a sense of identification and to le­gitimate itself. Nevertheless, the emotional impact of this mythology has not been able to compete with national ones. The European institutions recently launched initiatives aimed at promoting cultural integration and at giving rise to a new narra­tive for Europe, which should strengthen the sense of belonging and bridge the le­gitimacy gap. We are then facing the beginnings of a new phase of European inte­gration, centred on enhancing the cultural dimension of the union.

Citizens and the European Union since 1950

The article covers the relationship of the citizens with the European Union and its predecessors since the beginnings of the European integration in the 1950s. It dis­tinguishes the period of the unquestioned citizen during the 1950s and 1960s, the period of the questioned and mobilized citizen since the 1970s and the period of the active citizen since around the turn the of century, in looking at European elec­tions, referendums, European movements, interest organizations, regular European opinion polls, complaints by citizens at the European Parliament, at the European Commission and at the European ombudsman and legal proceedings by citizens at the European Court in Luxemburg. In addition, the article looks at the change be­tween periods of trust and periods of distrust by citizens in the European institu­tions since the 1950s. It argues that the trend towards the mobilized and active citi­zen includes an eventual strong rise of distrust in periods of crisis, but also by a return of trust by the citizens even in difficult periods such as the recent Covid19 pandemic.

A Parliament for the People? – The European Parliament’s Activism in the Area of Social Policy From the Early 1970s to the Single European Act

The formal powers of the European Parliament (EP) prior to the Single European Act (SEA, 1986) were marginal. However, this limited formal role did not correspond to the perception of the early Members of the EP (MEPs) as to what role the EP should play in Community policy-making. Predominantly driven by pro-integrationist ideas of ever-closer union - and of an ever-stronger Parliament - MEPs became activists for deeper political as well as institutional integration from the institution’s beginnings in the 1950s. This article studies the EP’s emerging legislative influence through the lens of Community social policy, a policy area with a particularly strong ideational dimension. Perceiving a lack of public support for and identification with the Community project, MEPs invested considerable time and effort prior to the SEA into attempts of creating a broad Community social policy. In so doing, the delegates hoped to convince the member states’ citizens of the added value of closer European integration whilst simultaneously enhancing their own institution’s position. Based on an extensive collection of EP archival documents, this article contributes to a deeper understanding of the EP’s gradual empowerment at a time when the Treaties foresaw little more than a consultative assembly.