Spring 2020 promised several solemn anniversaries for the European project. 70 years ago, Robert Schuman declared the consolidation of German and French production of coal and steel, laying the foundation for European integration. 35 years ago, the adoption of the Schengen agreement funded the area of free movement that we have become so used to in the twenty-first century.
When the spread of the novel Coronavirus prompted extraordinary governmental measures across the continent, the comprehensive restriction of this fundamental European freedom in late March was just one aspect of the erupting crisis; human suffering, dramatic economic disruptions, and the many social problems that have arisen from the pandemic have fully engrossed public and political life in Europe. Obviously, also the promised Conference on the Future of Europe, that was supposed to commence on this year’s Europe Day on May 9, was postponed until further notice.
This situation posed a paradox for several political organisers and activists of Europe’s civil society – one that laid the foundation for Citizens Take Over Europe. On the one hand, the social and political fallout of the crisis called upon us to come together and unite to campaign for a fundamental, public debate on the future of Europe. On the other hand, social distancing was – and in many ways still is – an imperative of solidarity: social isolation as an act of protecting our communities and the most vulnerable members of society. The various members of the Citizens Take Over Europe coalition first met, sharing the common concern that the promised Conference on the Future of Europe was going to get crushed out of the picture in the crisis discourse. The vast array of executive actions that are required to manage the consequences of the pandemic threatened to dispel the importance of broad, public debate on the future form of the European project, especially with a view to the effects of this most recent crisis. How then could we unite to make our voices, the voices of European citizens heard? How could we create a public space to come together as civil society organisations and as citizens to debate our expectations for post-Corona Europe?