Politics
…One of the major issues facing Europe today is whether and how will Politics, with a capital P, help shape a European system which has until now been dominated by diplomacy (in the form of intergovernmental negotiations taking place inside European committees), technocracy, and lack of transparency. A political system is already in place, as there are institutional bodies which function according to specific rules as well as a continuous flow of decisions which have an impact on the life of European citizens – indirectly and in multiple ways. Politics, however, has been sidelined, and the same has happened in European societies, except for a small number of people who are professionally dealing with these issues. And still, there are big and crucial issues which mandate political decisions at the European level. The smooth functioning of EMU presupposes a consensus over the basic guidelines of economic policy. There is no single technocratic model. Both globalization and European integration raise crucial issues as regards the relationship between the state and the market. And here there is more than one answer. And the same applies to our relations with the US, the unparalleled superpower. Europe cannot proceed into a truly common foreign policy without first holding a Pan-European political debate over the big issues that citizens will be called upon to tackle regarding their ties with the US and the rest of the world…
