Why europe will run the 21st century

The other way forward was inspired by Jean Monnet, the founder of the European Union, who thought that you could build discreetly, issue by issue, without involving the public. The federalists led by the Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean- Claude Juncker, think that we can simply ignore the French and Dutch votes; we can carry on as if they never happened. On the other hand there are a group of people led by the French who are echoing the Monnet method.

They could add on an additional protocol with these new bits of the treaty which they will save from the body of the text. Many countries have started holding referendums on new treaties. The EU is now facing a political situation where governments are not trusted, where people are not willing to contract out their decision to their leaders. Thirdly I think there is a delivery deficit in the European Union.

If you look at the polls, most European citizens share common concerns. At the same time the credibility of the European Project to make a difference has all but disappeared. And anxiety about enlargement, about economic reform and globalisation are all deep scenes which can be exploited by populace.

To get back on track, we need to develop a new way of thinking about European Integration, which is for a mature Europe: political, not technocratic, diverse, and about delivering for ordinary citizens rather than being built from scratch. In order to achieve that, three things must be done. First of all, declare a moratorium on new treaties. The problem with the European Constitution is that it failed to meet the most basic test of European Integration in the past, which is finding practical ways of dealing with Europe-wide problems rather than being driven by an ideology of ever-closer union.

I think European leaders should declare a five-year moratorium on any new treaties. But instead of presenting that as a Eurosceptic move they should use it to make Europe stronger and more effective by focusing on things we all know need to be done at a European level: foreign policy, migration, terrorism and completing the single market.

The second thing we need to do is to consider how we change Europe in the future. And when it comes to a vote as it did in France and Holland this time, these vast treaties simply become a receptacle for discontent. I think the European Union needs to move forward by developing much narrower packages of reform which deliver concrete objectives such as improving our ability to deal with globalisation, or giving Javier Solana, the European High Representative for Foreign Affairs, the power he needs to be able to deal with China, India and the US in an effective way.

The third response is we need to lose this idea of a single European Union and move towards an notion of many Europes, the Eurozone. We need to inspire European citizens with a different sense of what the EU is about.

Not simply presenting it to them as a tangle of bureaucracy, of treaties, of laws. Nor the idea of a European dream to one day look like the United States of America. Instead we need to use the failure of the constitution in France and Holland to move forward to a different and more democratic and political European Union, because what we saw in the debates in France and Holland is that the old debate of Europe right or wrong is coming to an end and is being replaced by another debate between differing visions of the European Union; right or left rather than right or wrong.

For the pioneers of the European Coal and Steel Community in the memories of war were fresh and the European Project was fragile. It was like a bicycle that need constant pedaling. And these arguments will I think bring strength to Europe rather than destroy it. There is a battle line which has been drawn between those who oppose enlargement and reform and those who see Europe doing best by looking outwards, and reforming outdated institutions like the Common Agricultural Policy.

My book is very much a contribution to that wider debate. And to do this in a way that has won the support of its citizens by declaring a five-year moratorium on treaty change, and increasing the role of national parliaments and national democracy. As metaphors of course, we choose them and then they choose us. What do you have to say about the cultural, architectural and expressive qualities of the EU, and are they not those of a coal union who wants to hide its head behind laws in a stealthy passive-aggressive way?

Great book on one alternative future where Europe plays a key role. Nov 22, Timothy Riley rated it liked it Shelves: european-history , economics , international-relations. This is a focus on the soft power of the EU. Predominantly economic, the EU has been able to influence nations on its periphery, north africa, central asia and the middle east through its economic might. For decades it was able to rely on US expenditures to provide security. Meanwhile they were quietly working on deepening relations with one another.

They are the largest single market and establish rules for corporations that if not met, they cannot sell their goods in the EU. Almost all of them This is a focus on the soft power of the EU.

Almost all of them raise their standards of manufacturing to meet them. They influence the rule of law, strengthen democratic institutions for the nations that one day believe they will be a part of the union, namely Turkey. Importantly, all law reforms coming from the EU have to be ratified and enforced by each nation and are not directed from above in Brussels like many Eurosceptics like to complain.

This gives each nation a huge amount of power to compromise with one another to form laws that work for every nation. If one votes it down, it isn't law. The EU is also now taking the lead in peacekeeping missions that used to be the realm of the US. Africa, the Balkans all have EU lead missions. I'm not sure if this analysis is all that pertinent these days. The EU is in a definite crisis with Brexit being the least of its worries, mainly national anger and resentment over immigration from the middle east and north africa.

Hopefully they can sort that out along with the Greece crisis and start more deepening of relations rather than enlargement. Since Croatia has joined and it looks like Bosnia may actually be the next nation in but growth is slowing at this point. View 1 comment. Een positief en ander verhaal over Europa. Voor iedereen die interesse heeft in de basisgedachte achter de EU en hoe dit toekomst kan hebben. Jun 29, Jason Knoll rated it really liked it.

Interesting to read now, fifteen years after publication. A lot has happened since then- notably the global financial crisis and the Lisbon Treaty- but I think his overall premise still stands.

He tackles the economics as well, arguing that the demographic crisis is much less grave than some fear, and that the euro will prove a magnet. He writes of the "Eurosphere", the European, Middles Eastern and African states which he believes will naturally look to the EU as their geopolitical centre of gravity, especially as US influence recedes. It's an attractive vision, the kind of thing I always chide Commission officials for failing to produce.

One can quibble with the details eg on Macedonia, where in one brief paragraph he doesn't quite get the sequence of events straight but the overall thrust of the argument is attractive. Since writing the book, Leonard has been made the head of a new think-tank promoting precisely these ideas. So, the question that UK politicians cannot stop raising is on the front pages again: Europe — Should we be in or out? Her individual nations having been masters mistresses, even?

What gender is a country if a continent is feminine? Read More Oct 09, Majid Al-Asseri rated it liked it Shelves: politics. Also, there are many provisions to prevent gridlock. In all but the most sensitive areas of national sovereignty, decisions are made in that way. How is Europe going to tackle these problems? But Europe does face big challenges. The demographic decline is a massive threat to individual economies, and all European countries are starting to grapple with it.

For Europe as a whole, its share of the global economy will hopefully be maintained, at the very least, simply by the process of enlargement, much as the US has enlarged its economy simply by sucking in more and more people each year. The EU economy, even as countries like Britain and France and Germany drop out of the G7 and are overtaken by the countries of the East, will maintain its market share by expanding from 25 to 27 to 35 members.

MJ: As more and more manufacturing and services move offshore to China and India, can Europe maintain its standards of living? And that market will grow as the EU keeps expanding. And I think the fourth thing, which is a more contentious argument, is that in this kind of economy that will emerge, where you have China and India moving up the value chain and creating more and more of a threat to different sectors of our economies, the name of the game is going to be about trying to develop added value.

ML: In the book I describe what I call the Stockholm Consensus, which is a direction a lot of countries are moving towards. If you look at Denmark, Sweden, Finland, for example, what you have is quite a large and well-resourced state investing massively in its citizens to make them flexible so they can be productive in the economy, so you have a flexible and very adaptive state, and the welfare system is not just a safety net but is active, making sure people have the skills they need to adapt and move around and do high value-added things.

It can bribe, bully or impose its will anywhere in the world, but when its back is turned its potency wanes. It brings other countries into its orbit rather than defining itself against them, and once countries come under the influence of its laws and customs they are changed for ever. This book sets up a challenge: to regard Europe not as a tangle of bureaucracy and regulation, but as a revolutionary model for the future. We cannot afford to forget that Europe was founded to protect us against war and that it is now key to the spread of democracy.

Mark Leonard Those who believe Europe to be weak and ineffectual are wrong. British Eurosceptics beware. In the age of increased globalisation and intensified interdependence, that has the strength of common sense.

Newsletter Sign up.