Re-finding confidence

“The 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome has arrived without the Second Treaty of Rome having been signed”: with this provocative statement Father PIERRE DE CHARENTENAY , editor in chief of the cultural review of the French Jesuits “Études”, writes in its March number that, in spite of the “considerable goals” achieved by Europe during the half century that separates the 25 March 1957 from 25 March 2007, the impasse caused by the rejection of the European Constitution in the French and Dutch referenda has revealed “an incredible paralysis of Europe” that requires that we “rediscover [the meaning of being] European citizens” and “confidence in the EU project and mission”. According to de Charentenay, Europe “goes well beyond a local policy, often reduced to the immediate dimension”: Europe “is a great promise for the future”, but only on condition that its citizens “be able to open themselves to this reality that the French rejection of the Constitution has obscured”. EQUALITY FOR EVERYONE. “The achievements of the European Union are considerable – observes the Jesuit -: the creation of a single market down to the single currency, and a legislative corpus that impacts on all economic spheres, the environment, research, justice and many other sectors. This is a conquest from which all Europeans draw advantage”. “This unification – says de Charentenay – has permitted a development that would have been inconceivable with the maintenance of the former frontiers. European businesses have achieved extraordinary technological and commercial progress. Research has been ‘europeanized’ for the benefit of everyone. In the social and juridical fields, the harmonization not only of law but also of needs has permitted a generalized circulation”. “The second great achievement – continues de Charentenay – is the enlargement to 27 members. The original intuition only regarded a small part of Europe: now it includes almost the whole continent”, permitting “a common dynamic, a multiplication of contacts and a reunification” thanks to which “all countries are for the first time placed on a level of equality”. THREE PROJECTS . Yet, after the French rejection of the Constitutional Treaty on 29 May 2005, followed by that of the Dutch, “the process of ratification of the text has been blocked” and “a new decision on the matter has been postponed to 2009”. “This constitutional project is dead – says the editor of Études -. Neither those who said yes , not those who said no can be asked to vote on it again“; we would need instead to “evaluate the cost of non-ratification on the economic, social and institutional level” (including reduced powers to the European Parliament and failure to implement the protection of fundamental rights prescribed in the Constitution). In de Charentenay’s view, today more than ever we need “genuine leaders able to give a vision to Europe”, and “a basic task of re-forging the common elements”. Recalling the European colloquium promoted by COMECE (Commission of the episcopates of the European Community) at Clermont-Ferrand last October, the author of the article proposes “three projects” for the revival of Europe: first, a process of “European inculturation”, in other words “the need to explain Europe and its fundamental values to everyone”. Second, the need to re-launch the economy of the continent and re-define “a model of freedom that may be developed in a situation of globalization” and ensure “equity between countries and generations”. Third, the need for some institutional reforms “based on the Constitutional Treaty” that “would permit the pursuit of such projects as a common energy policy, the development of transport systems and a wide-ranging policy of sustainable development”.A PAUSE. “The question of EU enlargement however remains delicate; it is directly linked to the consciousness citizens have of the political space in which they live”. In this connection, following the entry of the countries of the Balkans, “morally and politically indispensable”, de Charentenay suggests “a pause”. In his view, “Ukraine and Belarus are still too closely linked to the Russian world to be credible candidates [for Europe] in the short term”. As for Turkey, it is a “complex case”. So there is need for “a pause”, during which “to examine the functioning of the Union and reinforce the citizens’ attachment to this political entity”. We also need to “rediscover European confidence in the mission of Europe itself”, especially in response to the challenges of globalization: “this – according to the editor of Études – is the new imperative that must urge us to go forward together”. “The challenges posed by the development of China and India, possible trade competition or future trade conflicts; relations with Africa, sidelined but so close to us; intervention in armed conflicts from which we have too often been absent, in particular in the Middle East; and negotiations with the USA, which must not remain the sole masters of the world: these are all questions that – says de Charentenay – ought to lead us to re-find our common identity as Europeans in order to tackle them together”. “Separately – he concludes – we have no capacity for reaction, and the current deadlock proves it”.