The twofold heritage

The concept of territory was first introduced in the debate on Europe at the beginning of the 1970s. Until then, since the enforcement of the ECSC (1952) EEC, and Euratom Treaties (1957) – in reality since the first post-war period – the Community integration of Sovereign States sharing policies and decision-making processes had been envisioned in order to prevent the resumption of the War and to promote populations’ wellbeing and development. It was the Europe of the Nations. Thanks to the Communities’ progress and the ensuing enlargements to encompass new Member States, the increase in the number of Nations entailed the development of the realm of supranationality (or rather, in Eurocrat jargon, transnationality): not only customs but also borders. The integration process of European citizens sparked off, bypassing duties and trade, which had prevailed until then. Populations Europe was established. It was also defined, with perhaps more elegant and romantic terms the ‘Europe of Peoples’. To say the truth, for one reason or another Brussels, and in general all or almost all European Chancelleries never appreciated the “Populations – Europe” binomial, viewed as not sufficiently administrative or controllable. European regionalism was thus adopted as a tool (in both political and juridical environments) to coordinate the passage of the European Community to the European Union. The 1980s and 1990s were lived under the banner of the Europe of Regions: regional policies, State aids for regional purposes, the Committee of the Regions consisting in elected representatives of local bodies acting as the consultative organ of Council and Commission, the Regions and their increased skills understood as the true or seemingly true core of institutional reforms. It’s all very beautiful. However, at a closer glance, neither the Nations nor the Populations or Peoples, nor the Regions did ever encompass – in the view of European legislators – the broad notion of cultural integration, which despite the countless wars (in Europe an average of one every 19 years until 1940!) from Charles Magne (rex pater Europae) onwards constituted the sole solid roots of a continent which cannot and must not be understood as a unit of territories. Shared cultural heritage, passed down and preserved, kept alive with unimaginable efforts, (traditions, religion, art, literature, music, gastronomy, professions, local governments) are the expressions of a territory, of a corpus of territories, which, far more than the Regions do, cross administrative and geographic borders, constituting the ideal bond between individuals, their communities of residence, the enlarged, – sometime acknowledged as inherited – community of which they are members. Rich Europe, whose impersonal features and economic data dependence are causing its poverty, can be enriched only by valuing and “exploiting” its very own territorial endowment. The opposite is also true: localisms and traditions, despite their long history and territorial expansion, are doomed to become poor if they are not enriched with European citizenship, with the combination of global and local realities (glocal, as defined by 3rd millennium sociologists and scientists).Indeed, since 2004 official EU Bulletins have been addressing the question of cohesion and territorial cooperation, whereby territory is understood not only in terms of public administration, but also as a common cultural heritage at national or transnational level. Trans-national and trans-territorial realities prevail in the new socialization and communication networks: the web, satellite technology, real-time communication, which thanks to distance and obstacle reduction are fostered by the axiom “the world is one territory”. And perhaps this is the way it should go, provided the respect and measure of means, of others and of ourselves.”Europe-territory” is a binomial that we believe is worth enhancing and developing further. The land is not only an undisputed place of origin. It also represents a safe haven in moments of crisis: not a point of arrival but the place for a new departure. It is precisely what the European integration process needs, and what society and the economy are currently in dire need of.