Before restarting

The European Union has no time to wind down: no time (as it were) for a pit stop. In politics, at any level, the problems are pressing; new developments constantly succeed each other; new scenarios open up to which immediate responses need to be given… And yet some moments to pause and reason, to ascertain the results obtained and assess the next steps to be taken, are always useful. Between fears and new momentum. The plenary session of the EP (Strasbourg, 17-20 January) offered an opportunity for Yves Leterme, President of the EU Council for the semester from June to December 2010, to duet with José Manuel Barroso, President of the Commission, who has already “hitched up” the new Hungarian Presidency and continues his course. Other voices are being added to the chorus: Jerzy Buzek, President of the EP, who is increasing in authority, without forgetting some leaders of the political groups, chairmen of parliamentary commissions, and individual MEPs who raise their gaze to scrutinize the direction Europe is taking. Altogether the atmosphere in the EU institutions is one of fears (the crisis has left a deep mark) combined with new momentum (at least on the part of those who believe in the “common home”). At Strasbourg, as in Brussels, euro-sceptic, nationalistic or downright anti-European MEPs lose no occasion to declare that “Europe is pointless”: similar declarations were made in the chamber during this session. Contrariwise, other voices are being heard: those who believe that the geopolitical, economic, social, demographic and environmental challenges with which Europe is faced cannot be resolved just with a national perspective and with the spirit of a “fortress under siege”.Rights and liberties. The most convinced assertors of European integration include, in this phase, the President of the European Parliament, the Polish statesman Jerzy Buzek. His role permits him the visibility to spell out from time to time some fixed principles: “Europe serves its citizens, is useful to national states, and is a point of reference in the world”, he maintains. And further: “The EU is a bulwark of rights and values and has equipped itself, with the Lisbon Treaty, with the necessary means to tackle the scenarios imposed by globalization”. Buzek, moreover, is a proponent of an integrated economic governance; constantly recalls the service that the Union owes its citizens in its various fields of competence; and insists on the fact that democracy, freedom and fundamental rights can find a solid bulwark in the EU institutions. It’s no accident that Buzek recalls such issues as freedom of religion and of expression, the protection of minorities, the development of backward regions, and expresses the hope for genuine democracy in the European countries that don’t form part of the EU, first and foremost Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Balkans as a whole. Currency, markets and a soul… “Europe is trying to give itself an efficient economy and a shared currency. These are essential prerequisites” for the political construction of the EU. But “Europe also needs a soul; it needs noble and shared values and objectives if it is to foster” integration, create tangible results for citizens, and become a real world player. Yves Leterme, Belgian premier, summed up the achievements of the six months’ Belgian presidency in his address to the European Parliament on 18 January. His remarks were greeted with the applause of the other EU institutions and a large majority of MEPs. But his intervention was not limited to the work performed during his term as President of the Council; he also attempted a wider analysis of the situation in which the Union finds itself today, trying to define its future scenarios. “We need to have trust in what Europe has done, of the progress it has made and of the objectives it has achieved”. The Community, “before becoming a market, was a dream, a political ideal for those who” had suffered the tragedies of the war and its divisions. “We must always remember all that – added Leterme -. And at the same time we need to look ahead”.An “existential” question. The President of the Commission, the Portuguese José Manuel Barroso, is another personality who is gaining in stature in Europe. In his first five-year term as head of the Executive, Barroso had especially appeared as a rather opaque politician, a “lukewarm” pro-Europeanist, in tow to the main countries of Europe. Now he seems to be breaking loose and to move with greater self-assurance. He says: “The future of the euro corresponds to the future of Europe”. He places the emphasis on the economic issues, because he knows that it is these that guide (too often) policy; but he is also conscious of their repercussions on citizens and families. He then adds: “In recent months the EU has tried to find its own road to emerge from the crisis through concrete and effective decisions, at times not shared, but with a community spirit and in a sense of solidarity”. Rhetoric, in political speeches, is unavoidable: and yet Barroso reaffirms that “together we progress, otherwise we shall lose the battles” with our new global competitors, with the emerging challenges; and leave Europe and its citizens impoverished. “What’s at stake is our collective destiny – he declared in Strasbourg – it’s an existential question”. And he seems to believe it…