FRONT PAGE " "
The road taken is, in theory, the right one. In proposing the informal summit on “social Europe” at Hampton Court on 27 October, British premier Tony Blair explained that “agreement cannot be reached on the [EU] finances if there’s no agreement on what political direction to take”. The intention of the current President of the EU Council was thus to re-affirm the need for a wide-ranging debate on competitiveness, employment and social cohesion (in substance the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy), in order to fix the priorities of the 25-member Europe within the context of globalization. This is a discussion not irrelevant to the wider “system of values” of the Union, recently traced in the Constitution. Only after that debate will it be possible, according to Blair, to re-define the financial perspectives for the years ahead. On the other hand, this would confirm whether the heads of state and of government like it or not that social Europe (services to the person, labour, education, health, social security and so on), internal reforms to ensure the efficient functioning of the institutions (linked to the ratification and entry into force of the Constitutional Treaty) and the resources (hence the financial Perspectives) that the member states intend to invest in the Union are closely interconnected in the “common home”. One extremely positive fact is that the recent events that led to the autumn summit placed the citizen and the intermediate social forms at the centre of the Community edifice: a “social individual who is the bearer of expectations, needs, liberties and rights, which must take precedence over any other common policy or decision. In recent days, for example, the President of the European Commission Barroso declared that “Europe must reform and modernize its policies if it wishes to preserve its values”. And he went on: “There does not exist a single European social model, better or more effective than others. What’s important is to ensure each State, each citizen, an equal basis of rights and a proper level of life and social protection”. Similar declarations have been made by other leaders. By acting “for” citizens, and only “with” their support, is it possible to proceed towards closer integration, towards a democratic and prosperous Europe, committed to defending its “diversities” while at the same time realizing a new and virtuous unity: a Europe that opens itself to the world and sends out a strong message of peace. In a phase in which the EU must overcome the impasse in which it has found itself, two “suggestions” made by the European bishops ought to be heeded. COMECE (Commission of the episcopates of the European Community) published a document last week on the value of “solidarity” as the real “soul of Europe”. Another important contribution has emphasized, instead, the need for effective and courageous family policies as “backbone” of future Community policies. These are two suggestions, which ought to be placed on the table at Hampton Court.
