A mobile agenda

The European agenda is always busy with a flurry of old and new issues that need being addressed on the basis of joint agreement on principles, rules and interests, by Member States, by the populations living on the opposite sides of the continent, by the institutions in Strasburg and Brussels. Some themes belong to the EU’s “historical” heritage, such as agriculture, regional development, legislative acquis. Other questions gradually emerged, such as intercultural dialogue, the “political bearing” of the European Parliament, the monetary and economic Union. Indeed, EU vocabulary, just like the European agenda, is not static in time as it evolves in accordance with the integration process.Economy and politics. Thus the top ten terms for the year 2011 can be drawn from the updated EU glossary. Although it’s a partial list it provides an indication of common policy developments over the past months. To this regard the first word to be remembered is “governance”. Since the American subprime bubble burst, the EU did its utmost not to be overwhelmed and it was agreed that at the initial phase, Member States’ major economic and financial decisions had to be marked by a shared approach. In reality, the economic and monetary union, an “offspring” of the Maastricht Treaty, already envisaged the convergence of national economies. But a good part of that project had remained on paper, exception made for the adoption of the single currency (which is not yet “single” as it has been adopted in 17 out of 27 EU States). Only after the apocalyptic 2008 crisis did Germany, Bulgaria, Greece and France, Sweden and Malta come to grips with the concrete events. National European economies cannot withstand globalisation and cannot live up to the competition of emerged or emerging countries (China, India, Russia, Brasil, South Africa…). They are unable to defend themselves from the possibility of financial earthquakes on their own. Thus major effort was made by the EU into strengthening the single market, stepping up financial sustainability cooperation, along with measures aimed at monitoring labour market developments and welfare systems. The Europe 2020 strategy (the second key-term) for growth and employment, is part of this package of measures.The rule, the budget. But the EU isn’t just economy. It is – or rather ‘should be’ – first of all a major political project aimed at the realization of a “common home” for European citizens. For that reason the rules of the game are crucial and therefore the Lisbon Treaty (third term) that came into force in 2009, is the definite framework to determine the roles, skills, profiles and commitments of the EU mosaic. The Treaty is at the implementation phase. Some of the innovations decided in Lisbon have already been put into practice (consider the figure of the “stable” president of the European Union), others are at the testing phase. These include the High Representative for Foreign affairs and the new External Action Service, along with the “citizenship initiative” (fourth term), designed to enable citizens to propose new community regulations through petitions carried out at European level. “Transparency” (fifth term) is part of this path of mutual rapprochement between citizens and common institutions: the online availability of most information on the EU, through the portal www.europa.eu, is an emblematic sign of the transparency-building-yard. But it also takes money to build the “common home”. Thus “budget” is the sixth fundamental terms that recurs in EU seats. Whether it is an annual budget (approximately 140 billion euro, 1% of national GDP) or the multiyear financial framework (the one for the period 2014-2020 is currently being debated), what counts is to provide the appropriate amount of funds to carry out the policies and projects that Member States have delegated to the EU.Enlargement and much more. Many more words recur in EU seats, in State summits, in ministerial reunions, in the plenary of the Strasbourg Parliament, in legislative acts and in Brussels’ working papers. “Enlargement” (seventh term) has come into fashion after a period of eclipse. It was revived by the rotating Hungarian presidency of the EU Council of Ministers, calling for Croatia’s EU adhesion. The game was won: Zagreb’s adhesion is planned to begin mid-2013, dragging the Balkans towards a non-immediate EU inclusion. Finally, three more words are frequently mentioned in the EU. They will be addressed after the summer. These are: “immigrants” (with the proposal of a European agenda of integration) “xenophobia” (one of the great evils afflicting Europe along with populism: the massacres in Oslo and Utoya are a sad reminder). “Roma” (even here the EU is advocating inclusion initiatives, in full respect of cultural identity).