Europe’s problem are economic, but the solutions must be political.
Europe’s problem are economic, but the solutions must be political. It’s time for the parliamentarians in Strasbourg to speak up.
The European Parliament is vast, its shiny superstructure reflecting the functional surroundings of Brussels back on itself. Yet when the citizens of Europe glance proverbially in its direction, it is not a reflection of themselves that they see - a reflection of their current plight - but a remote and faceless edifice.
However, once inside, the Parliament shows itself for what it is. Or at least it offers a glimpse of what it could be. Much happens here, but few follow it, fewer truly understand it, and even fewer, maybe, genuinely care about it. Whatever one’s views about the European Union - and I write here from a British perspective - this is something to be regretted.
What we think of as the “European Union” is of course not a singular identity but in fact a smorgasbord of not always complementary (nor complimentary) institutions. And as Europe lurches from one crisis to another, I believe it is the European Parliament that has to take the lead.
At a recent seminar for senior editors in Brussels, an Italian socialist MEP, Roberto Gualtieri, said: “Non è una problema economica, non è una problema tecnocratica, ma è una problema democratica.
” Europe is on the brink because it is suffering a crisis of democracy, above all else. While Rome, Athens, or elsewhere burns, unaccountable placemen fiddle at the fringes. Or so the narrative goes.