Re:Thinking Europe: Thoughts on Europe: Past, Present and Future PDF
Preview Re:Thinking Europe: Thoughts on Europe: Past, Present and Future
Re:Thinking Europe Re:Thinking Europe Thoughts on Europe: Past, Present and Future Edited by Mathieu Segers and Yoeri Albrecht AUP Cover photo: Jörg Brüggeman/OSTKREUZ Cover design: Van Lennep, Amsterdam Lay-out: Crius Group, Hulshout Amsterdam University Press English-language titles are distributed in the US and Canada by the University of Chicago Press. isbn 978 94 6298 315 1 e-isbn 978 90 4853 307 7 (pdf) e-isbn 978 90 4853 308 4 (ePub) nur 320 / 740 © M. Segers and Y. Albrecht / Amsterdam University Press B.V., Amsterdam 2016 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. Every effort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustrations reproduced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is advised to contact the publisher. Contents Preface: Re-creating Europe 9 Yoeri Albrecht Introduction 13 Mathieu Segers European Unity and its Vicissitudes (1959) 37 Isaiah Berlin Contemporary essays Homogeinity and Diversity 55 Tom Holland On the Identity of the West 73 Larry Siedentop The Cowardly Lion in Quest of Peace 87 Stella Ghervas Afterglow of a Dead World 99 Benno Barnard Anatomy of Resentment 109 Ivan Krastev Thinking Europe ‒ No Future? 121 Philipp Blom My EUtopia: Empathy in a Union of Others 133 Kalypso Nicolaïdis Culture and the EU’s Struggle for Legitimacy 155 Claudia Sternberg Historical texts Thoughts on the Future (1943) 171 Jean Monnet Extracts from a speech in the Main Auditorium of Cologne University (1946) 177 Konrad Adenauer Extracts from a press conference (1960) 185 Charles de Gaulle The Tragedy of Central Europe (1984) 191 Milan Kundera The Bruges Speech (1988) 215 Margaret Thatcher Extracts from a speech in the European Parliament (1994) 227 Václav Havel Extracts from a speech in the European Parliament (1995) 237 François Mitterrand The Special Quality of Europe is Culture (2001) 243 György Konrád The Europe of Melancholy (2006) 251 Tomasso Padoa-Schioppa New Alliances and Recomposition Logic (2008) 273 Édouard Balladur Remarks to the Turkish Parliament (2009) 283 Barack Obama Germany in and with and for Europe (2011) 293 Helmut Schmidt Biographies 309 Preface Re-creating Europe Yoeri Albrecht On 1 January 2002, it seemed that the European project was complete. The euro had entered into circulation. The TV news showed the Minister of Finance withdrawing a few crisp new euro notes from a cash point, and that was that. Few bothered to explain how and why there was a new cur- rency. This was evidently unnecessary, because what Europe did, Europe did well; a superficial attitude on the part of the bureaucrats, politicians and intellectuals. Around the turn of the century, though, the fact of Europe was still so self-evident that hardly anyone was talking about it. It was a background detail, part of the scenery. So self-evident and so out of sight that only specialists were truly interested in it. But that time is certainly over. Europe has become controver- sial, and thus it is essential to talk and think about Europe once more. Countries, cultures, cities and political projects cannot advance unless the ideas that underlie them are developed, discussed, criticized, shared and supported. Despite the urgent need, it has by no means become easier to talk about Europe. Much of the debate has degenerated into three topics that can be summarized as for or against migrants, for or against the euro and for or against centralized bureaucracy; but this is a dangerous oversimplification. Europe is the continent that, like no other, has been able to translate the dreams and nightmares of humanity into reality. Cities and landscapes, works of art, music and painting, the welfare state, the constitutional state and democracy: Europe has been able to polish each to perfection. But the downside of European history – genocide, war, exploitation and persecu- tion – gives rise to constant tension when contemplating the 9 present and the future. History offers many reasons to distrust Europeans at a fundamental level: ourselves, our motives and our political projects. At the same time, our multi-coloured Europe has lived through a high summer of peace and prosperity for decades. Admittedly, there was a crisis in 2008, one that is still being felt. If we compare the standard of living among Europeans today with any other period in our thousands of years of history, though, we are enjoying an unprecedented degree of prosperity and freedom. If we are dreaming, it is a sweet dream of prosperity and contentment. But is this the calm before the storm? Are we presently living through the last beautiful summer days, when the trees are laden with ripe fruit? And is the winter coming? Many think so. For many decades, talking and thinking about Europe was put on hold, to a greater or lesser degree. There is an urgent need to catch up. It has been too long since the assumptions and ideals on which a united Europe was founded have been examined. That there was a need, after the great catastrophe of the world wars, for reconciliation and cooperation and to bury the savage, nationalistic aspect of the European soul is self-evident. But the fact that no new debate has been held on the utility of coopera- tion in Europe since the end of the Cold War in 1989 is perplexing. For too long in Europe, we have put all emphasis on, and all our hope in, the rationalist, bureaucratic approach. In doing so, there has been a striking absence of artists, writ- ers, and philosophers; in short, “public intellectuals”. After the abolition of the major, dangerous ideologies of the first half of the twentieth century, dreams and the imagination were largely left out of the equation. Back then, this was quite understandable, but now this situation is no longer tenable. We need to hold a far-reaching discussion about the added value that Europe brings for us, about the value of European culture, and about the way in which this culture can contribute to and form a foundation for peace, security and prosperity on our continent. 10
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