Cornelia Funke tells stories of fairies and mud monsters, of adventurous girls, a gang of children in Venice ? and her stories somewhere between fantasy and adventure are Germany?s most successful literary export at the moment....
more
Why should we get excited about such a lacklustre topic as the future of Europe?
My answer is: if we are not able to hold a Europe-wide referendum
before the next European elections in 2009 on the shape Europe should
take, the future of the Union will be decided in favour of neo-liberal orthodoxy.
Avoiding this touchy issue for the sake of a convenient peace and
muddling along the well-trodden path of compromise will give free reign
to the dynamic of unbridled market forces. This would force us to watch
as the European Union's current political power is dismantled in favour
of a diffuse European free-trade zone. For the first time in
the process of European unification, we face the danger of regressing
to a level of integration below what has already been achieved. What
irks me is the paralytic numbness that has set in after the failure of
the constitutional referenda in France and the Netherlands. Not taking
a decision in this context amounts to a decision with major
consequences.
Three pressing problems are bundled together in the single issue of Europe's inability to act:
(1)
The international economic situation has changed in the wake of
globalisation. Today's conditions deprive the national state of the tax
resources it needs to satisfy its population's demands for collective
goods and public services, or even to maintain the status quo. Further
challenges, such as demographic developments and increased immigration,
only aggravate the situation. Here the only defence is offence:
winning back political clout on a supra-national level. Without
convergent tax rates and medium-term harmonisation of economic and
social-policies, we are in effect relinquishing our hold over the
European social model.
(2) The return to ruthless hegemonic
power politics, the clash of the West and the Islamic world, the decay
of state structures in other parts of the world, the long-term social
consequences of colonialism and the immediate political consequences of
failed de-colonisation – all of this points to a high-risk international situation.
Only a European Union capable of acting on the world stage - and taking
its place beside the USA, China, India and Japan - can press for an
alternative to the ruling Washington consensus in the world's
economic institutions. Only such a Europe can advance the long overdue
reforms within the UN which are both blocked by and dependent on the
USA.
(3) One cause for the rift in the West that has become apparent since the Iraq war is the clash of cultures
that now divides America itself into two camps of almost equal size.
This clash has also caused a shift in the hitherto valid normative
standards of government policy. America's closest allies
cannot remain indifferent here. It is precisely in critical cases of
joint action that we must break free of our dependence on our superior
partner. That is one more reason why the European Union needs its own armed forces. Until now Europeans have been subordinated to the dictates and regulations of the American high command
in NATO deployments. The time has come for us to attain a position
where even in a joint military deployment we still remain true to our
own conceptions of human rights, the ban on torture and wartime criminal law.
For these reasons, I believe Europe must pluck up the courage to introduce reforms which will give it not only effective decision-making procedures, but also its own foreign minister, a directly-elected president
and its own financial basis. These could be the subject of a referendum
held concurrently with the next European parliamentary elections. The
draft would be considered passed if it received the 'double majority'
of votes of the states and the electorate. At the same time, the
referendum would only bind the member states in which a majority had
voted in favour. Europe would then move away from the convoy model
where the tempo is set by the slowest member. Even in a Europe made up
of core and periphery, countries preferring to remain on the periphery retain the option of rejoining the core at any time.
These ideas dovetail with those of the Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, who has recently published a manifesto for the "United States of Europe."
*
The full version of this speech originally appeared in German in Der Standard on March 10 and March 11, 2006.
Jürgen Habermas,
born in 1929, is one of Germany's foremost intellectual figures. A
philosopher and sociologist, he is professor emeritus at the Johann
Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt and the leading representative
of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory. His works include
"Legitimation Crisis", "Knowledge and Human Interests", "Theory of
Communicative Action" and "The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity".
Translation: jab.
RSS
Dragan Klaic arrived in Skopje on the day that Greece vetoed Macedonia's bid to join NATO at the summit in Bucharest. He found a nation reeling from this unexpected slap in the face.
No-one knows what the anti-Koran film 'Fitna' by the Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders contains exactly. But fearing Muslim anger many are ready to make concessions regarding the fundamental freedom of expression. Gelijn Molier looks to nineteenth century philosopher John Stuart Mill for advice.
The deportation of Romanians from Italy in the wake of a murder committed by an ethnic Roma has caused a stir in Romania. Yet whereas Romanians object to this discrimination abroad, they fail to see that at home the Roma are treated with nothing but hatred and disdain, and neither the Church nor the state is doing anything about it. By Mircea Cartarescu
Since the 19th century Ukrainians have been dreaming of a return to the paradise lost of Europe. But Ukraine's rich and painful history remains a blank spot in the European collective consciousness, or a mighty underground river flowing out of Europe's cellar, littered with corpses. By Oksana Zabuzhko
The Amsterdam district of Slotervaart, where Theo van Gogh's murderer lived, continues to be plagued by outbreaks of violence from youths in the immigrant communities. Many of their parents have withdrawn from what they perceive as the hostile outside world, which they invariably blame when their children go astray. By Margalith Kleijwegt
The sexual revolution has run itself aground on the back of standardisation and banality. It's time to fight Hefnerism with radicalisation not restriction, declares Dylan van Rijsbergen 
No sooner were the fires put out reelected the government that bore the than Greek votersbrunt of responsibility for the tragedy. Did those who suffered so much learn no lesson from their distress? Crime writer Petros Markaris looks at why the Greeks have failed to find their way out of the political crisis rocking their country. 
The third anti-porn campaign of the women's feminist magazine Emma is absolutely necessary and, at the same time, hopelessly old-fashioned. You can't use the tools of the 70s to fight the pornographication of today's market - at least not if you want to win. By Iris Radisch 
Russian journalist and Putin critic Grigori Pasko talks with Tobias Goltz about the North Stream Pipeline, Russia's state-controlled media and how his like-minded colleagues are dropping off like flies. 
The elites of East Germany lack orientation, as only the West has left its imprint on the power structure. Roland Mischke talks with political scientist Gunnar Hinck about imbalances and incompetences among East German leaders.