Is Less Enough to Imagine the European Narrative?
FRÉDÉRIC MESEEUW
“What our citizens need much more is that someone governs. That someone responds to the challenges of our time.”
Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission
Traditionally, the purpose of the State of the Union address is to report on the condition of the nation and to set out a legislative agenda and national priorities for its citizens. It is a message from which people expect a vision of the future — at least on the other side of the Atlantic.
Its European equivalent has once again revealed that Europe is far from being a nation and that expecting it to offer any sort of vision today is quite simply a pipe dream, an utopia. Delivered as we celebrate the 500th anniversary of Thomas More’s “Utopia”, the September 2016 State of the Union address given by European President Commission Jean-Claude Juncker in the European Parliament was characterised by a singular apathy rather than any vision. It revealed his fear of being taken to task by the Member States and highlighted the level of fragmentation that exists between Member States and the general lack of enthusiasm for the European project.
The former Luxembourg Prime Minister offered us a new narrative for Europe so cautious that his calls for greater synergy and more determined European leadership took the form of questions rather than statements. Instead of the rallying cry of the statesman, we heard the tentative suggestion of the adviser. In short, he conceded the power of the initiative to the Member States, asking them to shoulder greater responsibility whilst at the same time undertaking to reduce that taken by the EU.
Jean-Claude Juncker went on to set out five new roles for the European Union, using five verbs that establish the new rhetoric of the moment and reveal the stance of a Europe turning in on itself: firstly to protect, preserve and defend, so that it can then better take responsibility by “empowering” its citizens.
In the President’s mind, the first step in the empowerment of Europe’s citizens is to enable investment at all levels.
He presented investment in digital technology and communications as a first miracle recipe, with the deployment of 5G and free wireless internet access set first to “empower” and then to create jobs. It remains to be seen what the victims of the various manufacturing sites currently being closed in Europe will think of this. Perhaps the 500 billion euros worth of investment promised by the President by 2020 and the creation of a Capital Markets Union will restore the balance.
And where was culture in all this? Following the recent proposal to reform Europe’s copyright laws, the President made much of the importance of “empowering” artists and creators and protecting their works. Here once again we heard the rhetoric of “protection”. Each year the arts sectors wait with bated breath for a mention in the State of the Union address. A mention that it got this year, albeit, once again, from an economic angle. There was no recognition of the artist as someone who can act in the role of mediator, who is capable of rethinking and changing society, stimulating creation and tolerance, encouraging a critical approach in all of us, and inspiring new education models.
Which brings us to the place of young people in this “State of the Union”. The President told us that we must “invest in our young people” through the Erasmus exchange programme and the EU Youth Guarantee. He is also proposing to get 100,000 young people involved in a European Solidarity Corps designed to respond to crisis situations such as the refugee crisis by 2020. In other words, to invest in volunteering and the solidarity of young people as a way of shoring up failing policies and papering over the lack of synergy between Member States.
Apart from mobilising students, there was no mention of either education or research. In fact, the word “education” was completely absent from this State of the Union address, while the word “research” appeared just once, in relation to defence.
The writer George Steiner said that, “any definition of a post-classical civilisation must learn to count on scientific knowledge and a world of mathematical and symbolic languages… Not out of “pure utilitarianism”, but in the name of enthusiasm, intellectual vigour and moral conquest”.
The State of the Union address did not offer an enthusiastic, intellectual or morally conquering state of the nation. In fact, it actually closed by offering European citizens “less” Europe as Mr Juncker vaunted that his Commission will put forward “80% fewer legislative initiatives than over the past five years”.
We would like to be able to live in a society where experimentation, creation and utopia are held up as values in the service of our citizens and the political imagination. A model in which we would dare to invest more in education, in art and in research. A model in which we might have the courage to test new paradigms for reducing inequality, participatory democracy or housing policy. A model that would see the implementation of a fairer tax system and in which the environment would receive the attention it deserves. A model in which — why not? — we would dare to reduce the length of the working week like in Sweden, and in Thomas More’s Utopian government.
But what did we get? A narrative devoid of vision, with no soul and no ambition yet that is intended to respond to the “challenges of our time”. Right now, what citizens desperately need is something to believe in. Let’s hope 2017 will come up with a brighter message. Let’s all work on that.
Translated from the original French by keiki communication
Frédéric Meseeuw is senior advisor on European projects and policies at the Centre for Fine Arts Brussels (BOZAR) since 2011. Previously, he was advisor at KEA European Affairs, a consultancy specialised in cultural and creative policies at EU level.
Read more about the A Soul For Europe Pre-Conference debate here.
