No Culture No Europe

A Land of Studious Peoples

GYÖRGY KONRÁD

What is the role of culture in European integration? It is lasting and decisive. A unitary European culture existed before an economic or political community in Europe. This is because the first is derived from relationships between people, the second between states; and people find common ground more easily than states.

Europe’s great innovation is cultural pluralism, a tendency that runs parallel to the spread of the philosophy of human rights, based on an obligation to respect the individual.

What makes Europe special is its balance between the universal and the particular, the general and the unique, the common and the individual.

It is a political triumph if those in power manage to establish a meaningful dialogue with the thinking public. It is important that the intelligentsia have an appropriate role in the European Union. There is a need for counterweights, for positions of authority that — by law — cannot lead into actual governing. We need outstanding thinkers, scientists, and artists who will, after round-table consultations, take a position on issues in such a way that they will be interesting to public opinion.

I mention this not to say that they could replace the Parliament, but only to note that there is space for them as well. As well as the elected and the appointed, the invited should be given a significant role on the stage of European decision-making so that public opinion will be able to follow the dialogue between politicians and independent intellectuals with greater engagement.

György Konrád. Novelist and essayist. Studied literature in Budapest and published his debut novel in 1969. President of the International P.E.N. Club (1990–1993), President of the Academy of Arts (1997–2003). Recipient of the highest state distinctions awarded by France, Hungary and Germany. Recent publication: Europa und die Nationalstaaten, Essay, 2013.

Read more about the A Soul For Europe Pre-Conference debate here.