Com a devida vénia ao Memória Virtual, fica a sugestão de um blog acabado de chegar à blogosfera: The Lisboners. Reúne um grupo de deputados no Parlamento Europeu, de várias nacionalidades, e parece-me ser um sopro de confiança, num momento em que o projecto enunciado em 1950 pela Declaração de Schuman, que esteve na base da União Europeia e do Dia da Europa que hoje se assinala, tanto carece de se (re)pensar profunda e seriamente a si próprio.
O texto inaugural foi escrito pelo Rui Tavares e está disponível à leitura clicando no link a baixo, para expansão do texto.
por Rui Tavares
One of the great ironies of European political life is that you end up not discussing European politics that much. Of course, as members of the European Parliament community — a diverse group of elected representatives, political advisors, parliamentary assistants and the like — we do politics all the time. Part of it we could call “Brussels politics”; which means dealing with Commission and Council, and carrying out the internal proceedings of the Parliament. Then we all go home and play our parts in the domestic politics of Portugal, Poland, France or Finland.
What we don’t do is European politics — politics done on a European-wide scale, for an European-wide audience, with a European-wide debate in mind. That politics does not exist yet, although some people are trying to draft it. The Lisboners will be our chalkboard for this experiment.
We take important decisions that affect (and we hope improve) the lives of 500 million people in Europe, and billions more around the world. We indeed do policy — lots and lots of it. As the EP has gained in power, however, we have sometimes witnessed firsthand the “Veil paradox”, after the name of the French politician Simone Veil, a former Member of the European Parliament who once noted that “back in the old days, we had no power in the EP and we only discussed big things; now we have lots of power and we only seem to discuss small things”.
Both small things and big things should matter, but then we stumble upon a thorny problem — to whom? To all, of course — but that is easier said than done. Many have worried that there is not yet a European public sphere. But there will be no such thing if we do not have an European public opinion, which in turn will not exist until there are European opinions discussed in the public view on a continental scale.
Does this seem too philosophical? Then please consider just this last year in European affairs. We had the “Greek crisis”, then the Irish one, then the Portuguese, with Spain, Italy and Belgium lurking — in fact, we have had a potent and ongoing Euro-crisis, which has been the most visible aspect of an EU-crisis, but by no means the only one. We had the Roma crisis in France, with repercussions on Romania and Bulgaria. In Hungary we have seen an extremely alarming Media law come into force, and now a new Constitution, also very worrying from the fundamental rights perspective. In our neighborhood we have witnessed the Arab Revolution, which prompted a new rift in the EU, this time between Italy and France. We could go on with the Economy, Civil Rights, the Environment, Foreign Policy, and then the Netherlands, Finland, Lithuania, and so on. The most tangible aspects of the European project — the Euro, Schengen and freedom of movements — have been put into question one way or the other.
Here at The Lisboners we do agree that 27 atomized domestic debates around these issues will not give us the vantage point that we need the put meaningful options on the European table. Beyond that, we do not agree on many things. Starting with the Lisbon Treaty, which is — like it or dislike it — the world we inhabit. We do live in the codecision world, in the delegated acts planet, and we sometimes struggle to understand what it all means.
Hence the name of the blog. Personally, being a lisboner myself, it is also a deterrent against homesickness. European politics reminds me a lot of my town. Sometimes you turn a corner and get a glimpse of glorious history. Other times the view is beautiful and it makes your imagination drift and you think about the potential of it all. Most of the days it is a struggle to find your way. Confusing, yes; frustrating, well maybe; boring, no.
What we don’t do is European politics — politics done on a European-wide scale, for an European-wide audience, with a European-wide debate in mind. That politics does not exist yet, although some people are trying to draft it. The Lisboners will be our chalkboard for this experiment.
We take important decisions that affect (and we hope improve) the lives of 500 million people in Europe, and billions more around the world. We indeed do policy — lots and lots of it. As the EP has gained in power, however, we have sometimes witnessed firsthand the “Veil paradox”, after the name of the French politician Simone Veil, a former Member of the European Parliament who once noted that “back in the old days, we had no power in the EP and we only discussed big things; now we have lots of power and we only seem to discuss small things”.
Both small things and big things should matter, but then we stumble upon a thorny problem — to whom? To all, of course — but that is easier said than done. Many have worried that there is not yet a European public sphere. But there will be no such thing if we do not have an European public opinion, which in turn will not exist until there are European opinions discussed in the public view on a continental scale.
Does this seem too philosophical? Then please consider just this last year in European affairs. We had the “Greek crisis”, then the Irish one, then the Portuguese, with Spain, Italy and Belgium lurking — in fact, we have had a potent and ongoing Euro-crisis, which has been the most visible aspect of an EU-crisis, but by no means the only one. We had the Roma crisis in France, with repercussions on Romania and Bulgaria. In Hungary we have seen an extremely alarming Media law come into force, and now a new Constitution, also very worrying from the fundamental rights perspective. In our neighborhood we have witnessed the Arab Revolution, which prompted a new rift in the EU, this time between Italy and France. We could go on with the Economy, Civil Rights, the Environment, Foreign Policy, and then the Netherlands, Finland, Lithuania, and so on. The most tangible aspects of the European project — the Euro, Schengen and freedom of movements — have been put into question one way or the other.
Here at The Lisboners we do agree that 27 atomized domestic debates around these issues will not give us the vantage point that we need the put meaningful options on the European table. Beyond that, we do not agree on many things. Starting with the Lisbon Treaty, which is — like it or dislike it — the world we inhabit. We do live in the codecision world, in the delegated acts planet, and we sometimes struggle to understand what it all means.
Hence the name of the blog. Personally, being a lisboner myself, it is also a deterrent against homesickness. European politics reminds me a lot of my town. Sometimes you turn a corner and get a glimpse of glorious history. Other times the view is beautiful and it makes your imagination drift and you think about the potential of it all. Most of the days it is a struggle to find your way. Confusing, yes; frustrating, well maybe; boring, no.
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