International

Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal announced it yesterday after a meeting in Copenhagen. Yes, he would accept the invitation of his German colleague Guido Westerwelle to participate in an informal gathering on the possibility of taking the European Constitution out of mothballs. Rosenthal wasn’t all that enthusiastic about the initiative, but all the same he would take part in the meeting. This shows how great is the gap between the ‘top’ and the ‘ordinary member of the public’, the latter having made it quite clear in the Netherlands in 2005 that he or she had no need for such. With the Treaty of Lisbon most of what the European Constitution would have specified, very much against the will of all those no-voters, was in any case introduced, but apparently the flag and anthem, the only elements which weren’t taken up by the Treaty, must still be instituted.

A few weeks ago Herman Wijffels, one of the kingpins of the CDA, the Dutch Christian Democrats, spoke wisely on the occasion of the first anniversary of De Nieuwe Liefde, a centre for study, reflection and debate in Amsterdam. Wijffels said that as a result of the increase in scale the state had become so distant from the people that alienation had become manifest. He continued by saying that people are more emancipated, but increasingly have the feeling that they have no say in the structures of which they form part.

If that is true of the Dutch state, then it is many times more valid for the European Union, Westerwelle wants now to try to increase the involvement of the public through direct elections for a European President. That sounds attractive, but in reality it’s a Trojan horse. An elected president could, unlike an appointed president - currently Herman van Rompuy – claim that he or she had a mandate from the people and for that reason ever more powers would accrue to the office. In short, it would be once again a step in the direction of a European superstate.

In this world of ever-increasing complexity it is important that everyone has a ‘home’. And such a ‘home’ is found, by definition, close to the place where you live, in your own street, your neighbourhood, your village or your town. Because everything is growing in scale, ever more people have difficulty in locating such a ‘home’. If all social contacts in your own neighbourhood dry up, because small shops have disappeared, the local school has been swallowed up in a school complex far away, the local hospital has closed, and the library has been removed, then everything will grow cold. The message for Europe too should then be: stop immediately thinking of a strong Europe as a world power, and put the ordinary person back in the central position. Don’t go building a superstate, but instead ensure that Brussels becomes useful to the neighbourhood and the small-scale initiative. No interference from Brussels, but a powerful force against speculators and ‘markets’ which by definition can operate only in large-scale terms. Only then will Brussels move closer to the public, and for this direct elections of a ‘President’ will not be needed.