(02 December 2013) – The Social Europe Journal publishes a policy paper in which a number of renowned German thinkers and practitioners set out their vision of a new European Union – a European Union that is truly social and democratic. They make the case for fundamental reforms and sketches the way to a more sustainable model of European integration based on shared values and cultural diversity.
The current debate about the future of Europe and the European Union has revealed a conflict of interpretation that also affects on the way individual citizens, political parties and states see themselves. According to the authors, we need to address this in order to develop a new understanding of ourselves within a larger community in which all of us have a stake.
This is a challenge not only for politicians, the business community, scientists and academics, but also for ordinary people in their everyday lives, who often fail to realize the extent to which they have already become “Europeans”.
The question of the aims, depth and institutional implications of the integration process has become far more pressing now than it was during the earlier rounds of reform in Maastricht, Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon.