euro2008
October 2008 
The EU cannot afford to become a symbol of weakness or decline
Posted on Jun 30th, 2008
by 
Albert
Albert
As the EURO2008 is over I feel more than ever before the unique colors, powers, energies and flows in the different European Nations. it was a great celebration in Austria and Switzerland and I feel this passion, these emotions and the soul and flair of these three weeks indicate what Europe can be.
In poltics its not felt this way. its simply not sexa right now to speak about EU- For all German reading people here at Gaia one interesting article from weltonline.de:
Die Europäische Union ist einfach nicht sexy
So isnt European Foreign Policy. As proud associate member of European Council on Foreign Relations which was launched last NovemberI am happy to see this statement. After the irish NO to EU its time to find a new moment and momentum for Europes journey into the future and its global importance.
On 25 June, 44 members of the European Council on Foreign Relations signed a statement calling on European leaders to continue building a common foreign policy and not let the Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty lead to another era of self-doubt.
The EU cannot afford to become a symbol of weakness or decline
25.06.08 - ECFR Statement
"Europe's citizens and leaders know that the world will not pause and wait for Europe to resolve its internal debate about better institutions. The threat of a nuclear Iran, the risk of war in the Middle East, the fight against extremism in Afghanistan, the challenge of climate change and the plight of Africa all require a stronger Europe better able to promote peace and prosperity. The new administration in Washington will need a strong European partner to reaffirm the Atlantic Alliance and restore its moral prestige. Europe's place in the world will be challenged if the Union indulges in self-doubt and paralysis.
We are profoundly convinced that, notwithstanding disagreements about institutional reform, Europeans do not want their continent to become a symbol of weakness and decline in the 21st century. It remains vital that the European Union finds ways to speak to the world with one voice and reaffirms its commitment to the enlargement process, which should not become hostage to the EU's internal debates. The European Union's leaders would be failing their citizens' hopes and interests if they let uncertainty over the Lisbon Treaty weaken Europe's fledgling foreign policy or if they shirk the challenge of making it stronger."
Signed by:
Martti Ahtisaari, Finland
Marek Belka, Poland
Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, Poland
Svetoslav Bojilov, Bulgaria
Emma Bonino, Italy
Marta Dassù, Italy
Jean-Luc Dehaene, Belgium
Gianfranco Dell'Alba, Italy
Pavol Demeš, Slovakia
Tibor Dessewffy, Hungary
Andrew Duff, United Kingdom
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, Denmark
Brian Eno, United Kingdom
Joschka Fischer, Germany
Timothy Garton Ash, United Kingdom
Bronislaw Geremek, Poland
Anthony Giddens, United Kingdom
István Gyarmati, Hungary
Diego Hidalgo, Spain
Michiel Van Hulten, Netherlands
Wolfgang Ischinger, Germany
Gerald Knaus, Germany
Caio Koch-Weser, Germany
Ivan Krastev, Bulgaria
Miroslav Lajcák, Slovakia
Mark Leonard, United Kingdom
Alain Minc, France
Nickolay Mladenov, Bulgaria
Dominique Moisi, France
Andrzej Olechowski, Poland
Dick Oosting, Netherlands
Mabel Van Oranje, Netherlands
Leoluca Orlando, Italy
Cem Özdemir, Germany
Diana Pinto, France
Andrew Puddephatt, United Kingdom
George Robertson, United Kingdom
Albert Rohan, Austria
Renato Ruggiero, Italy
Daniel Sachs, Sweden
Giuseppe Scognamiglio, Italy
Aleksander Smolar, Poland
George Soros, Hungary/US
Andre Wilkens, Germany
This statement was published on the Letters pages of The Guardian, ABC and Dnevnik on 25 June, 2008.
In poltics its not felt this way. its simply not sexa right now to speak about EU- For all German reading people here at Gaia one interesting article from weltonline.de:
Die Europäische Union ist einfach nicht sexy
So isnt European Foreign Policy. As proud associate member of European Council on Foreign Relations which was launched last NovemberI am happy to see this statement. After the irish NO to EU its time to find a new moment and momentum for Europes journey into the future and its global importance.
On 25 June, 44 members of the European Council on Foreign Relations signed a statement calling on European leaders to continue building a common foreign policy and not let the Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty lead to another era of self-doubt.
The EU cannot afford to become a symbol of weakness or decline
25.06.08 - ECFR Statement
"Europe's citizens and leaders know that the world will not pause and wait for Europe to resolve its internal debate about better institutions. The threat of a nuclear Iran, the risk of war in the Middle East, the fight against extremism in Afghanistan, the challenge of climate change and the plight of Africa all require a stronger Europe better able to promote peace and prosperity. The new administration in Washington will need a strong European partner to reaffirm the Atlantic Alliance and restore its moral prestige. Europe's place in the world will be challenged if the Union indulges in self-doubt and paralysis.
We are profoundly convinced that, notwithstanding disagreements about institutional reform, Europeans do not want their continent to become a symbol of weakness and decline in the 21st century. It remains vital that the European Union finds ways to speak to the world with one voice and reaffirms its commitment to the enlargement process, which should not become hostage to the EU's internal debates. The European Union's leaders would be failing their citizens' hopes and interests if they let uncertainty over the Lisbon Treaty weaken Europe's fledgling foreign policy or if they shirk the challenge of making it stronger."
Signed by:
Martti Ahtisaari, Finland
Marek Belka, Poland
Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, Poland
Svetoslav Bojilov, Bulgaria
Emma Bonino, Italy
Marta Dassù, Italy
Jean-Luc Dehaene, Belgium
Gianfranco Dell'Alba, Italy
Pavol Demeš, Slovakia
Tibor Dessewffy, Hungary
Andrew Duff, United Kingdom
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, Denmark
Brian Eno, United Kingdom
Joschka Fischer, Germany
Timothy Garton Ash, United Kingdom
Bronislaw Geremek, Poland
Anthony Giddens, United Kingdom
István Gyarmati, Hungary
Diego Hidalgo, Spain
Michiel Van Hulten, Netherlands
Wolfgang Ischinger, Germany
Gerald Knaus, Germany
Caio Koch-Weser, Germany
Ivan Krastev, Bulgaria
Miroslav Lajcák, Slovakia
Mark Leonard, United Kingdom
Alain Minc, France
Nickolay Mladenov, Bulgaria
Dominique Moisi, France
Andrzej Olechowski, Poland
Dick Oosting, Netherlands
Mabel Van Oranje, Netherlands
Leoluca Orlando, Italy
Cem Özdemir, Germany
Diana Pinto, France
Andrew Puddephatt, United Kingdom
George Robertson, United Kingdom
Albert Rohan, Austria
Renato Ruggiero, Italy
Daniel Sachs, Sweden
Giuseppe Scognamiglio, Italy
Aleksander Smolar, Poland
George Soros, Hungary/US
Andre Wilkens, Germany
This statement was published on the Letters pages of The Guardian, ABC and Dnevnik on 25 June, 2008.
Access: Public
Albert, thank you! I am learning so much about Europe from you.
Thx, Nicole!
Lots of people are talking now about emrgence of new we fields. Few can picture what that means for growth and evolution of big global holons.
There are always two possibilties:
To discover really new landscapes. As Chris Columbus did.
You can see the worlds with new eyes. This kind of discovery was the mastery of writers like Franz Kafka for example.
Entities like UN, EU, US, Worldbank etc . need both approaches. They are large global scale entities. While we lots of framing for personal transformation and change…this global systems change needs a very focused, specialized and most demanding professionalism and field experience with perspectives around the globe.
As much from North to South as from West to East.
Only babysteps right now ….
wirklich! danke schoen…
Global poltics in general needs new appreciation as an own field of transformtiove practice. Too much new agy vagueness and lack of understanding of power structures and hard core realties are blocking lots of good intended approaches.
Until there is a new revolutionary subject for poltics (Ken Wilber described the lack of it in SES) all the networks, global brain syndicates and communities which are subscribing to change need a sharper understanding.
Will be exciting how Barack Obama and his constellations communicate these issues next year.
we're all watching!
Barack will be most probably in Berlin at July24.
Because of security reasons its not clear where exactly will speak in public. I am curious!