(by Francescomaria Tuccillo) In these days of reflections and worries about the future of Europe, I found in my virtual drawers the original version of a short essay that was hosted by the Ā«Rivista di Studi PoliticiĀ» back in 1995.
The Edification of the New Europe
Today I propose the full text, in the same magazine that published it over twenty years ago. It seems to me that I can offer some ideas for the interpretation, not entirely useless, of the historical, political and economic moment that we, European citizens, are living.
Faces of foresight, above all. Not so much mine as for some of the great protagonists of European history mentioned in the essay, Aldo Moro in the first place. It was the 1977 when he wrote: "It is right to point out that the obstacle, which barred our path, comes from Great Britain, for some time the most lukewarm, the most problematic, the most uncertain on any development of the European entity". Last 23 June the majority of British citizens chose Brexit, that is the exit from the European Union. It was written. Moro and a few other enlightened statesmen, long and thoughtful, had understood the dimensions of the British obstacle. At least today the situation is clear, without ambiguity, and offers us the possibility to start again with more force, from different bases.
To start out again, Europe needs stronger identities, more innovative ideas, stronger talents and a lot of courage. The courage to face reality and build its role in the world. A world in which - as I wrote then - the economic axes move with a mechanism "comparable to a 'hydraulic operation': the water network is prepared, just a simple tap action to allow the use now of one, time of the other existing channel for moving the flows ".
To open and close the taps are, today, others from us. Emerging countries, first of all, with their raw materials, their dynamic economies and their sovereign funds: a universe difficult to understand, often opaque in communicating, but also fascinating, rich in resources and in need of skills. Skills that we Europeans have for centuries because we are the "culture of the planet" - and that we could profitably exploit, as long as we succeed in showing the world a more united and stronger face.
After the release of Britain it seems to have revived that "extraordinary intellectual fervor around the European idea" of which Jean Monnet spoke in 1976, adding however that "it had nothing to do with action".
I hope this is not so this time, forty years after Monnet's prophetic words. I hope that the renewed perimeter of the Union will turn from problem into an opportunity to build a new world balance, "natural" and not "induced", in which an increasingly united Europe wants and knows how to act as a protagonist.