Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
8
Foreword
„ContributionofanEuropeanPublicSpheretoEuropeanIntegration”–thatwas
thetitleofaspecialconferenceorganizedinBerlinfromJune,2
nd
–3
rd
2009,by
the‘CentralandEasternEurope,–UnitoftheFriedrich-Ebert-Stiftung(FES)in
cooperationwiththejournal“NeueGesellschaft/FrankfurterHefte”.Twelve
Europeanjournals,fromLatviatoSpain,mostofthemwithsocialdemocratic
background,acceptedtheinvitationandsenttheirrepresentativestoBerlin
1
.The
debatecenteredonthequestionofhowjournals–dealingwithculturaland
politicalissuesinananalytic–criticalmanner–mightcontributetothe
developmentofa“EuropeanPublicSphere”and–inconsequence–toa
“EuropeanCivilSociety”whichmight,inthelongrun,attractEuropeancitizens
–apartfromtheirdifferentnationalidentitiesandtranscendingmereeconomic
unification–toidentifywithEuropeasapoliticallyandculturallyintegrated
entity.
Letitbenoted:atpresenttheEuropeanPublicSpheresuffersfromresolute
opponentsofEuropeanIntegration.TheEUhaspracticallybecomeaprojectof
(national)elitesandhas,uptonow,notmanagedtoestablishandpresenttheir
policiesasofrelevancetothedailylifeoftheaverageEuropeancitizen.Thelow
turnoutduringthelastelectionsforEuropeanParliamentissymptomatic,and
accordingtoopinionpollsabout60%ofEuropeansdonotidentifywiththeEU.
Moreover,therelativeweaknessoftheEuropeanParliamentinrelationtothe
EuropeanCommissionisnotveryconducivetochangesingeneralattitude
towardsEuropeanaffairs.(Bytheway,reactingtothedeficitofdemocratic
legitimizationtheGermanConstitutionalCourthas,someweeksago,madethe
ratificationoftheso-calledLisbonContractdependentonhigherparticipationof
thenationalparliamentinthedecisionproceduresofimportantEU-regulations).
InthisprocessofbuildingEuropeanCitizenshiptheEastEuropeanmember
statesfaceatwo-foldchallenge:manypoliticiansandcitizens,too,findithardto
leavetoEuropeaninstitutions(partsof)nationalsovereignty,thatissoprecious,
becauseitwaswonsorecently.Ontheotherhand,thesenationsdidnothavethe
privilege,whilethefirstdozenmemberstatesdid,intakingpartinthecentral
unifyingtasksfromthebeginningsofEU:contractingformaintenanceofpeace
andeconomicintegration.Today,acomparablecentralandunifyingtaskshould
bethesocialandculturalintegrationofEuropeancitizens.Whatconcretesteps
couldbethoughtofandreallytriedtoreachthisultimateend?
Fortheirownmicro-agenda,theparticipantsoftheconferenceagreedupon
linkingtheirinternetpagesandregularlyexchangingtheirtablesofcontentsso
1
NeueGesellschaft/FrankfurterHefte(Germany;organizing),BlätterfürDeutscheund
InternationalePolitik(Germany),Egyenlito(Hungary),KulturasForums(Latvia),
KrytykaPoliticzna(Poland),LetraInternacional(Spain),Micromega(Italy),Politicka
Misao(Serbia),Renewal(GreatBritain),RevueSocialiste(France),Spotkania
Europejskie(Poland),TheNewPresence(CzeskaRepublika).
