CSE | Citizens’ Europe

Tag: european union

  • Has the European Union been a bad idea?

    As a first (and hopefully not last) step towards an objective discussion of today’s situation of the European Union, outside of the logic of parties, parliamentary and “media” conflict, on 16th July there was, with the compliments of Mr. Paschalis and Mrs. Salomi Melissaris, a screening of an extract from the paper presented in 2009 by Mr. Ioannis Coccalas, entitled “From Altiero Spinelli’s Draft to the Treaty of Lisbon”. As Deputy Director of the European Parliament’s office in Athens, Mr Coccalas was at that time one of the speakers at the “Ioannis Capodistrias, Altiero Spinelli, Europe” conference held on 21st June 2009 in Aegina.

    An introduction to the 16th July screening was presented by Wayne Hall, member of the steering committee of the Aegina Association of Active Citizens.

    21

    INTRODUCTION

    I would like us to be in agreement that in today’s discussion it will not be relevant whether we voted YES or NO in the referendum, whether it is mainly Simitis and Papandreou, Samaras and Venizelos, or Tsipras and Varoufakis who are most to blame for the present situation in Greece. I would like us to agree also that it is not going to be relevant today whether we prefer Greece to remain in the euro or to leave the euro. In any case this is a question that is not going to be decided by ordinary Greek citizens, at least for the moment. The conflict that is so evident in the Parliament around that subject, among others, is something we can monitor. The conflict in the mass media, in the talk shows, in the journalistic squabbles is something it is perhaps preferable for us not to watch, because as it seems its main purpose is to frighten us rather than inform us.

    The question of the media is of central importance. I think that even citizens who voted YES must have been at least uneasy about the stance taken by the Greek and international media in the week that preceded the referendum. This problem is also at the heart of the Appeal by German Greeks and Greek Germans and the Greek answer that was formulated by representatives of the three associations of Aegina: the Association of Active Citizens, the Ioannis Capodistrias Cultural Association and the Women’s Association.

    Professor Juergen Link, who initiated the Appeal by German Greeks and Greek Germans, proposes a seminar on the problem of the media, which in Germany cultivate hatred of Greeks and in Greece hatred of Germans. In reality what is needed is more than a seminar. What is needed is a form of pan-European politics that is not influenced by the media, which places a negative stigma on every influence from this direction. This is perhaps something for discussion among those who would like to be actively involved in such a project of delinkage from the media. We have already made a beginning with the programme we made in 2013 on the VMedia web channel Europe Starts from Here.

    In any case let us agree that for the purposes of today’s discussion it is not relevant which Greek politician has played the worst role. The subject is not Greek internal politics, or even Greece in general. The subject is Europe, the European Union, because the European Union as we have known it – this was written a day or two ago by the Irish journalist Fintan O’Toole – ended last weekend.

    European integration was based on three assumptions, three conditions. The first condition was that the process was consensual: each member state lost more and more of its sovereignty because it was choosing of its own free will to do so. The second term was that this step-by-step procedure was irreversible. This was the terminology of the Treaty of Maastricht on the subject of monetary union. It was not part of the scenario that you could change your mind and go back. Neither could others change their mind about you and send you back. The third assumption was implicit and had to do with the role of Germany. As we know, Germany was defeated in WorldWar II, and badly defeated. In return for the opportunity to make a new beginning after this defeat it was considered self-evident that Germany would not try yet again to become the hegemon of Europe.

    Today Germany is not only trying to become the hegemon of Europe. It is succeeding in becoming the hegemon of Europe. I suppose that most of us here will have seen yesterday’s address to Parliament by Yanis Varoufakis. Not everyone admires the role that Varoufakis has played, but I think the conclusions of that address will be generally accepted.

    Varoufakis calls the so-called agreement that has just been voted by Parliament a “new Treaty of Versailles”. But most SYRIZA parliamentarians supported it, for the sake of the unity of SYRIZA. “We in SYRIZA are and will be united, at the time that Europe strikes a blow against itself through procedures that the historian of the future will describe as the moment of dismantling of the dream of Adenauer, Constantine Caramanlis, Andreas Papandreou, Willy Brandt, Helmut Schmidt and Helmut Kohl.”

    There was uproar in the Parliament after the speech by Varoufakis. Outside the Parliament, also, there was pandemonium. Here we are not shouting, we are not denouncing, and the reason for that is not concern for the unity of SYRIZA. I hope that our concern here is for the citizens of Greece to remain united at this conjuncture. And the hope is also, perhaps, that just as in 1828 when the modern Greek state was founded in Aegina, this island will function today also as a haven of stability and security within the chaos of Greece.

    The question we put forward is “Has the European Union been a bad idea?” We raise it not as a declaration but as a question. Certainly the man we are going to hear now does not believe that the priority is to leave the euro, or the European Union. But is he right or wrong?

    kokkalas

    The video can be found online here.

    Note that in 2009 Ioannis Coccalas saw not Germany but France as the key obstacle to the whole European integration process. Those who are now embracing the French campaign for a Germanexit should bear that in mind. (More on that here).

    16th July 2015

     

  • European Union: Disintegration or a New Beginning?

    CSE_Simera_1

    An exceptionally successful function was held on 23rd June in the forecourt of the Church of the Saviour in the Capodistrian Orphanage in Aegina. Entitled “Capodistrias – Spinelli today – European Union: Disintegration or a New Beginning”, it was organized by the Aegina Association of Active Citizens with the support of the Municipality of Aegina, providing continuity with past initiatives.

    In this moving, historic and captivating milieu in Aegina town, a large audience listened attentively, for two-and-a-half hours, to presentations from Messrs. Panagiotis Paspaliaris, Andreas Koukos and Giulietto Chiesa, then contributing observations and comments and asking questions. The mayor of Aegina, S. Sakkiotis, greeted the meeting, emphasizing the special contribution of the Association of Active Citizens to publicizing the Capodistrian heritage of Aegina, modern Greece’s first capital. He announced that there had been a stepping up of the efforts by the Municipality and the Greek government to promote the maintenance and utilization of our island’s Capodistrian buildings, with the relevant works about to get under way shortly, starting with the Kyverneio, for which tenders have already been called.

    Opening the function, Mr. Wayne Hall, the key organizer, referred to previous functions of the Aegina Association of Active Citizens under the same title from 2008 onwards, for the purpose of renewing the references to the pioneering and indeed titanic work of Ioannis Capodistrias in Aegina, in Greece but above all in Europe, linking it to that of the architect of the European Union’s first Constitution, Altiero Spinelli.

    Subsequently the historian and writer Panagiotis Paspaliaris gave a brilliant presentation of the creative diplomatic achievements of Ioannis Capodistrias as a functionary, and later Foreign Minister, of Russia before, during and after the 1814 Congress of Vienna, marking the end of the Napoleonic Era and the beginning of reorganization of the European continent. He emphasized, among other things, the lean, uncluttered reforming presence of Capodistrias and its contrast with the wasteful, opulent and scandal-ridden presence of the crowned heads of state and their staff whose aim was to restore the old balance of power over the heads of the peoples of Europe. As he said, an examination of the activity of Greece’s first governor leads to the conclusion that he was the most important reforming diplomat promoting democratic principles throughout the European continent. Capodistrias later put the experience and the connections he acquired at that time in the service of the vision for which he was finally to give his life: the emergence of the Modern Greek State.

    The journalist and former European parliamentarian Giulietto Chiesa then developed a powerful problematic concerning today’s crisis in Europe, and particularly in the countries of the South, thanking the Association of Active Citizens for giving him the opportunity to become acquainted with Capodistrias and his activity in Europe, foreshadowing Spinelli’s later work in constructing the foundations of the European Union. He stressed how Europe’s democratic deficit is continually widening, highlighting the dominant, and corrosive, role of the world of finance, and particularly the banks, including the European Central Bank, which is a private institution, in undermining European democracy. He made the observation that today’s crisis of the euro is in fact a crisis of the dollar, a consequence of the sub-primes crisis. He proposed a strengthening of democratic institutions in the European Union and specifically the nationalization of the banks of European Union member states and of the European Central Bank (ECB).

    He referred to the case of one trillion euros being made available to European banks by the ECB at 1% interest, capital which the banks use for providing loans to southern European countries at 4% interest, reaping significant profit for themselves.

    Summarizing the content of the two previous speakers’ addresses, Andreas Koukos, historian, professor at the Military School and President of the Society for the Study of the Work of Ioannis Capodistrias, mentioned his numerous visits to Aegina in recent years to take part in functions, primarily of the Active Citizens and of the Municipality, for study and transmission of the work the Governor, highlighting Capodistrias’ pioneering role in Europe. He referred to the specific allusion to Capodistrias made by Henry Kissinger in his writings, describing him as Europe’s constitutional referee. He also announced the forthcoming publication by the society of which he is president of important new archival sources on Capodistrias in a number of European countries. Emphasizing the importance of historical archival research and of the archives themselves, A. Koukos reminded the audience of the unique value of the small local Capodistrian archive of Aegina, Greece’s first state archive, and the need to maintain its accessibility.

    In the protracted and intense discussion that followed there was much airing of citizens’ profound concern and anxiety in the face of the long-term structural crisis through which we are living and there was a call for the drawing-up of an Aegina declaration for democratization of the European Union in the spirit of Ioannis Capodistrias and Altiero Spinelli. A proposal by the Association of Active Citizens is under discussion with the Municipality for European recognition of the work of Capodistrias and indeed the naming of an official building in Brussels as a tribute to the Governor.

    Alexis Krauss

    More information on the speakers