Category Archives: Europe

Défense européenne : contours d’un compromis

Strade, 2 octobre 2015, Le HuffingtonPost.fr, 2 octobre 2015, European Sotnia, 9 octobre 2015

Ne boudons pas notre plaisir. Le vigoureux plaidoyer d’Alain Juppé au mois de juin 2015 en faveur d’une Europe de la Défense constitue un tournant. Pour la première fois depuis longtemps un homme politique français de tout premier plan souligne la nécessité de passer « du projet à l’impératif » 1. Lire la suite →

Notes:

  1. « L’Europe de la Défense : du projet à l’impératif », Alain Juppé, Le Figaro, 26 juin 2015 ↩

Back to Europe

By Olga Hajflerová 1

One of the main slogans of the Czechoslovakia´s „Velvet revolution“ might be a fitting label when one thinks of the current crisis in European unity and the challenges for its integrity. When one steps back and looks at the current immigration crisis from a greater distance and context, it is possible to discern some general principles that characterize the EU which also suggest possible remedies. Lire la suite →

Notes:

  1. Olga Hajflerová (Čechurová) is a former civil and political activist and a Czech diplomat. A civil activist since before the Czechoslovak “Velvet Revolution” of 1989, then an activist of the non-violent Transnational Radical Party which she also represented at the UN in Geneva. After joining the Czech Foreign Service in 1999, she dealt with the human rights and democracy support agenda in different positions including at the Czech EU Representation in Brussels. Currently on a temporary leave. ↩

Si ce n’était une tragédie, l’Ukraine serait une bénédiction pour l’Union européenne

Historians in Ukraine, 15 mai 2015, InformNapalm (fr), 15 mai 2015, CRCUF, 22 mai 2015, Euromaidan Press, 23 mai 2015, European Sotnia, 30 mai 2015

Andriy Portnov. Comment expliqueriez-vous que l’Ouest en général est aussi effrayé de reconnaître la vérité en ce qui concerne l’agression russe en Ukraine et, élément plus important encore, de répondre à cette agression ?

Olivier Dupuis. L’Europe est bien sûr tétanisée face aux changements charriés par la révolution technologique et par l’accélération de la mondialisation. Mais, bien plus encore, elle reste incapable de se percevoir comme telle, comme une communauté, plurielle certes, mais communauté forte d’intérêts et de destin. Dans une bonne partie des classes dirigeantes nationales européennes persiste l’idée délétère d’une Europe fonctionnelle, utile en première et dernière instances, à des projets nationaux irréductibles. Cette approche funeste continue à opposer deux niveaux d’intérêts, le national et l’européen, alors que le projet européen a précisément pour objectif de les articuler. Cette occultation de la nature de la construction européenne, confortée par une volonté persistante des Etats de confiner les citoyens à la marge de la vie politique européenne, participe pour beaucoup à la désaffection, voire au rejet du projet européen, et au repli des citoyens sur leur pré carré national, avec toutes les illusions que cela comporte. Lire la suite →

If the situation in Ukraine were not a tragedy, it would be a blessing for the European Union

Historians in Ukraine, May 15, 2015, InformNapalm (fr), May 15, 2015, CRCUF, May 22, 2015, Euromaidan Press, May 23, 2015, European Sotnia, May 30, 2015

Andriy Portnov. Can you explain why the West in general is so afraid of recognizing the truth about Russian aggression in Ukraine and, more importantly, why it is so afraid of responding to it?

Olivier Dupuis. Obviously, Europe has been paralyzed by the changes wrought by the technological revolution and the speed of globalizing. More importantly however, Europe has so far been unable to see itself as a community, a heterogeneous community to be sure, but one with strong common interests and a shared destiny. The national leaderships of a significant number of European countries persist in their repugnant idea of a purely functional Europe that is useful exclusively for furthering national interests. This lamentable approach continues to posit two levels of interest – one national and the other European – when the goal of the European project is precisely to link the two. This insistence on ignoring the nature of the European design, combined with a persistent desire on the part of States to keep their citizens on the margins of European political life, is one of the main reasons that so many people are disaffected with and even reject the entire European project. It is why so many citizens fall back behind their national lines and all the illusions that these entail. Lire la suite →

A Common European Army: instructions for use

Le HuffingtonPost.fr, March 19, 2015, InformNapalm (fr), March 19, 2015, InformNapalm (en), March 19, 2015, InformNapalm (es), March 22, 2015, European Sotnia, March 22, 2015, Strade, March 24, 2015

Beginning with the observation that « with regards to foreign policy, we (Europeans) do not seem to be taken seriously » 1 Jean-Claude Juncker has made it clear in a recent interview with Germany’s Welt am Sonntag, that the European Union must have a common army. According to the President of the European Commission, the mere decision to equip itself with such an instrument would allow the EU to « send a clear signal to Russia that we (Europeans) are serious about defending European values » and would put the EU in a position to react « credibly » to threats to peace in a Member State or in a State bordering the Union. The words he used are of paramount importance. Juncker does not refer to a single European army that would replace the national armies; he is talking about a common European army. At no time does he say that all Member States would have to participate in such an undertaking. And finally, he makes it clear that a common army would not represent a “challenge” to NATO. Lire la suite →

Notes:

  1. « Halten Sie sich an Frau Merkel. Ich mache das! » Welt am Sonntag, 8 March 2015 ↩