On Sunday 25 May it will be Italy's turn to go to the polls for the renewal of the European institutions. A date that will close weeks of bleak electoral campaign in which most of the parties – even those who defined themselves as Euroenthusiasts – competed to throw mud and discredit on Europe.
It has been said many times that tones are high because ideas are weak. But the leadership is also to blame. An electoral campaign has been carried out far from the real problems of citizens. Transfers and meetings in which little was said about Europe. And when it has been done – in very few cases – it has been more for the need to ride on populist slogans that see the EU as a problem and not as an opportunity.
Hope has been lost. Courage has been lost. Selfishness against solidarity has been rediscovered.
I know very well that I am against the trend, yet I am still among those who intend to defend the idea of the founding fathers, preventing their dream from turning into a nightmare.
The truth is that it is not the European project that has failed. Mistrust or crises always depend on political issues. Europe has weakened because its leaders have weakened and because the solutions proposed on the table in Brussels have not worked.
Where has the dream of a United States of Europe gone? Let's face it: it is certainly a topic that is still snubbed today and that does not save those who promote it from attacks by the large Twitter or Facebook network. Herein lies the difference between a leader and a capopopolo: the former has a vision and plans behind which he manages to rally the citizens. The populist, on the other hand, indulges people's bellies, base instincts and fears. The former leads, the latter follows. Sadly, sorry to say, I still don't see any good guides on the horizon. In short, I don't think I see new Delors.
Even the leaders of parties that define themselves as more pro-European have favored slogans such as "no more lessons from Brussels" rather than "we will go to Europe with a straight back". Minimal difference compared to those who shout "euro equals foreign currency", or those who would even like to wipe out Europe. In short, we have a range of emotional and unreasoned opinions. A dramatic reality that we will be able to counter only if we work towards more solidarity and political union.
When it comes to politics, a duty cannot be overlooked, especially if we are talking about a reality like the European one which has gone through the big bang of the great enlargement of 2004, the entry into the euro or the consequences of globalisation. Politics is such if it can answer one question: what is the reason for our being together?
Those who criticize Europe argue that there are no reasons to continue with the common path. On the contrary, I believe that there are reasons, but that more needs to be done on the political path rather than solely on the economic path. The future banking union, for example, is certainly indispensable. But when we talk about it, it should be specified that the monitoring and rescue mechanism is useful if it serves to save the banks in order to save the states. If, on the other hand, as has already happened, it serves to save the banks so that they can recapitalize themselves and not so that they can lend to businesses, then it is understandable that even a Euro-enthusiast like me is beginning to question the direction in which Europe wants to go.
Thinking about being together politically means thinking about a European policy on work and welfare – issues over which States often jealously want to preserve their sovereignty. It means knowing how to govern certain mechanisms such as enlargement: we are entering an atmosphere of a new cold war with Russia after making us believe that the Eastern Partnership was the shortcut reserved for Ukraine and Georgia to become members of Europe and NATO. Let us remember: enlargement procedures are serious business and there are no fast lanes!
Being together means thinking about the issue of European security and defence: is it possible that the European strategic document still dates from 2003? We realize that we are in 2014, in a totally changed world, and the EU has not yet updated that dossier!
Political union also means more solidarity on migration policies: how do we justify it to the Sicilians, who heroically help to save the lives of the desperate, how the EU replies first with a telex saying that the request received from Italy is not exhaustive, and then claims that the extra budget foreseen for Frontex has not been made available for “procedural reasons”! Meanwhile the dead number in the thousands.
Still being together means dealing with an integrated European policy on energy security: a sector in which we face the East fiercely, when we then know that there are no interconnections of gas and oil pipelines between EU countries. In practice, if Slovenia remains isolated because supplies from the east are cut off or Italy or Ljubljana intervenes, it remains in the dark.
United States of Europe means speaking with one voice in foreign policy. In Libya we won the war and we are losing the peace! I said it in 2011 when I was foreign minister: the problem, after the fall of the Gaddafi regime, will be to avoid the partition of Libya. Here too, who has ever seen Brussels in recent months say a single word that goes beyond "let's make appeals for democratic transition"!
Working for a better Europe – #betterEurope, according to the language of Twitter – above all means not making fun of the voters. Are we really sure that after having trumpeted the candidacies of the European families for the post of President of the Commission, it could really be Juncker, Schulz or Verhofstadt who get that post? Frankly, I'm not convinced at all: on the contrary, I fear that - all the more so if there were to be a gap of 5 or 10 seats between the parties that arrived first - we will find ourselves faced with the usual "secret room" which nominates a compromise candidate, defrauding voters and Parliament of this decision-making power.
Again: whose fault is it if not the leadership. What happened to real leaders? Rather, what is emerging is a lack of popular legitimacy of themselves as well as of European institutions. Which means that the legitimization of the so-called sovereign people could ultimately transform that same people into Eurosceptics or even Eurocontrarians. If the small Brussels elite continues to remain so, the populists will become the majority in Parliament with the risk of paralyzing its work.
The United States of Europe and political union mean this: to courageously face the reasons for being together so as not to give Europe's enemies any chance. I am not among those who give up without first trying to fight. When it comes to dreams you must never give in, because when you think it's all over, that's when it all begins. That is why I continue to believe in the European dream and in a better Europe.
