Did you know who invented the notion of subsidiarity which is essential for the concept of federalism? I have just found out it was a German Calvinist lawyer and philosopher - Jahannes Althusius who published his book Politica in 1603. Having read on Wikipedia the biogram of Althusius I can only say that you cannot understand the history of Europe without knowing what Reformation was and what the establishment of the independant Holland meant.
This brings me to the issue of teaching the history of Europe. During the last hundred years the history has been captured by the nationalist paradigm. Poles were learning the history of Poland, French those of France-la nation. Germans... actually I do not know what history they were taught as the German nation state dates only from 1871.
If EU is to gain legitimacy we must be able to explain what it is and where does it come from. We shall not manage to do it without clarifying what is the history of EU-Europe. I know that in the College of Europe they start with Norman Davis's 'Europe - a history'. But this piece is too heavy to most of us. We need a simplified version. I have just found one which seems very comprehensive to me.
I would like to congratulate the French authors of touteleurope.fr who did a great job by showing not only Monnet and Schumann but all the underpinnings of the European idea: Charlequint, Althusius, L'ordre nouveau (1930). I think it is a perfect basis of EU history which did not start with the speech of Churchill in 1946. Teaching history is a transmission belt for selling ideas, concepts and narratives. I think sb in the EU institutions should embark on this seriously. I know that Hans Goert Poettering was very keen on the idea of history of Europe. I hope that Mr Buzek will continue this project as this will be founding stone of a kind of European identity. As I remember from the book of Goran Therborn: community is built through a common history, language and political structure. I think that against a common thinking, in the EU the history has been most neglected so far. There are reasons for this but it is time to address this issue seriously. By the next EU elections we should have a sceleton of main ideas, personalities and events. I am not sure we are yet there.
For example the whole Commission campaign: Together since 1957 is underlining only the fact of establishing the European Commission as the result of the Treaty of Rome. This means that the speech of Schuman in 1950 and the High Authority chaired by Jean Monnet are merely the precursors/prehistory of the EU. I think we need a better narrative for this. And the EP is best placed to deal with this issue.
This brings me to the issue of teaching the history of Europe. During the last hundred years the history has been captured by the nationalist paradigm. Poles were learning the history of Poland, French those of France-la nation. Germans... actually I do not know what history they were taught as the German nation state dates only from 1871.
If EU is to gain legitimacy we must be able to explain what it is and where does it come from. We shall not manage to do it without clarifying what is the history of EU-Europe. I know that in the College of Europe they start with Norman Davis's 'Europe - a history'. But this piece is too heavy to most of us. We need a simplified version. I have just found one which seems very comprehensive to me.
I would like to congratulate the French authors of touteleurope.fr who did a great job by showing not only Monnet and Schumann but all the underpinnings of the European idea: Charlequint, Althusius, L'ordre nouveau (1930). I think it is a perfect basis of EU history which did not start with the speech of Churchill in 1946. Teaching history is a transmission belt for selling ideas, concepts and narratives. I think sb in the EU institutions should embark on this seriously. I know that Hans Goert Poettering was very keen on the idea of history of Europe. I hope that Mr Buzek will continue this project as this will be founding stone of a kind of European identity. As I remember from the book of Goran Therborn: community is built through a common history, language and political structure. I think that against a common thinking, in the EU the history has been most neglected so far. There are reasons for this but it is time to address this issue seriously. By the next EU elections we should have a sceleton of main ideas, personalities and events. I am not sure we are yet there.
For example the whole Commission campaign: Together since 1957 is underlining only the fact of establishing the European Commission as the result of the Treaty of Rome. This means that the speech of Schuman in 1950 and the High Authority chaired by Jean Monnet are merely the precursors/prehistory of the EU. I think we need a better narrative for this. And the EP is best placed to deal with this issue.
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