bridges vol. 12, December 2006 / OpEds & Commentaries

by Raoul Kneucker

The "American way of life" versus the "European way of life"? The "American way" might be waning, but is the "European way" gaining? Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, EU council chairperson in 2006, insisted that something specifically European - similar to the "American way of life" - would help to create a European identity and would promote European emotions in shaping the rational and utilitarian European politics. Her view is generally accepted. Having avoided or neglected a discussion on values that would constitute a genuine European Union - i.e., a "united" Europe "reconciled in diversity" - the "Economic Community" having gradually been transformed into a Political Union, cannot be transformed into something resembling a Wertegemeinschaft [community of values] or a true European Union.

This summer, a group of political science students that participated in the seminar "Communicating Europe" at the Leopold Franzens University in Innsbruck, Austria, decided to organize a public symposium to specifically address the question of how European citizens perceive the European Union and its policies. The symposium was well attended with some 220 persons including Heinz Fischer, President of the Republic, Herwig van Staa, the Tyrol governor, and the deans and the rector of the university, and all participated in lively discussions throughout the symposium.