I should post a bit more often, I am aware of that. I always promise to myself to be more present on my blog but normally I have some time left only at this time of the day (about 1 a.m. CET)… However, let’s stop with my “self-absolution” and let’s talk about a very interesting piece I have seen today (yesterday, as now it ‘s Saturday already).
I have found this post on FP Cable reporting the rather frank speech of Polish FA Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on the “possibility” that Germany will play, in the near future, the same role played by the U.S. in Europe after WWII. A few excerpts:
“So you will not be a benign hegemon in Europe and you shouldn’t even try….The position of benign hegemon for Germany is not attainable, and therefore I would propose your actual position in the EU, which is a very honorable one, is the position of the largest shareholder“
Sikorski said these words during the first panel of the first day of the 2012 Munich Security Conference. The context makes these words even more salient and, in a way, braver. I have always claimed that, in my opinion, the true problem with Europe (the EU) is the lack of “geopolitical solidarity”: common institutions without a common perceptions of its internal and external geopolitical space and the related interests to pursue and prioritise (the rather divided agendas of all the bigger EU countries on Libya were a clear example of that). Somehow, these words confirm the existence, and the salience, of this problem. The road ahead to “forget” the old geopolitical, national perceptions and re-think the European space is still very much troubled and long. A post-Westphalian Europe is not a reality yet. It is only one options among others. The words of Sikorski were, in a way, the effect of the ongoing European crisis, which is very much awakening some very deep-rooted national perceptions, and narratives, of the “European others”. The more the crisis will advance, the more the EU construction will suffer.
