European Union: the way forward

Perceiving Europe from Europe may be difficult, as Edgar Morin suggested, but entry into force of the Treaty on European Union seemed the right moment to try to put Europe in perspective, which perhaps means establishing the state of the Union - to use a well-known American phrase - at a time when European integration no longer seems a foregone conclusion and the intemationalisation of trade and industry and the shortcomings of regulations governing worldwide activities are undermining a whole system of economic and social development.

The meeting with Commission President Jacques Delors provides an overall political view of the situation.

What is the meaning and the message of European integration? Where does it lie, between the prophetic yet technical blueprint left by Europe's founding fathers and the bitter rivalries between European nations? Our introductory article, a guide to Europe from Rome to Maastricht and to the Treaty on European Union and its operational consequences, supplies an answer to this question. Europe after Maastricht must push ahead with both consolidation and the admission of new members. At the same time, Europe itself must be safe and do its bit to help keep world peace, and try to evolve a new method of economic and social development.

Economic and Monetary Union should do a great deal for the consolidation of the Community, and an article in the dossier looks at the main aspects of this undertaking, with operational consequences outlined by Alexandre Lamfalussy, President of the European Monetary Institute.

On the institutional front, the concept of citizenship of the Union, which comes on top of national citizenship and not instead of it, can be a difficult one to grasp. Francis Whyte says why the People's Europe is a challenge for 1996.

Simon Homer talks to Egon Klepsch, President of the European Parliament, about the democratic deficit in the European Union's decision-making process.

Current events naturally prompted David Spence's outline on enlargement of the Union and R.N. Clive Matthews' special look at Europe's cooperation with its neighbours in the East.

Philippe Willaert deals with the possible future of another pillar of the Treaty on Union, a common foreign and security policy.

The need for the Union both to preserve and to adapt its own system of economic, social and cultural development is reflected in an analysis of the proposals in the White Paper on growth, competitiveness and employment and the challenges and guidelines for the 21st century.

On the cultural front, a talk with JoCorrea, head of the European Federation of Audio-Visual Producers, looks at the idea of exempting cultural products from trade regulations and at the European creative imagination.

Lastly, Hl Goutier investigates the views of journalists from sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe in an article on 'Images of Europe'.

Basically, observers say that Europe has cut itself adrift, with the economic behaviour of someone of independent means and a tendency to be inward-looking in international politics and display little solidarity in social matters. But what do the Europeans themselves think? According to recent Eurobarometer opinion polls (December 1992 and June 1993), two Europeans out of five are fairly satisfied or very satisfied with the drive to unify Western Europe and 62% are aware of both their national identity and a European identity. Dominique David