Prodi goes searching for Europe’s soul

Date: 06/02/03

By Dana Spinant

ROMANO Prodi, the president of the European Commission, has launched three high-powered working groups to examine the EU's core values in a bid to demonstrate that the Union has a 'soul' and is not solely a technical construction.

The independent groups, comprised of leading intellectuals, politicians and civil society representatives, will focus on:

• dialogue in the Euro-Med area;
• economics alongside sustainable development, and;
• spiritual and cultural values.

The idea is for them to rethink the principles that guide European society and to feed into the Commission's work, according to one of Prodi's top aides.

The groups have not been set up to compete with the Convention on the future of Europe, which is designing the institutional organisation of the Union.

"This is not a parallel Convention, but a parallel reflection," Sandro Gozi, the member of Prodi's cabinet in charge of organising the groups, told European Voice. "They will help us perceive today's economic and social reality and people's expectations."

Although their conclusions may also inspire the Commission's contributions to the Convention, that was not the primary aim, he stressed.

Indeed, Commission officials admit it is a shame that the groups were set up too late to make an effective contribution to the Convention.

"The praesidium is discussing the values and objectives of the European Union right now, while these groups will only report at the end of the year," said one.

The groups will reflect in particular on the challenges posed by immigration, dialogue with the Muslim world and on whether Europe's social model needs rejuvenating.

The group on intercultural dialogue, jointly chaired by Tunisian Assia Alaoui Bensalah and Jean Daniel, and assisted by Prodi's policy advisors, will focus on the relationship between the EU and its Mediterranean neighbours and how best to integrate immigrants.

"In the framework of the North-South dimension, the objective is to modify the perception of each other," Gozi says.

The discussions may also consider whether a "new type of citizenship of an enlarged Union" needs to be developed.

The group on spirituality and morality will also address immigration, alongside cultural diversity, which are seen as both challenges and assets for society.

Chaired by Polish philosophy professor Krzysztof Michalski, the group will reflect on "giving a spiritual sense" to the EU.

"New rules are necessary in order to build up a genuine society of peoples and of civil societies both at a European level and towards the neighbours," said Gozi.

The group, set to hold public debates in Berlin and Vienna, will discuss "how to use this growing diversity and transform it into positive political action," he added.

It would seek to answer questions such as 'what type of solidarity is required in the EU?', 'what type of tolerance?' and 'what are our core values?'

Prodi took part in the first meeting of this group, together with MEP Michel

Rocard, the former prime minister of France, his compatriot Simone Veil, former president of the European Parliament, and Bronislaw Geremek, Poland's former foreign minister.

The group on economics and sustainable development will be chaired by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, France's former finance minister.

"The Strauss-Kahn group will possibly propose a new European social model or will put forward changes of the present model to correct the distress linked to globalisation," Gozi said.

The groups have no detailed brief: they can produce anything from general evaluations to concrete legislative proposals by the autumn.

The Commission is not bound to follow their recommendations

Romano Prodi, the president of the European Commission, has launched three high-powered working groups to examine the EU's core values in a bid to demonstrate that the European Union has a 'soul' and is not solely a technical construction.