The European Union in the Global Age

This important pamphlet by Britain’s EU Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, comes at one of the most important junctures for the EU since the 1950s. The 25 March 2007 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, which set in train a continuous process of deeper European integration, helping to secure an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity for the continent of Europe.

Yet at precisely the moment when Europe celebrates these achievements, the EU faces among the most profound challenges in its history. A strong case for Europe can still be made, but the EU’s legitimacy is widely called into question – and not just in Britain.

At a time when the consequences of globalisation make the case for European co-operation more urgent than ever – managing trade with China and India, dealing with the challenge of energy and climate change, tackling issues of migration and security, protecting citizens from all forms of exploitation – there have never been as many doubts about the EU’s future. Yet there is a real risk that the protectionist backlash against the EU will gain further momentum.

This is the underlying premise of Policy Network’s research project on the future of Social Europe. We are exploring how the social well-being of Europe’s citizens can best be advanced within a globalising world. This should be at the heart of everything the EU and Member States do. Too many Europeans currently see globalisation, liberalisation and the drive for greater competitiveness as a fundamental threat to their economic futures and livelihoods.

This exacerbates declining confidence in the EU as a legitimate instrument to help people through periods of unsettling change and insecurity.

It is this lack of confidence in the values and delivery capability of Europe’s institutions that now needs to be addressed, as two Policy Network books have recently argued: Global Europe, Social Europe by Anthony Giddens, Patrick Diamond, and Roger Liddle, and Europe in the Global Age by Anthony Giddens, both published by Polity Press. Peter Mandelson’s timely contribution also explores how Europe might need to re-define itself in an age of globalisation.