Why the EU needs a lifestyle guru

By Ilana Bet-El

Date: 02/02/06

The annual Davos fest is firmly behind us: the politicians have returned to declining popularity in their respective states; the CEOs have got back on their private jets; the celebrities have gone on to being celebrities somewhere else; the academics are regaling envious colleagues with stories of the super wealthy and powerful, and the media is reflecting on the glories of a prestigious freebie it is always going to be invited back to.

Unusually, just a few hundred kilometres away in Salzburg, the EU was also holding a fest. Piggy-backing on the massive celebrations of the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, last weekend the Austrian presidency of the EU summoned some leading Europeans to a sort of summit on the future of the EU.

In itself, the creation of the event must be applauded: high level conferences are an important part of the currency of international credibility. It is therefore high time the EU had an annual conference on its situation and prospects.

Compliments for the Salzburg event must, however, stop at the point of creation: in every other respect it was not only unsatisfactory, but also reflected the endemic failures that have mired the Union in its current morass of unpopularity.

Even before it started, the Salzburg summit was dismissed as an "elitist event" and another, apparently more inclusive one was run in Dublin. There is nothing wrong with that: Davos also has a rival social summit, attended by massed ranks of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). But in this case the problem was not that the event was elitist, but irrelevant. The attendance list was more or less identical to any of an average introverted EU get together: the same politicians, officials and select academics, mixed up with the same journalists who usually cover EU affairs. Apart from the Mozart Kugel it is difficult to see why they had to go to Salzburg

All these predictable participants pondered predictable topics and came away feeling predictably self-satisfied. And in so doing they predictably failed the EU citizenry that is seeking some inspiration, or at least a reason to believe in the Union, and the international community that is seeking a strong EU as a partner.

The real problem was not with those who attended, but with those who did not. Davos and other such star conferences succeed precisely because of the mix of people. Davos puts politics and business at the same level and forces them to listen to each other - and then mixes them with both known academics and members of the public and others who are unknown but interesting.

There is nothing comparable in the EU: business is mostly kept away from contact with the EU leadership as a whole or devotes itself to dealing bilaterally with national leaderships. UNICE, the European employers' federation or the European Round Table of Industrialists do contribute to an EU-business dialogue, but that is not the same as business leaders dealing with EU leaders collectively.

It is not clear which side is to blame more: the politicians who are fighting for their national careers and therefore wish to deny any collective power or prestige to the EU, or the businessmen who feel they often get what they want out of the EU without any further effort.

If the EU cannot bring its political, institutional and business leaders together, nor get them to meet a selection of the public and academia with which they do not regularly interface, it has little hope of being either popular or internationally effective. And the EU needs to be both in order to succeed - because currently it operates in a climate-controlled vacuum, which is far too rarefied and narrow. A few celebrities, lifestyle gurus, arcane academics and businessmen would do it a world of good.

• Ilana Bet-El is an academic, author and policy adviser based in Brussels.

Commentary feature in which the author critically reviews a conference on the future of Europe, jointly organised by the Austrian Presidency of the EU and the European Commission. The event was entitled 'The Sound of Europe' and took place in Salzburg, Austria, from 27-28 January 2006.

Austria: Presidency of the EU: Conference 'The Sound of Europe' http://www.eu2006.at/en/The_Council_Presidency/Conference_The_Sound_of_Europe/index.html

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