Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant told the European Parliament that decisions about the future of Europe must be built on an honest, critical assessment of our recent past. Unfortunately, this terrain has been abandoned to populists and demagogues, remarked the Maltese MEP when he intervened during the debate on ‘The White Paper on the future of the European Union’. This White Paper aims at identifying the challenges and the opportunities ahead and how it will conduct its future with 27 member states. It proposes five scenarios on how the Union could develop by 2025.
Dr Sant said Europe needs an acknowledgement and examination of the failures as well as the achievements of the European project over the last sixty years — seen not in contingent terms but as strategic responses undertaken in historical time. These need to be reinforced if their outcome was good for the European peoples; and reversed where they have been mistaken.
“It might make sense to open the discussion about the future of Europe with a discussion about its past, its history. Frequently I get the feeling, in this Parliament and elsewhere, that such discussions too often take exclusively an ideological perspective — that of pilgrims intent on reaching the new Jerusalem.
Moreover they get bound to technocratic approaches that are grounded in neoliberalism. Even the social dimension when it is included, gets relegated to a policy chapter, calibrated in positivist terms.
Perhaps what we need is a self-critical, historical review of what the European project has been, frameworked in the realities of European history since the French Revolution.” said Dr Sant.
Maltese Version – ANALIŻI TAL-PASSAT RIĊENTI TAL-UE VITALI GĦALL-FUTUR TAL-EWROPA
Il-Kap tad-delegazzjoni Maltija Laburista fil-Parlament Ewropew Alfred Sant qal li d-deċiżjonijiet fuq il-futur tal-Ewropa għandhom ikunu msejsa fuq analiżi kritika u onesta tal-passat riċenti tal-Ewropa. Sfortunatament dan l-eżerċizzju qed jitħalla f’idejn il-populisti u d-demagogi, irrimarka l-Ewroparlamentari Malti waqt l-intervent tiegħu fid-dibattitu “Il-‘White Paper’ dwar il-futur tal-Unjoni Ewropea”.
Dr Sant qal li l-Ewropa teħtieġ tagħraf u teżamina n-nuqqasijiet tagħha kif ukoll il-kisbiet tal-proġett Ewropew ta’ dawn l-aħħar sittin sena – jiġifieri l-azzjonijiet strateġiċi tagħha meħuda f’perjodu storiku partikolari. Jekk dawn kienu tajbin għal popli Ewropej mela jridu jingħataw aktar saħħa, fejn kienu ħżiena għandhom jitreġġgħu lura.
“Forsi jagħmel sens li niftħu d-diskussjoni dwar il-futur tal-Ewropa b’diskussjoni dwar il-passat tagħha fil-qafas storiku. Ħafna drabi nħoss, li f’dan il-Parlament u f’postijiet oħra, diskussjonijiet ta’ dan it-tip jissarrfu esklussivament f’perspettiva ideoloġika – bħal tal-pellegrini ffissati li jridu jilħqu Ġerusalemm il-ġdida. Aktar minn hekk, jintrabtu ma’ metodi teknokratiċi li huma mnaqqxa sew fin-neoliberaliżu. Anki d-dimensjoni soċjali, meta din tkun inkluża, tintrabat ma’ kapitlu politiku, b’ton u termini pożittivisti. Forsi għandna bżonn nirrevedu b’mod storiku u kritiku x’sarraf il-Proġett Ewropew fil-qafas tar-realtajiet storiċi Ewropej li seħħew mir-Rivoluzzjoni Franċiża ’l hawn.” qal Dr Sant.
L-għan tal-‘White Paper’ huwa li tidentifika l-isfidi u l-opportunitajiet quddiem l-Ewropa u l-futur tas-27 stat membru flimkien. Il-‘White Paper’ tipproponi 5 xenarji kif l-Unjoni tista’ tiżviluppa sas-sena 2025.
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