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Narrative for a new Europe?

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BarrosoOn 11 July, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso called for a ‘new narrative for a new Europe’. I can remember when I first heard a strategy person drop the word ‘narrative’ into their presentation – it was when they were arguing for a very expensive study to be carried out and a change of name for their department. Neither of these things were bad in themselves, but the changed narrative did not result in a better organisation, it resulted in a lot of people who didn’t use the word ‘narrative’ being sidelined and a bunch of people with little direct experience of what they were doing taking over. This had a predictable outcome, a lot of hot air and very little of the concrete variety, being accomplished. So excuse me if I don’t feel hopeful when people start talking about new narratives.

But we don’t just need a new narrative – if that wasn’t irritating enough, we actually want a ‘Version 2.0’. Let me translate, for anyone unfamiliar with the new jargon. ‘Version 2.0’, in the old jargon, would have been a new ‘vision’, which might have involved some ‘thinking outside the box’. Actually, I’m surprised this narrative is not going to be a ‘Version 3.0’ – the latest piece of verbiage. I recently attended a training event for lobbyists that had ‘Version 3.0’ tagged on to it – being quite ignorant of what ‘3.0’ was, I was looking forward to being enlightened. I am sad to say that I am none the wiser; there was a little bit about using social media and the Internet and that was pretty much it, oh yes, and how we should all be using the now omni-present infographic (apparently this helps deal with ‘infobesity’). Nothing about effective use of crowd sourcing, or dealing with the perverse ‘mis-information’ that search engine algorithms can provoke, or how to manage information over supply, other than just using informed personal judgement. In short, nothing that added much to my current understanding. What was particularly depressing was that each new piece of jargon was greeted rapturously – I could see certain individuals gleefully noting down the new word and thinking of how they could tell clients that they were the people to manage the problem of European ‘infobesity’.

Excuse the jargon, but the ‘new narrative’ all seems like a very elaborate way to avoid the ‘elephant in the room’. Europe is different from the one that was founded more than 60 years ago. As we prepare to commemorate the centenary of the start of the First World War, it will be a keen reminder of where we have come from, and we should never forget this. The Europe that we know today has been one of the most successful political projects EVER. It is a huge accomplishment, flawed, slow, sometimes exasperating, but nevertheless a huge success. I hope that more efforts will be made to improve the single market, to make Europe a better place in which to live and work and to ensure that Europe plays a positive role globally. Nevertheless, the dynamics of Europe have changed and it is important to acknowledge this – the reunification of Germany, the accession of the former Communist states of eastern Europe and the half-baked introduction of a single currency have transformed our continent.

President Barroso is calling for nothing less than an “all-encompassing narrative [to] take into account the evolving reality of the European continent and highlight that the EU is not solely about the economy and growth, but also about cultural unity and common values in a globalised world”. This visionary Europe varies somewhat from today’s, the one that is fixated with inflation rates, budget deficits, curmudgeonly defences of national interest (usually underpinned by national rent-seeking elites) and the enforcing of widespread hardship. The current policies threaten to destroy the political project. We already have a plethora of strategies, notably Europe 2020 and its sub-set of strategies – some don’t stop at 2020, some have already moved onto 2030. But this isn’t enough for Barroso’s legacy. I would ask President Barroso to note the words of Canadian and later, U.S. economist, public official and diplomat J. K. Galbraith: “All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.”. A ‘Version 2.0, new narrative’ is simply fiddling, while the Treaty of Rome burns.

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