Mission irresistible: will you have your say? (The Herald Section 2, 27 Jun 2006, Page 6)
The Herald Section 2
27 Jun 2006
MARGOTWallstrm has had a busy time simply being Swedish lately. Not normally a football fan, she nonetheless has been following her national team’s progress – and Saturday’s lack of it – in the World Cup finals. Then, last week saw the vice-president of the European Commission joining compatriots in Brussels in the national celebration of the summer solstice. Tradition dictates that the day begins with a shot of schnapps, some herring and dancing round the midsummer pole, and it sort of continues much the same way, she recalls hazily.
Although her mission is to be chief cheerleader for the European ideal, she has no doubts about being Swedish first. There might one day be more sports played by European teams, as happens in golf’s RyderCup, but that could never replace national loyalties, says the commissioner.
“I look at the football nowand see people cheering for their teams. Above all, we feel where our roots are. We will always be Swedish, or Scottish, or from part of a country, but at the same time, that doesn’t contradict being European and globetrotters as well.” She cuts short a question about European identity to stress that this is not a top-down process imposed by commissioners. “I am a firm believer you cannot force identity on anyone,” she says.
“You have to put in place basic elements first, which have to do with a citizen’s right to knowwhat’s going on, and that has to do with education. They then have a right to have a say, with a voice in decisions. It’s only when you can showthe added value of working together through European institutions, and you create a public sphere where there is a debate about what goes on in Europe,where citizens meet – only then you can have European identity.”
Margot Wallstrm is a rare breed in Brussels. She has looks, charisma, communication skills and five languages, which are not qualities often associated with the 25-member, male-dominated commission, on which Peter Mandelson is Britain’s sole representative.
In her second term on the commission, she has been spearheading a campaign launched last October, which seeks to engage European citizens with “Plan D” – for democracy, dialogue and debate. She knew it would be difficult, and it is proving even tougher than she first thought. Although some said it would be mission impossible, she optimistically prefers to see it as “mission irresistible”. “My job is the ultimate challenge for any professional communicator– communicate everything from the content of sausages to the peace process in the Middle East, in 25 languages, with three different institutions, and with very difficult-tomeasure results, and also not based on conflict and confrontation but consensus.”
Her motivation, she explains, comes from engaging in the democratic fundamentals of the European project, getting it back in touch with its people. And on July 12, she brings the roadshowto Scotland.
Jack McConnell signed up last year to a year-long Scottish pilot for the 10m project, and next month is the vice-president’s first visit to see how things are going. She is taking part in a question-and-answer session for young people, alongside the First Minister, which will be sponsored by The Herald.
Aged 51, the mother of two reckons that European identity may come easier to a younger generation who travel more, can speakmore languages, communicate more easily and study in foreign countries.
Her youth, long before Sweden joined the EU, saw her join the dominant Social Democrats aged 12, encouraged by a neighbour to campaign for a youth club in the village where she grew up. “I wasn’t really that interested at first, but when I do something, I do it 100%.” Having secured a youth house in the village, she expanded her horizons to international injustice in the 1970s, including Pinochet’s Chile and South African apartheid. “The issues were very local ones, and very far away ones at the same time,” she says.
Today’s young generation is even less persuaded than their elders that the absence of war across Europe is a good enough reason to keep the EU momentum rolling. “We are in search of the modern story of the European Union,” she says.
That story seems to be about worries and insecurities. Citizens have told the Commission their concerns include enlargement, particularly expanding to Turkey. “That is discussed everywhere,” she reports. “People are saying to us,‘You have to explain to us why you think this is a good idea. How do you see the borders of Europe in the future – do you have amaster plan that you have not told us about, and where will this end?’ There’s a lot of fear, ignorance and prejudice.”
Anotherfear is of globalisation with its perceived threat to jobs and national cultures, with the EU institutions seen as much the problem as a solution. Wallstrm argues the threat has to be balanced with explanation of the opportunities, and wants European citizens to see that Peter Mandelson’s role in securing a breakthrough in the stalling trade talks is crucial to that.
“It’s not that people ignore us, but more that people have high expectations of us,” she says. “They are not interested in the institutions. People are interested in what we’re doing to change their own lives, on issues including mobile phone roaming charges, or air passenger rights, where people can see a clear difference from the action that we take.”
Sweden shares with Britain a scepticism about the European project. “It has to do with history. We don’t see it as part of a peace process. There is a deserved criticism of what Swedes can see doesn’t workwell, and also maybe the impression we could do very well without the European Union.”
That makes it easier for her to understand the British mindset. But she says only the British can define themselves as isolated or not. “I don’t think anyone here in Brussels could think of European co-operation without the UK – even though Britain can be difficult at times,” she laughs, rather pointedly.
Hostility in parts of the British media to all things sprouting from Brussels shifts her from relaxed charm to exasperation. “The newspapers are extreme. I feel sorry for citizens of the UK, because they don’t get proper, factual information about the European Union, so howcan they form theirown views? There are so many stories run that have very little to do with reality.”
But her approach to mainstream scepticism is to share in it. She talks about a political elite that has run Europe for too long, and she chastises her Brussels colleagues who talk nostalgically about the days when the project had more momentum.
Indeed, she has examined the lack of citizen trust in a book titledWhy is it so hard to love the European
Union? The detachment of a political elite is a core reason, as with too much bureaucracy and subsidies that will eventually have to be scrapped.
But as the name suggests, it gets more emotional and more female than that. “There are too many male structures,” she argues. “Instead, we should invite women to participate.”
That may be starting at the top. “We have Angela Merkel leading Germany and there is a possibility of having a female president in France as well. That would be great. These are new times.”
And another British Prime Minister such as Margaret Thatcher? “There are a few exceptions,” she half-jokes.
So there are good outcomes from all this, as she is reminded by the achievement of 25 nations represented round a table, seeking common ground and passing laws together – a process she often finds moving and humbling.
Such a positive outcome would be if Europe can find united ways to confront environmental challenges, while protecting economic growth and social welfare. But there is a bad outcome as well, and it is endangered by most of Europe’s national leaders passing laws together in Brussels, and then returning home to play to their national audiences, with “the blame game” against EU institutions.
“If there is not enough democratic development, not enough commitment and leadership, it can dissolve,” warns Wallstrm. “It can start to crumble and break down. If it crumbles, the big member states will grab whatever they can take. It would be ... read more...
posted by Bank Report @ 5:50 AM
0 comments
