All the truffle rhetoric of Von der Leyen’s speech on the state of the EU
Italics by Teo Dalavecuras
I know, reading the full version of President von der Leyen's 2021 State of the Union Address is an act of self-harm. Since I have inflicted it on myself, however, I in turn want to inflict a small florilege on readers.
It starts immediately with a challenging proposition: "The speed of events and the enormity of the challenges are sometimes difficult to grasp". Sometimes, not always: in Brussels, men and women have always been accustomed to enormous challenges, tempered by the harshness of life.
Then, in bold: “But if I look at the year that has passed and if I look at the current state of the Union, I see a strong soul in everything we do”. "Strong" may seem an unusual adjective when speaking of soul, but the President does not choose it at random: she remembers that one of the seven founding fathers of the current Union, Robert Schuman, said that Europe needs a soul, an ideal and the political will to pursue this ideal. It took us some time, he seems to say, but we did it (Schuman, not a saint but still venerable since June 2021, left this vale of tears on September 4, 1963).
“Over the past twelve months, Europe has translated these words into reality. In the biggest global health crisis of the last hundred years, we have chosen to act together and so every region of Europe has had the same access to life-saving vaccines. In the most serious global economic crisis of recent decades, we have chosen to act together, with NextGenerationEU. In the most arduous planetary crisis in history, we have chosen once again to act together, with the European Green Deal ”. And again in bold: “And we did all this together: as a Commission, as a Parliament and as 27 Member States. Europe acted united. We can be proud of it ”. The President does not hide her amazement: the European Union is truly united, it also has a soul.
Proud but without resting on our laurels: "There is no doubt: our strength of character will be put to the test again next year: But I am convinced that it is precisely when we are put to the test that our spirit – our soul – expresses all its luminous power ".
The President also knows how to be concrete, for example on the subject of digital technology, which “is, without a doubt, decisive. Let me mention, in particular, semiconductors, those tiny chips that make everything work: smartphones, electric scooters and scooters, trains or entire smart factories ”. Concrete, and also patient in the explanation. And not just when it comes to technology. Let's talk about young people: “Usually the years of youth represent a moment of discovery: you live new experiences, you find the friends of a lifetime, you identify your own path. What was asked of today's young people instead? To respect social distances, to isolate oneself and to take courses from home: and this for more than a year ". Listening to these words, the young Africans and Asians who followed the Discourse will have felt a squeeze in their hearts thinking of their European peers. Just as young Afghans will have been reassured at the news that the EU president stresses that "we are alongside the Afghan people: women and children, prosecutors ( sic ), journalists and human rights defenders". As for the adults involved in the pastoralism or cultivation of poppies, certainly a negligible fraction of the local population, rest assured that we will also think of them as soon as possible.
On the delicate issue of security, after the inevitable tribute to NATO (editor's note: at the moment it sounds slightly untimely, but these are things that also happen to the best ghostwriters ), the President explains that Europe "can – and clearly should – be able and have the will to do more independently. But if we want to do more, we must first explain why ”. Right concern: even if Europe "clearly should", perhaps not everyone has yet understood this. And to explain, the Speech flies high: “We are connected to the world through narrow sea arms, stormy seas and vast land borders. Precisely because of this geography, Europe knows better than anyone that, if it does not deal with external crises promptly, these crises will have repercussions internally ”. Very clear but not yet assertive enough, so the President sings even more clearly: “what we need is the European Defense Union”.
Then, grabbing the bull by the horns, he asks: “You may have the most advanced forces in the world, but if you are never ready to use them, what is their use? What has held back so far is not just a lack of capacity (ed: do we have these most advanced forces in the world or do we not? ): It is the lack of political will ”. Apparently, the part relating to the soul has been implemented in Schuman's warning, that of political will has not yet been perfected but Brussels is working on it.
If someone still thought that an entity that is not a sovereign state cannot possess real armed forces, that in short, perhaps, even if we overlook some small geopolitical stumbling blocks, there is an institutional problem for the European Defense Union, it would be out of the way. : it's just a question of political will. Perhaps, in perspective, a European army with 27 powerless staffs awaits us, perhaps contracted directly to NATO as soon as it rises from the brain death already diagnosed by Emmanuel Macron?
Finally, another thorny issue, migration, always starting from an unprecedented and shocking affirmation: "Human beings are not bargaining chips". “Think” the President adds “of what happened on our borders with Belarus. The Minsk regime has exploited human beings. He loaded people onto planes and literally pushed them to European borders. This is intolerable ”; and then: “These are not isolated events. We have seen similar cases on other frontiers ”. Who knows what other frontiers von der Leyen was referring to. Out of discretion, he preferred not to specify it, reassuringly concluding that “as part of our work on Schengen, we intend to create new ways to respond to similar aggressions and to remain united in the protection of our external borders”. A difficult job, she admits, but she is confident, and melts into a hymn to the fall of the Berlin Wall thirty years ago whose essential core is: we will always make it because – quoting Vaclav Havel – we possess these "extraordinary values Europeans ". Paraphrasing it could be said that democratic values "take us by the throat" (this could be a modest suggestion for the 2022 edition of the Discourse).
Of course, no one claims that the speeches of the head of the European bureaucracy resemble, even remotely, those of a Churchill or a De Gaulle (even the Final Considerations of Guido Carli or Paolo Baffi would be an unattainable model for a politically not legitimized bureaucracy. and irresponsible like the one in Brussels, which however mimics the White House), but there should be a limit to the amount of truffle and hot air rhetoric (if only for a problem of CO2 emissions, which are so dear to the attentive administrators of the condominium Europe).
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/discorso-von-der-leyen-stato-unione-retorica/ on Tue, 21 Sep 2021 08:58:24 +0000.