quote: The European Union is poised to overtake America to become the premier superpower, according to an EU exhibition launched yesterday in the heart of Brussels.
The pop-art collage mounted in a tent outside the European Commission narrates 50 years of EU history and projects events into the future in an unusually frank display of European ambition.
Segments sketched across 80 yards of canvas predict that the 21st century will be the "European Century" as the EU pushes its borders deep into Eurasia, North Africa, and the Middle East and comes to dominate world affairs through its vast "legal and moral reach".
Under the heading the "Roman Empire returns", it says the EU will be renamed "The Union" once it grows to 50 states over the next three decades.
The United Nations headquarters will be moved to Gibraltar as the EU defends the international order against the "American onslaught".
The euro will break the "overbearing monopoly of the dollar" by 2010 as China and India switch their reserves to punish America for its "stratospheric deficit".
Casting the United States as the villain of modern times, it says: "The lonely superpower can bribe, bully or impose its will almost anywhere in the world, but when its back is turned, its policy is weakened."
Entitled "The Image of Europe", the display is not a formal expression of EU policy but it captures views that can be heard every day in the corridors and canteens of the Union's institutions.
The exhibit was co-ordinated by the European Commission and sponsored by the European Council. The EU's Dutch presidency said yesterday it was designed to narrow Europe's "iconographic deficit" by conjuring up forceful images.
Now, this is from the Telegraph, which is hardly the least biased source when it comes to the EU but this seems kind of wacky even for ardent EU supporters.
Does anyone outside the EU power structure itself actually want a 'new Roman Empire'?
At any rate, it's mildly amusing.
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
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Well, a pop-art collage in a circus tent hardly constitutes official EU policy. This is just part of the Dutch government's plan to do something about the EU's stuffy boring image. But I doubt the effectiveness of a lone circus-tent filled with photos in Brussels.
So, uhm, basically, everything you just quoted comes from a Dutch architect and reflect his personal/artistic opinion on the future of the Union. And I'm sure the EU can use some 'forceful images', because a lot of people (especially in the UK and Scandinavia) don't think very highly of Brussels.
posted
You forgot the part where the EU re-names itself "COBRA" and it's president develops a hiss...
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
I have never heard of such a crap before. I think the EU is bad enough as it is. Being from Germany, a country where the EU is hated almost as much as in Britain, I hope this is just some wacky joke from some drug-crazed Dutch Eurofanatic...
-------------------- Lister: Don't give me the "Star Trek" crap! It's too early in the morning. - Red Dwarf "The Last Day"
Registered: Nov 1999
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quote: The aim of the exhibition is to show the way in which Europe is represented through words and symbols. The symposium explores contrasting perceptions by confronting �Europeans� with the views of �non Europeans�. Both events are meant to serve as an indication of the work to be done and as a demonstration of the enormous and unexplored potential of the image of Europe. The exhibition and symposium can be seen as part of the wider issue of �Communicating Europe� and are intended to further stimulate public debate.
Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
Pipe dreams of a slightly-off-his-rocker architect aside, there are, to my mind, only two possible futures: either the EU will collapse under its own bureaucratic weight, or it won't. And until the Union reaches that critical mass (if there even is one) the growth process and exportation of ideas will steadily continue. Not forever, obviously, but there's an overarching desire to consolidate Europe's position into one unified block among most of the EU's member states that seems to be winning out over internal bickering and anti-European sentiments.
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
A third future is that the EU will survive, but that it's smaller, less fincially powerful members will have no say in anything and will eventually break away in frustration to form some counter-alliance.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
That's unlikely though, since a number of the smaller members (like the Netherlands and Belgium) are founding members and definitely have a voice.
One of the big problems at the moment is the complete lack of a unified foreign policy. The UK is strongly pro-America (and likelier to adopt the dollar than the euro...), while the continent is overall more cautious in it's blind following of The Leader (notable exceptions being Berlusconi, and before 11 March, Aznar). And if we ever come to a European foreign policy, it'd be nice if France would give it's Security Council seat to the Union.
quote:Originally posted by Harry: Well, a pop-art collage in a circus tent hardly constitutes official EU policy. This is just part of the Dutch government's plan to do something about the EU's stuffy boring image. But I doubt the effectiveness of a lone circus-tent filled with photos in Brussels.
So, uhm, basically, everything you just quoted comes from a Dutch architect and reflect his personal/artistic opinion on the future of the Union. And I'm sure the EU can use some 'forceful images', because a lot of people (especially in the UK and Scandinavia) don't think very highly of Brussels.
I realised that! It was just so amusing I had to post it. Hopefully, the EU will be completely restructured soon. The present system is, frankly, crap. It's inefficient and intolerant of any opposition (Look at the whistleblowers in Eurostat and the Commission who were fired, and that Belgian journalist who was locked up and his contacts confiscated (without being charged)).
The dominace of France and Germany is particularly irritating. There are more problems than just a lack of unified foreign policy; the radical differences between the inquisitional and accusational legal systems (notably between the UK/Ireland and the Continent) is a substantial problem for federalists. As is the integration of armed forces (which will hopefully never happen), the differing attitudes to matters such as ID cards and so on and so on.
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Harry: That's unlikely though, since a number of the smaller members (like the Netherlands and Belgium) are founding members and definitely have a voice.
Founding members, yeah...what about the petitioning members that were threatened by Chirac when the supported further UN resolutions against Iraq? France and Germany seem very dominant in this "union".
Exactly why cant the people vote on membership? I doubt the UK is all for membership.... Is membership ever renewed or is it a permanant thing?
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
It's permanent, but everyone's free to leave at any moment.
The Council of the EU (I think) decides on membership of a new candidate. This means individual countries decide on a new member. It is up to these individual nations to make that decision, and some of them use referenda. I personally don't like referenda, because of the lack of insight of 'the people', and the general stupidity of large masses.
quote: I doubt the UK is all for membership....
Eh? The UK is already a member. Even if Blair seems to be more interested in becoming the 51st State.
posted
I know they;re already amember, but was there a popular vote? It all seems out of the people's hands. How can the adverage UK citizen (Liam for example) have a say in the EU's decisions?
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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"I know they;re already amember, but was there a popular vote?"
Well, I think that's the point of a representative democracy. The people elect someone to go make the decisions for them. If those representatives make a poor decision, then the general public intervenes.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
Right. But only on a national level. The general public has almost no say in EU policy, which is a point of critique for many in it.
"How can the adverage UK citizen (Liam for example) have a say in the EU's decisions?"
Well, for one, through the aforementioned referenda, except those aren't held in every state (or even legally binding). For another, through European parliamentary elections, except THOSE don't amount to much more than voting for a party and crossing your fingers its line stays straight. So, not really all that well.
Registered: Nov 1999
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