Conferences

The day of European elections is close, and Europe has to be at least an interesting topic to discuss. But it is not like that. What means Europe today, here or wherever? Is it common market which promises prosperity for all? A cultural object? An abstract reference? The closest enemy?

Europe, a kind of suis generis state, is facing the crisis today. A generous political and philosophical project fell into the hands of incompetents! That Europe, that of the founders, is likely to disappear, being replaced by an unfaithful copy. A copy of nation-states which it was meant to overcome.

The attempt to save Europe from an announced disaster is also the customization of the election campaign of this year. Even if in our country, even more than in other Member States, the campaign remains a captive of the internal themes, customizing the campaign, as some opinion makers believe, could make the European issues accessible to a wider audience. However, through this campaign ploy the risk of presidentialization of the European Union becomes a reality. For the perverse effect of personalization, is the presidentialization of an institutional system which was designed for consensual democracy, not for the majority rule. Thus, the result of proportional representation, a mandatory electoral system in all Member States will be influenced by the tendency of majoritarian (or as they say in Romania, uninominal) induced by customizing the campaign. (Cristian Pârvulescu, an extract from the presentation of the Sunday’s lecture)

Translated by: Lucia Prohnițchi

MTTLC, University of Bucharest