European Dream

Europe is a strange continent. Strictly speaking it is not a continent at all but a mere peninsula tacked on to Asia, from where many of its first inhabitants undoubtedly came. And yet, despite its huge variety of features, languages, landscape and peoples, this smallest of continents has achieved a clear cultural identity. It is certainly true that 'Eurospeak' lacks poetry and that the myths of today are mainly nationalist, chauvinistic and of the 'No to Europetype'. But, says the author, "My Europe is not the Europe that regulates the curve on bananas, quarrels over subsidies for farmers or fights for places on the Council or Commission. I still believe in dreams, especially the European dream." ' The author quotes Vaclav Havel: 'Without dreaming of a better Europe, we shall never build a better Europe". Going back to the origins of the European idea, Dr Schwimmer traces the true content of Robert Schumann's vision and shows how this must still be our inspiration. But the author goes back beyond that, and looks at other visions of a Federal Europe. From the Hapsburg Empire to the League of Nations and Woodrow Wilson's celebrated speech in 1918, various concepts are examined carefully. In propounding his dream for the future, the author takes on the Eurosceptics directly and shows how Europe must be the key to its inhabitants tackling the problems of world terrorism, human rights, and the internal strife of Russia and the Balkan States.

Dr Walter Schwimmer is Secretary General of The Council of Europe. He is Austrian by birth and nationality. He lives and works in Strasbourg.