The European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions together manage an innovative experiment in pooling resources so as to realise economies of scale. These Joint Services (particularly translation and logistics) were established by a Cooperation Agreement between the two Committees and their management is overseen by a series of inter-institutional bodies at administrative and political level. As a result, those parts of our management structures that are involved in these joint bodies see a lot of each other. On the other hand, those parts of our management structures that are not involved see very little of each other. This is only logical; they are, in effect, managing different institutions. However, my counterpart at the CoR, Gerhard Stahl, and I are convinced that even these ‘services propres’ should occasionally meet together in order to discuss joint challenges. Such was the case this afternoon. On the agenda were such issues as business continuity and electronic filing. They sound innocuous and uninteresting as topics, but behind them lie major strategic decisions about, for example, investment in software systems or decisions not to allow processes to diverge too sharply for common responses to be possible. The atmosphere was excellent, if critical, with a reassuringly healthy determination not to ‘over-bureaucratise’ matters.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting a very active young blogger on the EU scene, Julien Friesch. I admire immensely the energy and enthusiasm that people like Friesch (Jon Worth is another) put into what is in effect no less and no more than an integral part of the evolving democratic fabric of what Margot Wallström used to like calling ‘the European sphere’. Then, today, I met another young European communicator. Polly Akhurst is part of a networking organisation called ‘The Hub’. A simple idea, The Hub brings together people in a non-partisan context to meet up and exchange ideas and experiences. Faithful readers will perhaps also remember my encounter with RENA, an Italian version of The Hub, but with an explicit vocation to contribute to the democratic development of a country and of the Union. As a political scientist, I have often written about the decline in the paradigm of mass membership party politics in our democracies but increasingly I realise that those democratic forces are still ‘out there’ – they just express themselves in different ways, ways made possible in large part by rapidly evolving net-based applications. What I find fascinating about these developments is that they are ‘messy’ – by which I mean that they are organic and their evolution is unpredictable and uncontrollable (think of ‘viral’ videos). They are thus the antithesis of what public administrations like. Yet, as internet access spreads, that is the world where increasingly communication battles will be fought. Young, committed Europeans like Julien and Jon and Polly are the footsoldiers of the European ideal but, the thought occurs to me; in such a world, is there any place or role for generals? And since I used a picture of Uncle Sam, here’s a question: will there ever be an EU equivalent of Uncle Sam and, if so, what would s/he look like?

Claudio Magris

To the Goethe Institut this evening to hear novelist and philologist Claudio Magris in an exchange of views with Polish journalist Adam Krzeminski on the theme of ‘Europe – Utopia and Reality’. This was part of a series of events to celebrate the award to Magris of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. Brussels hosts a series of very active cultural centres (Istituto Italiano, Instituto Cervantes, the British Council, and so on) and this was an example of what they do best. The exchange was loosely-structured and meandered over various themes, a little bit like Magris’s Danube. Here are some ‘soundbites’. Magris: ‘We have to battle our fear that Europe could be a risk for the smaller countries; only Europe can defend the smaller countries.’ Krzeminski: ‘What is the soul of Europe? We don’t know, but we know that without it we could not survive.’ Magris: ‘Even Europe’s islands cannot exist alone anymore.’ Krzeminski: ‘European peoples know less of their histories and that enables people to reinvent myths opportunistically.’ Magris (an Italian, from the wonderful city of Trieste): ‘When it comes to populism, Italy is the best; believe me!’ Krzeminski: ‘History is perceived increasingly as a series of events rather than a process.’ Magris: ‘The young take Europe for granted.’