“Political” works as a stop-word

[Felix R.]

Considering the results of the last vote which has taken place not just here in Germany but in the whole new European Union there might be several developments which might lead to a controversy discussion.

Frightening for me is the weak participation and interest no just in the new members of the EU, but even in the founders and main drivers of the European integration, like France and Germany.
Even though I would be interested about the political opinions from our European members about their local reflection, I want to to raise the question, who carries the responsibility for the development of the “European Idea”.
We have heard a lot about the main topics which were pushed during the last weeks – some were European, some were national. The “European Idea” seems to be hidden in the minds of Macro-Economics.

How can we develop (political) interest in the development of our Europe? How can we avoid the cause of the little preword “political”?
“Political” works as a stop-word.

[Richard L.]

Political has become a word which means something like "complecated" or "indirect".

Politics are an instrument. An instrument to create something. This something needs to be upfront. Currently politicians try to drive the process as the main goal. The discussion about the process leads to valuation of parties and lead to a possible reelection.
What we forget is what they have been talking about. Everything we know about an enlarged Europe are the possiblities to pay with one currency or travel more easily.

To approache the problem of interest we need to build up an understanding of diversity and its advantages.

[Maria Magdalena]

I have to agree, politics and in particular politicians seem to be too far away from the reality of the people at the moment. Therefore, the election has to be seen as an alert that the European political and economic system is either not understandable or transparent enough for the Europeans-to-be in the different countries. Although the idea of democracy was born in Europe, the politician have obviously not managed to strengthen this value of our society. But having such an idea of what our European Union could stand for is necessary to feel like an European some day.

Probably the USA are a good example of what it meant to create, to build up a new union of countries. Well, I have to admit, the first members of the new-born state were not that diversified as it is the situation in the European Union. But there, the people was driven by their common idea of "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" that is still in place in current days.

So, that what we need isn't an additional discussion about taxes, duties, election quotas in the European parliament, what we need is simply a shared idea of our European values. To define them and to enforce them in the European culture and society is task of the politicians as well as the people itself. I think, one precondition for that "politics of emotional transparency" is at least our decision by a voting about our European Constitution.
And what we shall never forget is that it will be a long-taking process, loosing the idea of a national state that was forced over centuries and replace it with a diversified society like it will be Europe in our minds.