Discursos Presidenciais

Através d'O Insurgente cheguei a este discurso do Presidente da República Checa no Luxemburgo, o qual recomendo vivamente:

The European Union (not Europe) is a contemporary political project of some European countries which – regardless of all their historical, political, economic, cultural or religious differences – want to do some things together (or jointly). We should look at the successes and failures of this project, at its costs and benefits, analyze and evaluate them.

When I look back at the last half a century, I see two different stages of the European integration process, with two different integration models. At the beginning the liberalization model prevailed. The first stage was characterized by inter-European opening-up, by the overall liberalization of human activities, by the removal of barriers at the borders of the countries as regards the movement of goods and services, of labour and capital, and of ideas and cultural patterns. Its main feature was the removal of barriers and the continuation of intergovernmentalism.

The second stage, which I call the harmonization model, is defined by centralization, regulation from above, harmonization of all kinds of “parameters” of the political, economic and social system, standardization of conditions of production and consumption, homogenization of human life. Its main feature is unification orchestrated from above and the birth of supranationalism.

I am in favour of the first model, not of the second.(...)