The global crisis has markedly slowed down if not temporarily paralyzed the European unification process. Following the crucial test to save the financially shaken member states of the eurozone, both donor and recipient countries of what has de facto already become a transfer union are showing signs of “European fatigue.” Given this situation, how can European integration pick up steam again, or are we already set on the road to renationalization? Has the Treaty of Lisbon created the appropriate structures to advance the European project? What future role will Europe play in world economy and politics?

Just before the EU Summit in Brussels on October 23, thirty-five workshop participants, mostly politicians and experts, met high above Munich in the panorama lounge of the Süddeutsche publishing company to discuss the question that also preoccupies Europe’s heads of state and government: How to rescue the euro?

Already during the first panel, on “symptoms of disintegration” in the EU, the positions were clear-cut. In the context of the intensified crisis of the euro zone, Sylvie Goulard, a French member of the European parliament, said that there was no alternative to a strong and integrated European policy given the immense competitive pressure that “Beijing and Sao Paolo,” i.e. the BRICS countries, put on Europe. Otherwise, Europe risks being marginalized in the globalized 21st century, she said. In contrast, Reinhold Bocklet, former Bavarian state minister for European affairs and currently vice-president of the Bavarian parliament, spoke out for federalism and the national sovereignty rights of the parliaments. While he was in favor of strengthening the Commission’s enforcement and sanction mechanisms towards those debtor countries that violate the stability criteria, he also said that interventions should only go so far as the budgetary sovereignty of the Bundestag allows. After all, he said by way of summary, German fiscal policy must not be determined in Brussels.

No less controversial was the discussion about the question of whether Europe is taking enough responsibility relative to its economic clout. Referring to the strong role of the EU in the Quartet on the Middle East, Helga Schmid, deputy secretary-general of the European External Action Service, emphasized Europe’s increasing foreign-policy influence, with a coordinating High Representative at the top. Others mentioned the differences among the European key powers in the Libya crisis as an example of the continuing dominance of national interests in foreign policy. There was no disagreement about the fact that the democratizing countries in northern Africa need Europe’s economic and political support. Opinions diverged, however, on whether it will be helpful to relax the European immigration regulations for university graduates from these countries.

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