No European country can succeed on its own – but the political determination to deal with the populations’ fears and concerns is still lacking. Europe needs radical internal reform led by committed and courageous political leaders. Such leaders must begin by declaring, repeating and teaching that Europe has changed, that it has a new face. New priorities, even though unpopular on the short run, must be established in order to hope for success in the long term.<\/p>\n
Europe needs time, but our politicians are caught on the horns of a dilemma. While they need to think beyond the next generation, they are obsessed with winning the next election. Trapped between short-term imperatives and long-term necessity, it might well be that they cannot find a solution.<\/p>\n
Citizens and civil society as a whole have no choice but to break the vicious circle – they cannot allow their future be destroyed by a lack of collective confidence and by narrow individual political ambition. It is time to be vocal and constructively critical.<\/p>\n