Jurgen Habermas, the renowned German philosopher and sociologist, gave a lecture recently at the University of Leuven, not far from Brussels. Tickets sold out weeks in advance and the crowd was so large that TV screens were set up for the overflow to watch in an adjacent park. As the president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy exclaimed in his introduction: 'Even in Leuven, it is exceptional for a philosopher to gather such a crowd!'
He then offered a personal remark to Habermas: 'I could suddenly see you as young man, aged 15 when the Second World War ended, and a life from then on dedicated to a cause. To bring more ethics into politics.'
Habermas' lecture drew on his perception of a critical ethical gap in European politics. At present all that seems to unite European citizens is the negative sentiment of 'Euroscepticism'. That's because a moment has arrived where the political arrangements embodied in EU institutions are no longer in sync with reality. There's a gulf between citizens' opinions, and the policies (developed by technocrats) pursued to solve Europe's most pressing problems.
This democratic deficit poses such dangers that a monetary union without a closer political union is no longer workable. As Van Rompuy acknowledged, for committed Europeans the important discussions to be had now aren't just concerned with institutional design, but with 'the fundamental questions'. Enter the philosophers.
In Brussels it is impossible to miss the evidence of the effort that European nations have put into institutionalising the Union. Perhaps it's easy to assume that institutions will somehow channel politics in the right direction — they will keep political exchange and activity within reasonable boundaries, keep the business of politics functioning respectably and productively, and keep the disparate nations moving towards an ideal of democratic amity.
If institutions are designed well, if they operate within a framework of values set out from their founding, they will roll on without the need for redesign or reconceptualisation. So it may seem.
Whereas once 'Europe' was a benevolent abstraction that bestowed prestige and economic growth on many of its members, it now seems like a malevolent abstraction, bestowing hardship on European citizens suffering unemployment, disappearing bank balances and other social costs.