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DARE TO BE A EUROPEAN ►
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By interaction, ideas and his view on the world, man has come to where he is now, but we are in a different era than any other.

If we don't want to get stuck, then we are obliged to follow a common ideal as to how to live together, not by nationalistic / populistic aspirations, but by making compromises and by building a common factual basis, a shared analysis framework.

 

PILLARS of CREATION and THE CONDITION OF MAN - A reflection on the past and an imagination of the future.

The view that persons’ moral and/or political obligations are dependent upon a contract or agreement among them to form the society in which they live (comity , the social contract) and European solidarity, ties that bind people together as one.

 
A ROADMAP FOR THE EU - Europe has a territory, what now?

Europe's soul and soil, grandeur and culture: Sydon, Gorty, Athens, the era from Cicero to Marcus Aurelius, cities along the Via Regia, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Venice, London, Prague, Lisbon, Serajevo, Budapest, Vienna, Trieste, Edinburgh, ...…. “Her journey was so remarkable, the whole landmass west of her home country is named Europa in honor of her” writes Stephen Fry in Mythos. People outside Europe say “I’m from the US”, “I’m from Africa”, “I’m Rus”, “I’m from China”. Europeans say the idea of Europe brings us the coffeehouses, salons, monasteries and universities where conversations and discussions take place and where ideas are born, which benefit societies in a spiritual, artistic, literary and social sense.

Continue to focus on enlargement: the European Neighborhood Policy translates the EU's wish to build on common interests with partner countries of the East and South and commitment to work jointly in key priority areas, including in the promotion of democracy, rule of law, respect for human rights, and social cohesion. Strengthening the state and societal resilience of the EU's partners is a key priority in the face of threats and pressures they are experiencing, including the challenges associated with migration and mobility.

Come up with common political agreements (eg. on pollution, energy, border control)

Complete unfinished business (euro unit, Schengenacquis, ...)

Full role on the "Grand Chessboard": the EU Global Strategy sets out the EU's core interests and principles for engaging in the wider world and gives the Union a collective sense of direction. Its ambition is to make Europe stronger: an even more united and influential actor on the world stage that keeps citizens safe, preserves our interests, and upholds our values. The EU Global Strategy (committed to multilateralism) helps makes our Union more effective in confronting energy security, migration, climate change, violent extremism, and hybrid warfare

Continue to build on European authority (transgovernmental method?). The European Union is nor a fully internationally recognized single political entity, neither a replica of a nation-state or central government, but a group of cooperating states that retain their independence. The construction is an antidote to the extreme nationalism and a supranational body to handle interests as well as to extent prosperity by pooling some of national 'sovereignty' in areas where it makes sense to work together.

 

THE CASE of MORAL CAPITALISM - The Long and Difficult Road

There exist perverse incentives inherent in a largely unconstrained capitalist system. These incentives drive behaviors that increase inequality, reduce social mobility, devalue communities, deplete soils, acidify oceans, destroy biodiversity, trigger mass migrations and social instability, and fuel violence and war.
 
From the perspectives of a growing number of business leaders, investors and policy makers, these behaviours are now creating unacceptable systemic risk. This is why the systemic design flaws in unconstrained capitalism are creating unlikely bedfellows. The industrial revolution ushered in a world where business models were predicated on hierarchy and financial capitalism.

We need new trends in corporate social responsibility, to do business in a different way, and a new socio-economic model using innovative digital techniques. The blockchain and associated technological changes can change that and let see an economy dominated by human capitalism and greater individual autonomy. Such change will massively disrupt current economic conditions. How that unfolds is unclear at present. But entrepreneurs and innovators will resolve uncertainty, as always, through a process of trial and error.

 

.   Joined: NEXUS Institute | CEPS | CRT for Moral Capitalism | CIFA | Odyssey | GBBC | Inclusive Capitalism
C21 fellow: the club | genesis | pity of war | SDGs | garden of Eden