Are you a leader, bureaucrat or free rider?

Question: who is the guy in this picture?

I bet that you do not recognise him. But to paraphrase Einstein, not everybody you recognize matters and not everybody you cannot recognize doesn’t matter.

But I can give you a clue. The man in the picture was a politician. Not your normal politican but a special politician. As I feel I am playing the erudite this morning, I must quote another big philosopher: Weber (the German sociologist not the punk guitarist. Weber made a famous distinction between politicians for career and for passion. It might seem pretty funny today but he discovered that there are some people who believe in politics as means to change the world.

Jean Monnet was certainly one of them. He is the guy in the picture. Does this mean anything to you?

I mentioned JM in previous entries. He’s the principle architect of the European project. He understood the key to success: Europe can be built starting with ideals and sounding declarations but through small steps based on the mutual interests of all parties.

He wanted to build Europe. He didn’t care about becoming a Celebrity.

I have the impression that too many people have forgotten his legacy. They have transformed Brussels in to Versailles where they spend all their time (and tax payers’ money) on useless wining and dining: all words and no achievements. Everybody feasts at the court of Roy Soleil.

Too many people have joined the party as well. While they denounce the misdeeds of Europe at home they do not refrain from taking advantage once they enter the Brussels bubble.

I don’t consider civil society better than the other lobbyists: too many Brussels-based associations are soft and self-indulgent while new ones are born all the time, fragmenting the cause. This week a new coalition of national umbrellas has been launched. It’s another player competing with the existing federations and networks in the business of representing European civil society. The latest kid on the block has come out with some new ideas for Europe which look like the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata i.e. out of place!

Everybody knows it’s just another initiative to keep busy a retiring national leader who has to be forced into European vacations to create room for newcomers.

Unfortunately we get distracted by all these pirates who look at Brussels as just an opportunity for easy loot to take home. Brussels’ legitimacy is under fire and civil society is the magic world to open every door.

Don’t get distracted and stay focused on the real priorities. First of all, we need to keep an eye on the review of the EC budget and financial regulation. The internal process has started and civil society has to act in order to make radical changes such as Full Cost Recovery – financial regulation can limit the contribution to core costs of an organisation to an arbitrary 7% of a grant. Moreover, the nonprofit constraint stops organisations from building reserves so the financial sustainability of the sector is undermined (especially important in such a crisis).

We are talking about 120 billion € a year and the results will come out in 2014. So there is no room for fast-track or personal ambition.

Beyond the budget we face other challenges even more critical for our future. Do we want Turkey to join the EU or not? This is the most important decision for the future of Europe. If we say no we limit Europe to its historical borders; the Christians against the Muslims/Asians and loosing an historical opportunity – this is my personal view. We loose the opportunity to turn Europe from a regional project into an effective UN which might include all former Soviet Union, Northern Africa and Middle East tomorrow, and serves as a model for the rest of the world. Freedom, democracy, human rights, sustainable development and social justice are not a privilege for Europeans. Europe is not just for them.

Fortunately you won’t meet just adventures and mercenaries in Brussels but it’s plenty of genuine and effective civil society initiatives. The existing umbrellas and networks are discussing how to reform their internal organisation and create one front as a counterpart of the European Institutions. A group of national Aid Agencies launched a process led by ODI to look at the reform of European Institutions to redefine the role of Europe in the World. I’ve just found a new group of Brussels based professional who promote the development of European leadership: Pro Action Europe.

Don’t stop looking for the right guys and persevere in your mission led by your ideals. JM taught us we can make it!