Dear Prof. Tommaso Padoa Schioppa,
We met only once. It was a brief encounter at the Eurostar bookshop in Brussels. I’m sorry you are leaving us when Europe is besieged from all fronts.
The men of your generation who believed in Europe as a source of peace and progress, and worked hard to make it happen, are almost all gone. Today there is no big idea anymore, but everybody tries to get the most out of it… paying the least.
Perhaps Europe doesn’t need a big idea since is ‘our common future’ as Quentin Peel argeud quoting Angela Merkel in the FT on Friday. However, I can’t resign to the idea that the European Union is just another layer of international bureaucracy.
I started engaging in European affairs 5 years ago believing that Europe is an effective UN and further step towards global governance. I still hold on my hope because I’m involved in networks of change-makers and the European Union has showed signs to be ready to support them.
We can not only enhance growth and employment but lead on a New Europe for Europeans and the rest of the world based on smart, sustainable and inclusive development.
We represent a new culture which combines the passion for change in society with a professional culture based on investment, enterprises and innovation.
Do you think the European Union is genuine supporting us or is it just social marketing?
I hope you have a better access to information and can send me an answer as a Christmas gift.
