Teksten

Speech tijdens de opening van het Lymec congres

za 22 november 2008

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Young liberals,

It is my pleasure as president of Jong VLD to stand and speak before you here today. Many issues come to the fore when one is asked to speak of Europe. As Belgian citizens, we hold probably the most optimistic view on Europe of all European citizens.

But Europe remains one of the least well known political levels amongst young people. This is problematic, because what is not known breeds fear and distrust. It does me great pleasure to see you all present here today, in the heart of Europe.

For small countries - like Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, but also some of the new member of the European Union - without Europe, the role in the world of these countries and the economic prosperity of its citizen would not be at the level it is today. The BeNeLux has served as an example and finds itself, still, in the heart of Europe. But the success of the Benelux, and Europe, cannot and may not make us blind to its flaws or anachronisms. It should encourage us to look further, to look beyond our own horizon. Because Europe, at her heart, still holds to old paradigms - the welfare state and the nation state. We, as liberals, will have to work with and around both, to achieve our goals.

As economists Alberto Alesina and Francesco Giavazzi write in their provocative book "The Future of Europe": "Unless Europe takes action soon, its further economic and political decline is almost inevitable". Although my picture is more optimistic, especially we, as liberals, should come to the fore and defend the Europe - and world - that we envision.

But still - The world is in motion. It is my belief that without comprehensive reform, continental Western Europe's overprotected, overregulated economies will continue to slow--and its political influence will become negligible. This doesn't mean that Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Germany, France, and other now-prosperous countries will become poor; their standard of living will remain comfortable. But they will become largely irrelevant on the world scene. Not the rational construction of the welfare state, but a true and open freedom for every citizen in Europe - and the world - holds the real key to prosperity. It is therefore clear that Europe needs new priorities. Away from the old economic sectors, such as the Common Agricultural Policy, and moving towards a more open and dynamic economic union.

And there are other reasons to be on guard. Europe and its institutions are still building on the outdated concept of the nation state. The nation state is equally a rational construction. But it is also a construction without a future. It is a European invention, building on the ancient feudal system and pressed upon its people with violence throughout European history. Europe also exported this system of the nation state towards its different colonies. The consequences can still be seen today. As Noam Chomsky put it: "If you look at contemporary conflicts in the world, most of them are reminiscent to European attempts to impose the system of the nation state in places where this concept has no meaning. The only exceptions are the European colonies where the native population was wiped out, like in Australia or the United States".

To this day, Europe clings to the power of the nation state. Although the ideal of the nation state - one people, one language, one culture - was never realized and today is more and more threatened by globalization, the ideal still lives on. In France it is implemented in a "contract model" where the nation is a bond between people who express the will to live under the same laws. In Germany, the "cultural model" implies a natural bond between people who share a common ethnical and cultural background. The grave danger of this concept of the nation state is the cultivating of nationalism, as can be seen by the rise of nationalist and populist parties in Belgium, such as the NV-A, Lijst Dedecker, Front National and the Vlaams Belang. Or in The Netherlands, by people like Wilders and Rita Verdonck. This nationalism has also found its way to the economic life, as can be seen in the responses of different nations to the current financial and economic crisis.

The liberal concepts like freedom under the law for all, tolerance and equal rights are clearly contradictory to this conservative nationalism. The nation state and nationalism stress a sense of exclusivity of the national identity and above all cultural homogeneity. According to Zizek, the ‘other' - whoever he or she may be - is only tolerated in so far as one is not confronted with it.

I expect that the power of the nation state - and consequently of the welfare state - will decline further over time. The question than arises what will replace it? Will it be supranational institutions like the European Union or the United Nations? Or are there other structures that we can already see arising today?

We can already see today that the power of the nation state gives way to a diffuse, network like power structure. This was described by Negri and Hardt in their powerful book "Empire". The power no longer lays with one superpower, like the United States, the IMF, WTO or for that matter, Europe. Power is diffused over different nodes in a network connecting different centers and hierarchies of power. The political power and societal constitution will no longer be based on discipline and models as we know them today - exercised by political leaders, teachers and judges - but based on ‘biopower', a term first coined by the French philosopher Foucault. ‘Biopower' determines the boundaries of the ‘normal'. With this idea, it is each individual imposes a ‘norm' upon himself. This makes ‘biopower' more powerful and intrusive than earlier discipline power. Being ‘abnormal' is the wish of no one. The power of ‘biopower' is that people submit to it, whiteout realizing they are submitting to anything. They feel ‘normal'. With the expansion of capitalism, we have also witnessed the expansion of ‘biopower'. Needs, desires and consumption patterns all across the globe are becoming more and more similar. This is also the end of the nation state, as people become more and more aware that external power, such as political power, is no longer suitable to impose a common model.

Communication, knowledge, networking are the new key words in this chaotic world of interconnected webs and the free market will be at the heart of this new system. Economical decisions will be made within these networks without political influence and the impact of these decisions on the economy of different nation states will be that they will be obliged to follow the "will of the market". This new market will be able to move ‘in real time' and globally, and it will function as an integrated whole. Organizations - such as companies and people - will become more dependent on these kinds of networks and less dependent on place, locality and time, in other words, the nation state.

But the insecurity and chaotic structure of the modern economy makes people cling to the old regime of the nation state in an attempt to restore their self-esteem. This is confirmed with Eurobarometer studies, suggesting half of the European citizens see globalization as threat. This makes the nation state such an attractive model, but it is the wrong choice. The loss of power and sovereignty due to globalization of media, economical power, but also criminality and law enforcement makes the pressure on the nation state even greater.
We, as young liberals, will have to be on constant guard. It is strange for me to see how most political leaders still live in a static, modern world and ignore the postmodern, dynamic and chaotic world around us, this new Empire.

It is only when we, as individuals, as citizens, as Europe, are able to cope with the changes around us, if we are able to survive this new ‘Age of Empires' that we will be able to continue the freedom and prosperity we so deeply cherish today. Let us leave our fears from the 19th century behind and enter, with and open mind, the 21st century.

Thank you very much.

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