Clear Communication: The EU's struggles begin at its lack of clear identity

Unlike the United States, the European Union is formed out of a heritage of many different visions based in many different cultures. These diverse ideological streams mean that the EU is an organisation for which harmony does not come easy. At the core of the EU's problems is the lack of agreement as to a clear purpose for the organisation.

For any organisation, clear and united aims and purposes are essential to effective action. The failure to set out aims clearly can lead to unintended consequences, and even result in internal conflict.

The United States, for instance, derives its own common identity and purpose from a shared history surrounding its Revolutionary War and its Civil War, as well as clear statements of purpose contained within a few definitive documents. By comparison, the European Union is the product of many overlapping treaties, signed at many different times, for many different purposes, by many different nations.

Likewise, the vision of a United Europe has developed along many different paths.

Early attempts to unite Europe were little more than monuments to ego. In the modern sense of Europe - of a continent comprised of many nations - Napoleon Bonaparte was the first to attempt large scale cohesion across Europe on matters such as economics and trade. However, Napoleon's Continental System was little more than the spoils of imperial conquest, all melted down into the resources of warfare.

More nuanced ideas came later in the 19th century, in particular during the struggle for Italian Unification. The ideas of journalists and political activists like Carlo Cattaneo and Giuseppe Mazzini set a standard for imagining Europe as a federation of republics. Cattaneo and Mazzini advocated an United States of Europe as a natural continuation of the attempts to unify Italy, free from despotism, governed democratically by rational laws (Mazzini; Recchia & Urbinati; 2009)

However, it was concerns of an economic, and somewhat strategic, sort that led to modern European unity. The European Coal and Steel Community, an early predecessor to the EU, was founded with the one of the principles of free trade at its heart: that states dependent upon one another due to integrated economies cannot afford to go to war. The modern Union has developed out of these principles. As more and more countries have joined an evermore integrated community of nations, ostensibly for the benefits of trading with their European neighbours, they have brought more history, more values and visions, to an already complicated collection of institutions.

This complicated heritage has led to the European Union becoming a massive supranational entity, but one with unclear purposes and many different aims. It simply cannot serve all of them. By comparison, the United States of America has, through concerted action and defined identity, become a global superpower.

While becoming a superpower may not be the ideal aim, it still serves as an example of what can be accomplished. In order to play an effective role, careful consideration needs to be given to aims and purposes, to ensure that all who participate are clear on where they are heading, and why.

Attempts have been made to seek out such clarity. For example, the Commission of President Romano Prodi made great strides at pulling to together the various strands to develop and establish such an identity for the EU (Prodi, 2002). Yet these attempts are infrequent, and often struggle against a tide of partisan positions and ever more treaties in response to changing events.

Without clear aims and coherent communication, the European Union will continue to present a tangled and complex image. That complexity creates confusion that makes it hard to identify with the organisation, and distances it from public. For any organisation, especially a democracy, it is absolutely essential that people are able to understand what that body is, and are able to trust it to act as agreed. It is a long road to building such an image, but that journey begins with clear communication.

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References:
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+ Giuseppe Mazzini; with Stefano Recchia & Nadia Urbinati (ed.) 'A Cosmopolitanism of Nations: Giuseppe Mazzini's Writings on Democracy, Nation Building, and International Relations'; Princeton University Press; 2009.


+ Romano Prodi's 'A Wider Europe'; in The Guardian; 5-6 December 2002.