The New European Green Deal presented by Ursula von der Leyen is very clear – Europe must regain its internal competitive advantage, but at the same time must be able to reinforce its global strategic position. Jacques Delors, the former European Commission president, once stressed that it is essential to learn the lessons that are emerging from a Europe that is trying to reinvent its effective place in a complex and global world.
In the new global economy and innovation society, Europe has a central role to play in the creation of value and a focus on creativity. Europe must confirm itself as an enabler in a very demanding world by introducing by into the economy a capital of trust and innovation that is essential to ensure a central leadership in its future relations with the US and the more dynamic developing world.
European actors must be more global in the coming year and capable of driving the social matrix when it comes to knowledge building and selling itself as an asset on the global market.
The world needs a “citizens Europe” where people know who they are and have a strong commitment with the Western values of freedom, social justice, and development. This is the reason to believe that a new standard of democracy in Europe is more than a possibility, it is an individual and collective necessity for us all as European citizens,
Jürgen Habermas, the great German philosopher and sociologist that follows the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism is more than ever present – says the main difference for Europe will be in its ability to exercise the capacity of an individual’s participation in the central contribution to the reinvention of a collective society. This is a process that is not determined by law. It is effectively constructed by all the actors in a free and collaborative strategic interaction.
In a certain sense, we need a new third way for Europe. When Anthony Giddens spoke about this special global capacity of creating a new commitment toward the challenge of the future, he was in fact speaking about this commitment to a new democracy in Europe that is based on new standards of social innovation.
This “New Third Way” is above all a confirmation that an individual’s performance in a complex society is not only possible, but also desirable and necessary for the future.
Europe is facing a new strategic challenge. It is reinventing Europe and giving opportunities to its main actors – the individual nations, universities, Enterprises, and Civil Society – to develop new challenges focused on innovation and creativity. The reinvention of Europe is the reinvention of its people and institutions. It is an active commitment which focuses on the participation and development of new competences.
This is the key difference and are the lessons we need to learn for a new consensus in Europe.