Brussels, 29/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - Declining performance by the EU since 2008, characterised by its inability to improve the quality and efficiency at work, cannot be explained by cyclical disturbances alone. It results from a much deeper malaise that strikes at the very core of the system of democratic governance. The Observatoire du Dialogue et de l'Intelligence Sociale (ODIS) makes this diagnosis in its report on the “Social State of Europe” published on Wednesday 29 January. One major conclusion of the report is that a new method of dialogue is required, beginning with the European institutions launching a pan-European organisation of États généraux de l'Europe or European general assemblies.
ODIS adopted an atypical methodology several years ago in an effort to look at the way in which a society develops. In this edition, it looks at Europe. Thirty public statistical indicators have been used to construct two Social Intelligence Development Indexes: one determining the social link (the ability to live together well) and the other focusing on performance (the capacity to do well together). A variety of mapping has been developed to provide a fresh approach to the way in which the EU has developed. Overall, between 2004 2008, the social link index advanced significantly, while the overall performance index only improved slightly. The whole balance went off kilter in 2008 with the financial crisis crossing the Atlantic. Developments in the social link stagnated and performance fell.
In the preface to this report, the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, highlights the “relevance” of the connection between these two indexes in a period when everyone can perceive the risk of how the dislocation of the social link could threaten the European project's long-term survival. Awareness of this risk, however, is not a sufficient benchmark for developing an appropriate response. The response proposed by ODIS appears to be some sort of tautology but a stems from customary reflection and focus groups despite the fact that its initial conclusion is that “there can only be a sustainable performance if there is social inclusion of all stakeholders” and that “there can be no sustainable social cohesion without performance by all stakeholders”. On Tuesday 28 January, Jean-François Chantaraud, the director-general of ODIS told EUROPE that overlaying development of the two indexes had led to the conclusion that there was a key principle that would help them ensure a balance between the two, namely “the pooling of information”.
According to Chantaraud, the decline in the EU's performance and stagnation in the social link constitute a much more fundamental challenge than some economic analysts would have us believe. It requires a real examination of the issue in order to “reinvent representative democracy” and include citizens in an “interactive reflection process prior to decision-making”. The report provides a lengthy examination on what this means and what the modalities for implementing “participative democracy” are. The “pooling of information” simply means providing European citizens with a chair at the table of the legislator and the executive so that “Europe can bring its citizens into the co-construction of a new and innovative society”.
Swiftly moving on from these relatively abstract terms, the report provides a number of concrete proposals. The Commission should launch the initiative for a pan-European “États généraux de l'Europe” in an effort to build, with a whole range of different actors, around 30 or so, “thematic public debate kits” focusing on health, the media, energy, immigration, taxation and defence. These “tools” would then be used to ensure that all the themes are discussed and assessed in all strata of European society. ODIS believes that a global strategy for the Europe of tomorrow would be the result, whilst profoundly modifying European governance, improving its efficiency and building a new “culture of citizens' intellectual responsibility”. Although not assessing the feasibility of such a project, Barroso welcomed this “remarkable effort consisting of… highlighting possible options for common reflection and informal political debate” and, “stimulating and structuring public debate and providing an incentive to citizens to become players rather than spectators”. (JK/transl.fl)