Today is Europe day and next Saturday I intend to speak at the 50th European Young Engineers (EYE) conference. This may surprise you as I am not so young anymore at 58 years old. European Young Engineers is a very dynamic engineering association which I was fortunate to be one of the founding members of, back in 1994. When EYE started, we could not imagine the UK ever to leave the European Union. We could not imagine countries like Hungary and Poland to be reluctant to adopt certain European guidelines in relation to fundamental human rights such as the separation of the political powers.
I am not suggesting one or the other EU member nation is
right or wrong I am just considering the fact there was no doubt at the
beginning and that there is a great degree of doubt today. Europe has become
too much of an administrative power and did not get decently into the hearts of
everybody. Moreover a general fear of globalisation
originated. It happened because the European construction was too much oriented
towards unification of markets and free competition. Europe suggested a
commissioner of free competition could bring fairness in European markets but
this is impossible as long as member states conduct their own fiscal and social policy.
The truth is European construction is incomplete and we need
more Europe not less Europe. Above all, we need a new generation of European
politicians who see beyond the daily struggle and who are prepared to fight for
the general European interest, not for their own survival. We may find good candidates
for this new generation among European young engineers.
I refer to my earlier blog Europe, quo vadis?
Picture: Market Square Sankt Pölten, Austria
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