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The founding Fathers' concept of 'European Community': a value-oriented framing

The founding Fathers' concept of 'European Community': a value-oriented framing. Victoria Martín de la Torre, PhD Candidate. What framing for the EU?. FRAMING THEORY: Words are not neutral Erving Goffman; George Lakoff Frame is a conceptual structure used in thinking ( Lakoff )

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The founding Fathers' concept of 'European Community': a value-oriented framing

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  1. The founding Fathers' concept of 'European Community': a value-oriented framing Victoria Martín de la Torre, PhD Candidate

  2. Whatframingforthe EU? FRAMING THEORY: Words are not neutral • Erving Goffman; George Lakoff • Frame is a conceptual structure used in thinking (Lakoff) EU NARRATIVE: Where are the values? Beyond Competitiveness, growth and jobs Nicole Dewandre (JRC) Critical metaphor analysis 1985-2014 Sensitiveinversion: economicagents are sensitive and humans are functional GOING BACK TO THE ORIGINAL “COMMUNITY”

  3. From ‘Community’ to ‘Union’ • The Maastricht Treaty (1992) established the European Union. The EEC became the European Community. With the Lisbon Treaty, the EC ceased to have legal personality BUT • We use the word to refer to “Community Method”; “Acquis Communautaire”. • In Latin languages we also use “extra-comunitario” when speaking about EU or non-EU citizenship • Clear value-weight in the German word “Gemeinschaft” • Not in English. Anglo-centrism: English concepts dominate international discourse on language and cognition

  4. Community vs. Society • Ferdinand Tönnies´ Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft (1887) (Community and Society). Sociology as a scientific discipline starts with this distinction: social changes and migration from rural to urban areas with Industrial Revolution • Human relations as concentric circles. The only way to bring “community” relations to the circle bigger than family is through “civic friendship” in Plato’s terms • Helmuth Plessner’ “The Limits of Community: A Critique of Social Radicalism”. (1924) Risks of rejecting modernity • “National Community” of PhilippePétain and the Vichy Regime: anti-semitic and nationalistic • “Community” as a nostalgic feeling of belonging

  5. Community beyond the nation • The Founding Fathers of the European Union believed that the “Community”- quality relations and sense of belonging could be extended beyond the borders of the nation-state • They chose the word “Community” instead of League (of Nations) or Organisation (OECD) or Council (of Europe)

  6. ‘Community’ for the EU Founding Fathers

  7. Main source of inspiration • Communitarian Personalism And one catalyst… • FunctionalistMethod

  8. Communitarian Personalism • Person • Integral Humanism (Jacques Maritain) • Between individualism and collectivism: Community • Against liberal and marxist materialism • New concept of Sovereignty – demystifying the State • Supranational and infranational • Intermediate actors: family, communities (civil society) • The economy at the service of human development

  9. Christian Democrats De Gasperi, Adenauer & Schuman

  10. Schuman: • Unitas – St. Thomas & Volksverein • Friends with Jacques Maritain and Romano Guardini • Inspired by Maurice Blondel, Henri Bergson Adenauer: • Unitas De Gasperi: • Farmers cooperatives - Articles on Windhorst and Social Encyclicals • Friends with Jacques Maritain • DC – “Integral Humanism” of Giuseppe Dossetti

  11. Personalist Intellectuals • Denis de Rougemont, Hendrik Brugmans and Alexandre Marc were at the Congress in The Hague (1948) • Jacques Maritain (neo-Thomism), Romano Guardini • Les non-conformists des années 30 (Revue l’Esprit) • Emmanuel Mounier

  12. Jean MonnetFunctionalistmethod+personalist team(Reuter, Uri, Rabier)

  13. Schuman Declaration9 May 1950

  14. Three borders – Luxembourg, Lorraine (France and Germany)

  15. A new definition of “Europe” “Europe is now beginning to define herself, without the aid of scholars and academics, who I fear, will never be able to agree amongst themselves. ... I do not have any intention of drawing a geographical line of demarcation between Europe and ‘non-Europe’. There is another valid way of setting limits: that which distinguishes those who have the European spirit and those who do not.

  16. “The European spirit signifies being conscious of belonging to a cultural family and to have a willingness to serve that community in the spirit of total mutuality, without any hidden motives of hegemony or the selfish exploitation of others. The 19th century saw feudal ideas being opposed and, with the rise of a national spirit, nationalities asserting themselves.

  17. “Our century, that has witnessed the catastrophes resulting in the unending clash of nationalities and nationalisms, must attempt and succeed in reconciling nations in a supranational association. This would safeguard the diversities and aspirations of each nation while coordinating them in the same manner as the regions are coordinated within the unity of the nation.” Schuman, 16 May 1949, in Strasbourg

  18. A “supranational” community “No other word would have better reflected the new idea that we tried to express, distinguishing it from all other categories traditionally accepted. The supranational stands at an equal distance from, on one hand, the international individualism which considers national sovereignty as intangible [...] and on the other hand federalism of States which are subordinated to a Super-State [...]“ Foreword in P. Reuter “La Communauté Européenne du Charbon et de l’Acier“ (1953)

  19. Human-centred “I place at the forefront of this effective progresses those that we owe to human contacts. Learn to know each other, as we are, with our qualities and our faults, our affinities and disparities, our prejudices and our routines, this is the first condition for any rapprochement. There is no trust without frankness, no agreement built on misconceptions. By multiplying the encounters, we create a favourable climate and we lay the foundation for a common action”. Article “A European state of mind is possible?” (1955)

  20. Search of theCommongood “It supposes first of all freedom of choice, the free adherence of the participating collectivities. Constraint, whatever it may be, is excluded by definition. Moreover, the community proposes to each partner the same objective as the philosophy of St. Thomas has called the Common Good.

  21. “This is situated outside of all egotistical purposes, the good of each and the good of all and conversely. Finally, the means of attaining these objectives are agreement, and mutual understanding, without hegemony or privilege or subordination”. Newsletter of Abbey of Fleury (1958)

  22. Conclusion • “Community” as trust, a quality of human relations • Key elements: • Freedom to participate • Equality beyond power or size • No selfish motivation • Search for the common good

  23. Economy is only an instrument, the person is at the centre • The Community/Union is not a geographical area, but a certain spirit • Building Europe means transforming borders into points of contact • “Supranational”: using imagination and new words to build new realities

  24. Itisstill in ourhands

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