Before the European Parliament elections, the Twelve Stars Initiative and we publish a collection of essays entitled "Twelve Stars: Philosophers chart a new course for Europe". In the coming weeks, we will release four of the essays here in advance. In the second one, Cécile Fabre argues that the EU should turn its existing (though never-deployed) armed battlegroups into fully operational an deployable forces.
For the European elections at the end of May, most commentators expect a wave of populism from right and left. It is widely believed that the whole European Union will pour itself into the Brussels and Strasbourg Parliament like a political tsunami.
May be, wait and see. We at the program "Europe's future" at the Bertelsmann Stiftung do not simply want to sit still and stare at the snake like a rabbit. Together with the Twelve Stars Initiative we have asked clever minds all over Europe: Please, write down what idea could make enlighten the gloomy conditions of the EU! Freethinkers ahead for a better Europe, that was the motto.
Today we bring here an essay by Cécile Fabre. Professor of Political Philosophy at Oxford University, Cécile calls for the EU to have its own armed forces. "Independent armed forces would help promote both regional stability and humanitarian military action without having to do so either within NATO structures or within constraints of UN peacekeeping operations.”
Enjoy further reading by downloading Cécil's essay here.
For background information on how the proposal fits with the EU’s political agenda and procedures, follow the links here and here.
