From the editor

Dear Readers,

 

When Margot Wallström, Vice President of the European Commission, was asked whether there was such thing as a common European identity, she said: “There are at least twenty-five different identities, maybe more... People feel like Catalans and Tyroleans, but this does not exclude us from being Europeans who are united their diversity.”

Doubts about the success of European integration arise increasingly in the wake of last year’s two negative referenda on the European Constitution. Subsequently, a so-called reflection phase was decreed by the European Council last June, and public debates have started full swing.

On January 1, Austria took over the Presidency of the EU Council. Part of its agenda will be to listen to the concerns of European citizens. An international conference brought together 300 experts in Salzburg to find ways to solve the EU’s constitutional crisis .

Yours sincerely,

Christoph Meran