Do we need a President of Europe ?

Here is a question I asked in the afternoon Plenary session today about The Shape of the New European Union.

Dimitrij Rupel, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia, shared with us his ideas of an European dream compared to what was the American Dream in the past:

The Americans was a dream for individuals coming to America to fulfill their dreams of individual success. The initial European dream of Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman was the United States of Europe. Today the Accessing Countries join, the dream changed.

The European dream is a concept that can attract not only the 15, the 10 new ones but also many more. The EU is not an exclusive club. Dimitrij Rupel developed his concept of this new dream of a large multi-cultural, open Europe.

Here was my question to Dimitrij Rupel:

"I share your dreams about Europe, being a French Entrepreneur, but I feel most citizens don't. I will put it in an even stronger way, most of them do not really care about Europe, they feel it has no voice, it does not mean enough to them, and you can see that in European elections citizens participation.

I am surprised nobody on the panel talked about a President of Europe, even if it is not for tomorrow. I actually think we need one, now. We need a Face for Europe, a person that is this vision, that takes it to Citizens, so that they feel concerned and share it.

There is no company without a face, a CEO. There is no Country without a President. Europe has no face until we have a directly elected President of Europe."

Do you think also we need a European President now ?

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