European Union

2012, probably not the end of the world outside Europe. After these doomed years of Icelandic ash, Greek tragedies, Spanish influenza and what-have-you; amid desperate efforts to save the Euro from this kulturkampf-reloaded now involving the whole subcontinent... A sensible observer would see the language regime of the European Union (EU) neither as a matter of top concern nor as the source of its biggest problems. Yet a certain degree of nuance would do our observer no harm. United in Diversity, the unborn Constitution’s unwanted motto for 'Europe'. Just how diverse, though?

I was on my way to my office in the City of London last Friday morning when I realised that Cameron had taken a big decision in Europe. When you are dealing on a trading desk you try to guess the effect of these political decisions on the financial assets more directly related to it and affected by it. And believe me, in the last couple of years this has been a constant challenge for us bond traders.

Cameron’s was a big move, a big decision, a brave answer to Europe or a cowardly one depending on the point of view taken.

The European single market’s competitiveness within the global economy’s framework requires, as a necessary condition, an efficient transport system regarding the economic, social and environmental costs. In this regard, prioritising the Mediterranean Corridor is the paradigmatic example of a long-term strategy implemented by the European Commission through its Trans-European Transport Network proposal.

Europe is very diverse. This diversity in Europe is obvious, and it becomes even more obvious when we look at it from a linguistic perspective. There are some sixty different languages spoken in Europe, not counting all the languages that have arrived with recent migrations, yet this diversity has never received the degree of recognition and protection that it deserves. Thus, the growing awareness of the importance, the recognition, and the relevance of this linguistic diversity – and the philosophy on diversity in general – is a relatively new phenomenon.

FERRMED is a European-level multi-sectoral association, initiated by the business world, which has the following main objectives:

• To enhance business competitiveness through the improvement of transportation systems, railway in particular.

• To define a basic European network of freight railway transportation (Core Network) where the so-called FERRMED standards would be implemented.

Spaces to decide and to incite

Seen with Catalan glasses, the European construction is necessary but, as presently conceived, clearly insufficient. The European Union’s motto is “United in diversity”, a beautiful motto that, in general, universal terms, I share. However, when it is applied to the present European Union, I see it as incomplete, at a minimum. Taking the current Euro-reality into account, the motto “United in the diversity of the States” would be much more convenient. And this is, in my opinion, THE problem: the current States are, unfortunately, the main reason for European paralysis.

Twenty-four years after joining the European Union (EU), the EU still does not officially recognise our language, the Catalan language. Spain and its representatives have made all kinds of efforts to avoid this recognition during all these years. They do not care, and are not at all bothered that Gaelic, which is spoken by some 70,000 people, is already an official EU language. They do not want to see the Catalan language reach this status, though it is spoken by more than 9 million European citizens.

One of the challenges Europe has been facing for the past few years is enhancing the competitiveness of its economy. To reach this goal, logistics and transport play a key role. Competitiveness is no longer understood without sustainability. This is why switching from road to rail transport is a key priority for many European regions. This is also why, today, the review of European transport axis is not only relevant, but urgent.