Friday, March 21, 2014

The Irish President on Democracy in EU

The President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins held the keynote speech at a seminar on "Democracy and Popular Legitimacy in the EU" , the Dublin European Institute, March 20, 2014:

"Keynote Address by Michael D. Higgins"

Excerpt

"The rise of Eurosceptic populists in contemporary Europe, with national identity as their rallying cry, points very plainly to European citizens’ perceptions and growing discontent with the current course of the EU. Ironically, this national-populist upsurge might well force us, who care for the future of European integration, to engage more resolutely in an exercise of normative clarification, and articulate more clearly the significance of the European project, in order to go further on the basis of a set of economic pluralist models that are responsive to the varying conditions of our peoples in social and demographic terms."

No comments: