E3G

‘Europe in the World’: leadership with grass roots

By Chris Littlecott

The Spring edition of Green Horizon magazine features a full-page promotion of E3G’s ‘Europe in the World’ pamphlet.

Green Horizon is published quarterly by our friends at the Regional Environmental Centre (REC), and each edition features news of projects supported by the Italian Trust Fund to the REC.

The Italian Trust Fund very generously supported our development of the ‘Europe in the World’ pamphlet, and it has been great to work with them and our colleagues at the REC in developing the thinking behind the pamphlet’s proposals. A copy of the article about the pamphlet is attached in pdf format for download.

The title of the article ‘World leadership with grass roots’ is doubly relevant. Firstly, it captures the democratic nature of the challenge facing Europe – without an effective mandate from citizens it simply won’t be able to make the choices needed to ensure its ongoing security and prosperity.

Secondly, and without blowing our own trumpet too much, it points to the way in which we’ve tried to develop our thinking about Europe over the last couple of years. For as the article points out:

Europe in the World is based on a series of “thinking events” held over the spring and summer [of 2006] with the support of various partners such as the REC. A passionate debate hosted by the REC in 2006 in Szentendre, Hungary, which featured various stakeholders, contributed heavily to the content of the publication.”

What has become clear from our continued conversations on this topic is that the investment challenges faced by Central and Eastern European countries are a microcosm of that facing Europe on the world stage. Can we invest in the intelligent infrastructure which will see us through the coming decades, or will we continue to load avoidable future costs onto our young people?

We look forward to working with our colleagues at the REC and the ITF as we explore this new political agenda over the coming months.