Europe needs ‘a new narrative'
“When I go to universities or high-school classes and tell them what excited my dad about Europe, when he was still alive, it was that he removed the first border control posts on the Franco-German border,” said Hoyer. “It brought him to tears. That doesn't count any more. It should count, because we've had the longest period of peace in Europe in the entire history of mankind, but it's not the narrative that impresses people.”
As a member of Germany's foreign ministry, Hoyer has been at the heart of discussions about the future of Europe. Despite the eurozone's woes, he is optimistic, but he said that the case for European integration is being forgotten. “If we have problems presently in Europe, particularly in terms of competition worldwide, then it is not because we have too much Europe, but too little,” he said.
He said it was time to “deliver on political integration”, including by completing the internal market. “It's so important that politicians, scientists, the bankers, the cultural elites of Europe, all come up with a new narrative on Europe. The narrative we must now address is: where are we going to be, where are our children going to be, in terms of competition with other parts of the world, in ten, 20 years from now?”
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