Transatlantic Parliament

Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, was in the United States for talks:

We have many ideas for revitalising our relations. The European Parliament would like to see a Transatlantic single market in a defined timescale. We favour upgrading our institutional relations, by creating a Transatlantic Parliamentary Assembly. We want to use the ‘Obama moment’ to build a vibrant partnership that offers hope and leadership in an uncertain world”.

It took me with great surprise that the European Parliament president talks about concrete steps for transatlantic governance while the European Parliament still seems very much lacking in terms of putting democratic powers and representation in place, and the EU still fails to create a European public sphere. Jerzy Buzek assumes a collective will of his house by using an uncommon “we” in his communication. But there haven’t been any popular debates in Europe or the US on such a transatlantic integration so far. Without popular support transatlantic governance will only further fuel skepticism in regional integration.

Here is a web presence which illustrates the meetings of Jerzy Buzek: http://www.transatlanticweek.org/

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