Europe: Political Union or Trade Bloc? - Foundation Office Greece and Cyprus
Event Reports
Since the onset of the European sovereign debt crisis, arguments that have been formed following little, wrong, polarised and populist information made their way to publicity. The public opinion in Greece and Germany developed against each other, whereas society and polity suffered from the creation of hostility.
Against this background, the project “Dialogue without Borders” promotes the factual exchange of arguments and opinions beyond clichés.
In a nutshell, the concept is the following: two countries, two cities, one question, two positions, and four discussants. The topic of this live debate was the future of the European project. One Greek and one German discussant argued in favour of a European Union as a political union, while the other two discussants outlined why the EU is currently – and should be in future – a trading bloc. Andreas Lutsch, research fellow at the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz moderated the event in Germany, and Filios Stangos, head of TV100, the Thessaloniki TV and radio station, in Greece.
In the subsequent discussion, topics were especially the democratic deficit of the EU, the cultural heritage in Europe and the effect of the on-going sovereign debt crisis on the future of the EU.