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Book presentation: "Europe - an idea takes shape"

An anthology of texts on European integration

The Director-General for Press and Communication in the General Secretariat of the Council, Hans Brunmayr, on Thursday introduced the book Europe - an idea takes shape during the conference “The Sound of Europe” at the Salzburg Conference Centre. The book, a joint project of the Council of the European Union and the Austrian Presidency, will be on sale at the end of the year. A paperback edition is also planned.

“We wished to demonstrate that European integration did not just start after World War II, but centuries earlier,” said Brunmayr in his explanation of the purpose of this anthology. To this end, the book contains key texts on European integration written by artists, thinkers and politicians over seven centuries. The search for a possible model runs without interruption from the first proposal, by Dante, to the foundation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community (EEC) after World War II.

According to Brunmayr, the distinctive feature of the book is that the models proposed by the earlier thinkers are juxtaposed with the actual development. As a current example, the Director-General mentioned the discussion of the constitution and pointed out that there were already drafts of a European constitution in circulation in the early 19th century. “The wish for a united Europe as a place of peace and a guarantor of the rights of its citizens is a recurring theme in the texts of this book,” Brunmayr continued, and emphasised the close connection between integration and peace that all the authors spoke of in their texts.

“For each author represented in this book, the important thing was to find a model that would increase the welfare of the citizens and improve the conditions of their lives,” said the Director-General. The ideas developed in these texts, the specificity of the vision of a Europe united in peace and the enduring relevance of the thoughts presented here make a significant contribution to the discussions during this conference, “The Sound of Europe,” concluded Brunmayr.