"European Union and the Politics of Culture"
Dr. Cris Shore

As the Laeken Summit has made another ill-thought-out move towards the creation of a European state, despite acknowledging that the European institutions have no popular support or legitimacy, the Bruges Group publishes a pamphlet that deals with the attempts to create a European culture that would underpin the European State.

Part one critiques the European Union’s ‘supranationalism’ and the way ‘culture’ has been used to advance integration. Dr Shore also details the numerous methods used by the EU to achieve this end. The implications for Britain’s democracy and self-government are also explained.

“…what the EU conspicuously lacks is a common culture around which Europeans can unite. There is no popular ‘European consciousness’ to rival that of the nation-state or lend support to those economic and legal foundations”.

Part two gives the results of Dr Shore’s studies of the EU elite. He finds that the EU bureaucracy is mired in scandals, corruption and nepotism.

“…the EU’s administrative regime actively encourages corrupt practices”.

“…the story of EU corruption provides a stark warning for the peoples of Europe about the bureaucratisation - or Brusselsisation - of the EU”.