WEBVTT

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When Gandhi was asked once
to comment on European civilization,

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his quip was,
"It would be a very good idea."

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When asked today about
our views on the European Union,

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I think we can be excused
to reply in a similar fashion.

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What a splendid idea it would be 
if we could only pull it off.

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United only in name,

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the European Union is, I'm afraid,

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in a process of disintegration
as we speak.

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With the commitment and determination
of a termite colony,

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which is eating into the foundations,

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very soon there will be nothing left
but an empty shell,

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to remind us of the lofty ideal, 
that used to be the European Union.

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In Agatha Christie novels

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when the reader comes across
in the prologue a group of characters,

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upper class characters usually 
that are congregating some chateau,

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the reader knows what to expect,
a series of murders.

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Similarly, today when we hear that our
European politicians are gathering today

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or together we know what to expect, 
a comedy of errors

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which will be wrapped up
in triumphant rhetoric,

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but which very soon will prove
to be nothing more

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than dangerous harmful waffle.

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To err is human.

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But to mess up spectacularly

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we need an elite 
made up of prime ministers,

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presidents, ministers, 
apparatchiks, opinion makers

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who are determined not to face up

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to a systemic crisis systematically.

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Alas, at least now we have enough evidence

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that renders all such denial inexcusable.

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Humanity has not surprised itself
very often

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but it has done so twice in the past.

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Οnce in 1929 and yet again
more recently in 2008.

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1929 ought to have taught us
a very simple binary twin lesson.

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First that the first victim of such 
a crisis is the common currency.

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It was the gold standard in 1929, 
it is the Euro today.

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The second victim
is of course truth and civility.

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One such terrible crisis hits the world.

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A Hobbesian war of all against all
is unleashed on an unsuspecting humanity

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and the first victim is our capacity 
to recognize the systemic crisis

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we are in, as a systemic crisis.

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And therefore it renders us incapable
of accepting our responsibility

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for at least a portion of that crisis.

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Thrillers begin with 
some cunning detective who is unmasking

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one shady character after the other.

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But good thrillers, 
I submit to you,

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do not end with 
the unveiling of the perpetrator.

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Τhey go one step further.

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Τhey reach the momentus moment

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when the cunning detective
inadvertently unmasks himself.

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Bewildered he is staring 
at his own image in the mirror.

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This crisis is having
a similar effect on all of us.

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Our masks are falling.

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Unscrupulous bankers, inane politicians,

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conniving entrepreneurs,
cynical academics,

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uncritical citizens,
who are all being unmasked

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but as their masks keep falling
the dejection is becoming generalized.

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Meanwhile the human costs 
are mounting up

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and the only way of making sense of them

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and measuring them sensibly 
is by means of counting lost generations.

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It is time to transform Europe 
and to be transformed in the process.

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Now, the medical profession
only very recently

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managed to save
more people than it killed.

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Up until the 1920s or so 
the disease was preferable to the cure.

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Similarly with the Εuro crisis now

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our European leaders are enacting,

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what I call a poisonous medicine.

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Toxic bailouts, inane austerity.

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We created, in order to salvage
a Εuro system, a currency union

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which was never meant,
never designed to sustain

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the catastrophe of 2008,

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the shockwaves of that great earthquake.

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What we have done is we created a scaffold

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which is, instead of helping
the edifice from collapsing

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it is putting more pressure on it.

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We've created 
this European Financial Stability

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or Instability Facility

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and we modeled it.

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We created it in the image 
of Lehman Brothers' infamous derivatives.

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It was as if we took two stones

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and we tied them together
by means of a string,

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hoping they will float more readily.

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The result of course
is the uncontrolled disintegration

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that we are experiencing.

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Now, by now most people
are realizing this.

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So what we have here is
a new Jerusalem that is being canvased.

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It comes in the form 
of the so called "Federal Option."

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Well-meaning Europeans 
and some friends from federal field

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recite this litany of federal concepts,
ideas, suggestions.

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I'll just give you some.

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We hear of the importance of forging
a Fiscal or a Transfer Union in Europe,

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of having a Federal Treasury,

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of giving a new Leviathan, 
a new Economic Czar

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the power to rule over all of us 
with an armed fist and keep us in awe.

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What we hear about is Centralized
Disposal of National Assets,

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particularly of the Greek kind.

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The laws of National Sovereignty

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as a price we have 
to pay for this Fiscal Union

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and of course the dreaded treaty changes

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that have to go through 
27 parliaments and/or electorates.

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I submit to you that this is both
unworkable and undesirable.

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Why is it unworkable?

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Because
- and this is a message to federalists -

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the worst enemy of federalism
at the moment is itself.

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And the reason why
I'm saying this is because

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if we move in the federals' direction

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the crisis is certain to outpace us.

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It would run faster than we do.

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And when the treaty changes take longer
than the collapse of the Euro,

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all we will be left with 
is the smouldering mess

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in which there will be
nothing left to federate.

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But there is a second reason 
why this Federal Option needs to be shunt

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and it is that if the United States
of Europe is a good idea,

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it is not an idea that should be
wasted and subsumed

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in the context of trying
to solve the current crisis.

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Let me put it very simply.
The Federal Option will only be possible

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once the crisis is over, 
not as an antidote to the crisis.

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We will only be capable 
and worthy of federation,

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when as European we can imagine the future

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in which Greeks and Germans

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will be voting in Greek and German
politicians to represent us.

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We will only be able to affect 
a decent Federal Europe

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when we can imagine a situation 
where our national armies

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are dissolved and are merged
into a common European Defense force.

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We are only going to be able 
to put together a decent Federation

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if we can imagine a situation
where our views are assessed

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within Europe on the basis
of their merits and the merits alone,

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what the ancient Athenians
used to refer as "Isigoria."

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As opposed to judging what somebody says

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on the basis of the who they are,
what accent they speak in

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which country they come from,

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and finally at a symbolic, 
but a very important level,

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let me say this, we are only going 
to be capable of a proper federation

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when we can decide as Europeans
what to print on our euro notes.

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Instead of these abstract bridges
and gates that symbolize one thing,

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our incapacity to agree on common symbols.

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So if I'm right that the new Jerusalem
is not really a new Jerusalem,

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and that it is putting forward 
an unworkable and undesirable idea,

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which will also lead 
to uncontrolled disintegration,

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then what is the alternative?

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Well, let me suggest to you
that before we agree in an alternative,

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perhaps we should agree
on some shared principles

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that should govern our future.

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Τhese future principles 
may seem contradictory

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but they can be rendered harmoniously

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and if they can't then we have no future.

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Let me give you examples.

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One principle is that I think we should
end the perfectly partitioned Europe

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that we created in Maastricht
in order to create the Euro,

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while at the same time however, 
strengthening National Sovereignty

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and empowering National Responsibility
within that model.

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Another set.

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End the soothest solidarity

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which is being imposed upon
the Dutch and the Germans

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in order to give bailouts, pretend
bailouts to the Greeks and to the Irish.

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Stop inane austerity which is only
making the debt crisis worse.

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Ignore all the calls for debt buybacks
which will not work,

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but at the same time integrate investment
and management of our problems

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like existing debt and banking losses.

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This is what I refer to
as decentralized europeanization

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so allow me an acronym.

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Decent Europe.

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Europeanize what?

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Free realms.

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We need a management 
of existing debt at a European level.

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We need management of the banking sector

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which is collapsing all over us,

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and we need a europeanized
investment policy in aggregate.

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How do we do this
without treaty changes and federation?

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We already have existing
institutions in Europe

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and each one of them
can be assigned one of these tasks.

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I'm not going to go into this.

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This is not the place or the time.

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You can see more 
of this proposal elsewhere.

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All I want to do now
is to give you a flavor

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of what the whole purpose of this is.

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Decentralized europeanization
creates circumstances

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for national sovereignty
and national responsibility

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to be strengthened.

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Because if we integrate
these three spheres in Europe

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of existing debt, of banks 
and investment flows,

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then at the national level

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each member state 
can run a balanced budget,

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and can learn to live within its means,

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and also to be empowered
within these limits

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to exercise a full national sovereignty.

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So I present
this Decent Europe proposal to you

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as if you want a forger 
of a future Federation's prerequisite,

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which I already mentioned
and I won't mention again.

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Let me finish by reminding you of a myth,

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according which Sibyl of Cumae

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offered Tarquinius Superbus,
the king of Rome at the time,

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the nine books of wisdom at a price that
Tarquinius considered to be exorbitant

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and therefore he said no to the offer.

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Sibyl as you all know started burning 
one of these volumes after the other

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until Tarquinius relented agreeing
to pay the original high price

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for the remaining three volumes.

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Let me suggest that the European crisis
is following Sibyl's strategy.

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The problem is that our European leaders
keep saying no

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and therefore threatening

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to allow our common heritage
to burn in its entirety.

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Decentralized europeanization
offers Europe a chance

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to save its last three books 
of wisdom or the equivalent.

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It offers us a chance 
to usher in a new era

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in which Europeans, 
Northern and Southern,

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Western and Eastern,
can stare into each others eyes

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and see and recognize a partner.

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If we miss this chance,

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then Europe is going 
to be dragging the whole planet

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into a despicable mire
for a third time in a century.

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It is our duty and over overarching 
obligation to prevent this.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)