Former Italian Prime Minister Delivers Speech on Europe

By: Tim Hanrahan
Posted In: News

PROVIDENCE R.I. – The audience applauded loudly on Mar. 30, 2009 when Brown University’s President Ruth J. Simmons introduced the former Prime Minister of Italy and former president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, to talk about the state of Europe in today’s world.

Prodi recently left power last year and is a newly appointed professor-at-large for Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies. The former prime minister delivered his speech, “Is There a New Role for Europe in Today’s World?” to an audience of over 300 students, faculty and visitors in the Salomon Center for Teaching.

Europe’s tumultuous past history of constant war and poverty doesn’t seem real to young people today, but Mr. Prodi has been influential in binding the continent together by developing stability within the European Union. For centuries, European countries have been at each other’s throats, but the European Union has cast aside war and grown into a union of 27 members, 496 million people and one currency: the Euro. Today, the EU makes up roughly 30 percent of the worlds overall gross domestic product.

Europe’s real emergence did not begin at the end of World War II, but rather when the Soviet Union fell and the European Union started to come together in 1993.

“This collapse has changed the world scenario from a unipolar world, a world in which there can only be one power,” Prodi said.

The EU is not without its problems and the individual members of the union don’t exactly hold hands like the states that make up the United States. The Iraq War has strained nations’ relationships within the European Union and has divided them on a much grander scale than the red state versus blue state politics Americans are used to. Also, there is little dialog and the EU lacks a unified foreign policy; however, many are optimistic that President Obama will bring change to the arena of communication between nations.

Prodi went on to talk about Russia and quoted a paranoid Vladimir Putin concerning the Iraq War, saying, “if this war starts, Russia will be under siege.” Russia is not a member of the EU, but still plays a key role in the stability in the region because of their vast military strength, natural resources and geopolitical position in the region. Prodi recalled speaking with former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev stating that Gorbachev told him that Putin is the only one who can save Russia from itself. But, there are worries about increasing Russian aggression in the region, particularly against Georgia and Ukraine, making dialog and European unity that much more important.

China is by far the most influential world player today and in the years to come. Currently, China is the only nation in history to export capital, technology and manpower simultaneously. China’s population is also the largest in the world with 1.3 billion citizens, which is a startlingly 25 times larger than Prodi’s native Italy, a country considered overpopulated.

“When I think about China I always remember an old Italian joke in which a minster goes to Chairman Mao and tells him that the Swiss Army has invaded, and Chairman Mao turns to the minster and asks, ‘which hotel are they staying at,”‘ Prodi said. “China is a huge question mark for the future because of human rights issues and inequalities.” But the former prime minister also clearly stated that the world cannot exist without China because of their complex entanglement in the global economy.

Despite growing concerns about China and Russia, the EU must become more unified. If the EU were a single country, their GDP would be slightly higher than the United States and their population would be significantly larger as well. Notwithstanding Europe’s potential for power and influence, Prodi talked about Europe’s current position. “You would think that Europe would be a big player, but it’s not,” Prodi said.

The former prime minster then said something that would give many Americans a panic attack. He stated that there is a correlation between a higher standard of living in Europe, particularly in Scandinavia, that the rest of Europe could tap into. Higher taxation and better social services, such as free health care and education, are among the reasons for a better quality of life. These nations also have the worlds smallest income gap between socio economic classes. But the EU lacks a standing central government needed to carry out reform. At the moment, the EU presidency shifts from country to country every six months.

Currently Czech Prime Minster, Mirek Topolánek, holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union. Topolánek has been known for his anti-unity politics, but recently the Czech Prime Minister has come out in support of the Treaty of Lisbon, a treaty aimed at reforming the EU, giving the union a much more centralized government. Lisbon has yet to be ratified, but Prodi stresses that this treaty is essential to the growth and development of Europe.

What wonders await Europe in the coming century? Former Prime Minister Prodi is optimistic that Europe will continue to undergo change in order to meet the many challenges the world faces.