Why Sovereignty Is Indispensable

In answer to a question at the Orvieto Forum, Helga Zepp-LaRouche raised the means to reverse the current decline of Europe.

“So, what is the way out? The way out is that we have to think completely differently. If we stick to normal party politics, or normal procedures, I don’t think there is a way out. But we need to think in terms of a paradigm shift, that we are experiencing right now an historic transformation where 500 years of colonialism is ending. Because of the strength of China, the countries of the Global South are now forming a new economic system. This is where economic growth is; the growth rates in Asia and the countries that are working with the BRI are extremely high, while Europe and the trans-Atlantic world are collapsing. So I think the task we have to solve is we have to convince and make clear to the people of Europe that they have to ally with the Global South…We have to create 2-3 billion new productive jobs in the Global South. We could do it if all the countries of Europe would ally — hopefully with Japan and even the United States at some point – to solve the migration issue in the only possible human way: in creating productive jobs so that the young people of Asia, of Latin America, of Africa want to stay home and build up their own countries.”

In addition, she said, we need “a new security and development architecture which must include every single country on the planet, because if we create any kind of fracture which does not include every country, it is a step to war”. At the same time, she has called for the creation of a Council of Reason, composed of the wisest minds in statesmanship, defense, science and art, to advise governments and suggest solutions. “Because I think the present crop of governments is not fit for the job.” She cited historical examples of such approaches, such as the Council of Florence during the Italian Renaissance, or the architects of the Peace of Westphalia, or the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which helped South Africa overcome apartheid.

However, Helga Zepp-LaRouche insisted, sovereignty is “the absolutely important precondition”. Why?

“Up until the 15th Century, all government forms were oligarchical… there was no participation of the individual in government. Then, in the 15th Century, through several influences, like the Italian Renaissance, which was a big step forward in the history of Europe; or the government of Louis XI in France, where the income of the people doubled in 20 years; and through the writings of Nicolas of Cusa, who developed for the first time the notion that government is only legitimate if it has the consent of the governed… That’s something which is completely lost today; governments do whatever they like. So, it was this invention by Nicolas of Cusa of the reciprocal relationship between the government and the governed, mediated through the representatives, whereby the individual—for the first time—could participate in government. This is why we absolutely have to reject supranational institutions like the EU, because the EU is a gigantic bureaucracy with enormous amounts of people, no transparency, no accountability. And the participation of the individual citizen in Italy, in Kosovo, in Germany does not exist.”

To conclude, Mrs. LaRouche pointed to the need of a cultural renaissance.

“I heard some of the speakers yesterday and today speaking about the need to have the Greek, Roman, Christian, foundation. I fully agree, and I would even go a step beyond and say we urgently need a Classical Renaissance of the best traditions of Europe. The Classical Greek, the Italian contributions of Dante, of Petrarca, of the Council of Florence, of the Golden Renaissance in Italy; likewise the German Classical period of Bach to Beethoven, from Lessing to Schiller. These are such important ideas, and our young people have completely forgotten it, so we have to revive that and make it real. Furthermore, we have to have a cultural dialogue between the best traditions of Europe and the best traditions of China, of India, of Africa, of Latin America. Because only if we understand the other culture, if we start to discover the beauty of the poetry, of the music, then we start to love these other countries. That is the best medicine against any kind of chauvinism, or wrongly understood nationalism.

“I have not heard Ursula von der Leyen, Olaf Scholz, Annalena Baerbock, or any of these people ever speaking about any beautiful idea of Europe. That is why they are completely unfit to save Europe at this point….”