"Thus, the focus on this main political goal must become more visible in EU politics and to achieve this, we need a political impulse. It must be clear what the priorities on the agenda are"
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Merkel’s language is doing what her chancellorship often did: turning urgency into procedure, and procedure into legitimacy. “More visible” signals a familiar EU anxiety - that Brussels governs by output while struggling to narrate purpose. She’s not merely asking for a policy tweak; she’s naming a political deficit: the Union’s tendency to hide its power behind technocratic camouflage, then act surprised when voters call it remote.
The phrase “main political goal” is strategically vague, almost antiseptic. Merkel doesn’t define the goal here because the immediate target isn’t the policy itself but the choreography of agreement. In EU settings, specificity can be a landmine; vagueness keeps coalitions intact long enough to move the machinery. The subtext: there is a central objective (stability, cohesion, competitiveness, crisis management - depending on the moment), but saying it out loud too sharply would fracture consensus among member states with incompatible domestic pressures.
“Political impulse” is the key tell. It’s a tacit admission that the EU’s default mode - incrementalism, committee work, managed ambiguity - isn’t enough when the public expects direction. An “impulse” is momentum without committing to a revolution: a push from leaders, a mandate from elections, or a crisis leveraged into coordination.
“It must be clear what the priorities on the agenda are” sounds banal, but it’s a rhetorical demand for hierarchy. The EU is famous for long agendas that treat everything as urgent and nothing as decisive. Merkel is insisting on a storyline: choose, signal, and bear the political cost of choosing. That’s statesmanship in the EU register - not grand speeches, but making the system legible before it becomes ungovernable.
The phrase “main political goal” is strategically vague, almost antiseptic. Merkel doesn’t define the goal here because the immediate target isn’t the policy itself but the choreography of agreement. In EU settings, specificity can be a landmine; vagueness keeps coalitions intact long enough to move the machinery. The subtext: there is a central objective (stability, cohesion, competitiveness, crisis management - depending on the moment), but saying it out loud too sharply would fracture consensus among member states with incompatible domestic pressures.
“Political impulse” is the key tell. It’s a tacit admission that the EU’s default mode - incrementalism, committee work, managed ambiguity - isn’t enough when the public expects direction. An “impulse” is momentum without committing to a revolution: a push from leaders, a mandate from elections, or a crisis leveraged into coordination.
“It must be clear what the priorities on the agenda are” sounds banal, but it’s a rhetorical demand for hierarchy. The EU is famous for long agendas that treat everything as urgent and nothing as decisive. Merkel is insisting on a storyline: choose, signal, and bear the political cost of choosing. That’s statesmanship in the EU register - not grand speeches, but making the system legible before it becomes ungovernable.
Quote Details
| Topic | Vision & Strategy |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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