EUROPE AS AN IMPOSTOR — GIORGIO AGAMBEN

English translation of the Giorgio Agamben’s intervention on the issue of the EU parliament elections.

May 20, 2024, the Italian original is here.

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“It is likely that very few of those about to vote in the European elections have questioned the political significance of their act. Since they are called upon to elect an undefined “European parliament,” they may believe more or less that they are doing something that corresponds to the election of the parliaments of the countries of which they are citizens.

It should be made clear right away that this is absolutely not the case.

When we talk about Europe today, the great absentee is first and foremost the political and legal reality of the European Union itself. That this is indeed an absentee, results from the fact that it is avoided in every way to bring to consciousness a truth that is as embarrassing as it is obvious. I am referring to the fact that from the point of view of constitutional law, Europe does not exist: what we call the “European Union” is technically a pact between states, which pertains exclusively to international law . The Maastricht Treaty, which came into force in 1993 and gave the European Union its current form, is the ultimate affirmation of European identity as a mere intergovernmental…