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Businesses have long since grasped it – and now civil society is following suit: Whoever wants to make political gains can no longer afford to be solely active in their respective capitals. Whether it is about the environment, about consumer protection, about civil society in the digital age – increasingly Brussels is the place where the action is. 

Does the European Union (EU) safeguard the future of the welfare state in times of globalisation? Is the crisis intensifying the pressure to take action and could it even ultimately lead to more social policy integration – a European welfare state? 

Yet for several years Europe's academics and politicians have stressed the need for a European public as a basis for a vital European democracy - but how this public could be constituted remained unclear. The Europe-wide protests against ACTA showed: a European public has to emerge from above.

They play a key role in Europe's democratic processes but for a majority of the population they resemble a black box: the European political parties. To fulfill their importance public awareness should be strengthened and it has to become clear that European elections are about European parties, not purely national ones.

The international dialogue project aims to engage young academics, activists and policy makers in a cooperative and creative debate. An important milestone in this process will be the Alternative Resource Summit in September 2013.

As market reforms and budget consolidation meet increasing political constraints, it is perhaps not surprising that the call for “more Europe” has become louder. While such eagerness for the European project should be welcomed, in fact it is not genuine but rather motivated by the short-term interests of political classes. 

The idea of the existence of an illegal "state within the state" system is widespread within Turkey. There have been many attempts to prove and juristically contain this "deep state", but it seems like instead of searching for it in hidden places, one should look for it within the structures of the legal state.

The Kabul Documenta 13 has opened its gates on June 20th, to the Afghan public, preceded by an official opening ceremony that was attended by the Goethe Institute Afghanistan, donors, diplomats, a delegation of the Documenta 13 and, last not least, the artists themselves.

Today, we have to remember that hundreds of thousands of Greek workers helped power the post-war German industrial renaissance. Today, millions of Germans are powering Greece’s only “heavy industry” – tourism. In view of the present crisis we will have to understand that the road ahead is a long one – but to jump off a cliff is not a viable shortcut.

From the euro crisis to a long-term vision: In Southern Europe, there should be immediate investment in solar energy. This would show EU citizens in the north that solidarity can provide them with cheaper renewable energy and citizens in the south would experience that reforms do serve a more integrated, greener, and more just Europe.