ABSTRACT
For Europe there is hardly any middle way or half-way step between meaning and power: a Europe of meaning will end naturally in a Europe of power. But a Europe of power will never see the light of day if it does not first manage to offer meaning to its inhabitants and the rest of the world. The strong dialectic liaison between meaning and power is a source of extreme vulnerability, since the slightest loss of meaning is regarded as a weakening of power. Meaning thus magnifies the representation of power, positively when ‘a meaning’ is proposed, and negatively when it seems to be slipping out of reach.
