ABSTRACT
Now that the Treaty of Lisbon, effective from December 2009, has come into force, a legal framework has been introduced that has unmistakably changed the relations between the member states and the European Union in favour of a transnational definition of citizenship. The Dutch parliament anticipated this move in 2008 by referring to the EU as a union of member states and citizens (Parliamentary Proceedings 2008-2009). Although this introduced dual citizenship, the instruments for promoting (European) citizenship have not been adapted to this new situation in any of the member states. The question of the role that the intellectual class can play in growing international public space has to be analysed. It is some time since the European Union could be seen as a purely economic treaty community. The European market for commodities and services is a fact. The European Commission supervises compliance with the rules of play. The governments of the 28 member states, united in the European Council, provide the Union with an increasing number of tasks that are defined, published and implemented after approval by the European Parliament and in many cases after approval by the national parliaments too. This enables a continual improvement of the working of the European market and makes it more accessible to all markets and interested parties, including the European citizens and their informal and formal civic initiatives. The role of the intellectual opinion leaders is undergoing a substantial change. Anyone who follows the quality international press repeatedly comes across the complaint by a famous writer, philosopher or academic that in Europe there is no intellectual community of opinion-makers to be found any more like the one that was so decisive for the post-war social debate. People then point out that, at least until recently, there was an apparent consensus on the ideal of edification that gave the cultural élite the moral authority to do everything that was in the interest of that ideal. So it is hardly surprising that, during the post-war years of reconstruction, in spite of the considerable and irreconcilable religious and ideological differences between the various ranks, classes and religious or ideological groups, there was virtually unanimous majority support for the largest and most important of the political projects: the banishment of war and the striving for peace for all the nations of the Western European continent.
