Missouri Transatlantic Center

Gareth Harding is a freelance journalist based in Brussels and the Brussels Program Director for the Missouri School of Journalism's Office of International Programs.

Harding gave the talk "Building the EU without Europeans during a brown bag lunch presentation at the University of Missouri on Sept. 19, 2011.

Last time I spoke at a brown bag here was shortly after the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and I told an uplifting story of how a decimated continent pieced itself back together again to become ‘whole, free and at peace’ for the first time in its history. I’m afraid today’s talk will be a bit gloomier as it tackles the real roots of Europe's political and economic crisis - which I believe lie in building the EU without Europeans. 

“Yes, but what is a European?”

The question, posed by one of my students during a discussion on the EU, should have been easy enough for me to answer.

On Tuesday, Oct. 11, representatives from the Delegation of the European Union to the USA came to Columbia to visit the Missouri School of Journalism and to promote understanding and awareness of the EU to the Midwest.

Head of Press and Diplomacy Silvia Kofler spoke with the journalism school’s NPR affiliate KBIA to discuss the current Euro crisis and contemplate potential impacts of the crisis on the Midwest.

Kofler also presented a brown-bag lunch discussion where she underlined that the EU developed the Euro as an integrating political project rather than a solely financial project, and therefore she said there is no question the shared currency or the EU establishment will fail.

Accompanying Kofler was press and diplomacy officer Silvia Prisco. The two delegates met with Fritz Cropp, director the Missouri Transatlantic Center and of the International Programs Office for the journalism school. Together, they discussed the link between the journalism school and its European partner institutions, particularly highlighting the school’s Brussels program that sends more than 50 students to the EU capital city to intern in European media outlets.

Prisco and Kofler toured the Missouri School of Journalism with Cropp and Dean Brian Brooks. They later visited the school’s NBC affiliate KOMU and gave a lecture at Rock Bridge High School.

EU officials will make a final decision in coming weeks to deal with the Euro crisis. While this decision may be slow for American standards, Kofler said, it will be one to ensure the survival and growth of the EU.