“A global perspective for tomorrow’s Europe”
An Interview with Mr Marc Luyckx Ghisi, Ph.D. and Dean of CBA Business School, Zagreb, Croatia
By: Erna Sázavská, Prague, 13 July 2005
1. You have said that the “European Union is not primarily a market”. After having worked for Presidents of the European Commission, Msrs. Jacques Delors and Jacques Santer during 1990 – 1999 as member of the “Forward Studies Unit”, you are well placed to tell us what the European Union is.
When Jacques Delors created this Unit he asked us to think about the meaning of the European Union. "Our basic hypothesis he said, is that European citizens are intelligent. And they want to know why we are taking on this huge enterprise. We have to be aware that Europeans will NOT be in love or identify with a market. This is not enough. There must be more noble reasons for building this ‘European Community’ which has become the ‘European Union’. Find those reasons. This is your task".
This was a real challenge and we reflected, read books, and organized numerous "Carrefours de le Science et de la Culture" in many universities in Europe. This was really exciting. I was in charge of philosophy, religion, ethics, history and future studies.
I finally understood that modernity has invented the state. Indeed the state as it is now is a rather recent creation, prefigured and announced by the Greeks. But one of the most important achievements of the modern state is that it has created a zone of complete non-violence within its borders. Only now you are obliged by that state to kill outside those borders! Without having known exactly what they were doing, the "founding fathers" of the European Union - Monnet, Adenauer, Spaak and de Gasperi - in fact created the first zone of absolute non-violence between states. In that sense, the European Union is the first transmodern political creation on earth. And it is a success. Because, indeed, violence and war inside the European Union is unthinkable. More than anything else, new member states have entered this zone of non-violence. But has anyone informed them and their citizens of this?
And the market? The market is a tool at the service of this grand idea of non -violence between states. It is never to become the aim, though we have changed the tools into aims!
By the way, Bush is very useful in demonstrating to all of us "ab absurdum" that war and violence between states is no longer a solution for the global village in the twenty-first century. Implicitly, the public feels that the European Union is more than a big market which offers them a possibility of more products. But noone tells them the “other” story, certainly NOT the European Union governments which are still "modern" states themselves, struggling with the trans-modern political concept. They just cannot communicate this, and I do not blame them, it is perfectly understandable. They do not get it, it is too new. And it is a negation of what they are...
2. We are no longer in “modern times”... You are convinced that “society is pushed towards a complete and rapid change of paradigm”. What are we shifting to?
We are shifting to transmodernity, beyond modernity. But also toward a "post capitalist society", the knowledge society, a society which is also post-industrial.
I have written a book about these topics. In the knowledge society, the means of production are is the human brain. This implies that the fight between Marxists and capitalists is over, because people in the knowledge society own their brain (at least for the moment!). They own their own means of production.
3. What is your vision for the European Union? In light of the defeat of the referenda on the European Constitution, what are the key challenges it must address to achieve your vision?
We are arriving at a moment of truth. The European Union will take ten more years to ratify the Constitution, and to organize an extensive and deep debate. The public wants something else than just a market. Even the British citizens. I have conducted this test many times: if you explain what the European Union is, public opinion changes completely and suddenly the votes (suggest to delete the text in green: in favour and against change, and) become largely positive. Because it makes sense.
ENLARGEMENT: It is evident that the primary reason for enlargement is geostrategic: stabilization of the continent and NOT making money! The aim to expand the zone of non-violence between states is the best policy the European Union ever invented! Unfortunately, the European Commission is so weak, perhaps intentionally, that it has not been in a position to remember this elementary truth. And now we see the Heads of States behaving as if enlargement was a commercial operation. They count their euros! This is upside down, a poor policy. And everyone feels the malaise.
4. What does Europe need to do to compete with the USA and the two largest economies in Asia?
The most important thing for the European Union today is to be faithful to its "European Dream". Please read the latest book of American author Jeremy Rifkin "The European Dream, when Europe's Vision of the Future is Outdating the American Dream" (2005). He explains that the American dream is imported from modern European thinking of 1800. Meanwhile, the European dream is really transmodern. It is a new vision about non-violence between states, another vision of work, science, technology. And this new vision is really much more adapted to the transmodern and post-industrial era we are entering.
Competition in the old industrial modern era? China is struggling with huge problems of environment and traffic congestion and must find quickly a new paradigm for energy transport, production, agriculture, etc. Why not to change the conversation and help China and India invent “win-win” solutions towards a new post-industrial paradigm. Everyone knows that we HAVE to go that new sustainable way, but nobody does it and the public is more and more frustrated. And we know also that in this new way, “win-win” solutions are possible and effective. The European Commission issued an official text in 2003 on "competitivity through collaboration in the knowledge society". The text was so contradictory to the old credos of other departments, that it was put aside...
Worldwide, 3-5% of big business is changing its vision and strategy. It considers profit only as a consequence of the way it cares for the common good of humanity. This is what I call the new business. It is leading a new conversation which is peripheral but …(suggest to add: “essential to changing the paradigm”) OK
5. The general perception of the European Union is that it is an ivory tower- based bureaucracy… Is there any hope for making it more effective?
Yes it is a huge bureaucracy.
q By the way, it is smaller that the "ville de Paris " which has more civil servants than the European Union!
q Unconsciously, over a ten year period, Jacques Delors helped build the French pyramidal system in Brussels.
q In general, the states have a tendency to reproduce in Brussels a "super state". This is wrong, because the European Union is NOT a state. It is an alliance of non-violence between states, with ample social linkages and regional funds to make justice between the regions and its citizens.
q Finally, the worst reason why this administration is huge (20.000 civil servants) is because the European Commission is not elected and has extensive political powers. It has in exclusivity all LEGISLATIVE and EXECUTIVE powers. When you have so much power, you need to have competent officials to prepare the decisions, and more and more (staff?) ..OK.
q Hence the main defect of the Constitution is that it does NOT turn over all of its legislative power to the European Parliament. If it did, Brussels would begin to be a bit more transparent!
q It was understandable that in 1958, to be a neutral authority, Monnet wanted 200 civil servants in Brussels… But times have changed. It is time for the Parliament to become a real parliament which is able to pass legislation.
q And the European Commission could become much smaller, being the executive arm, for example.
IVORY tower? Are you kidding? The European Union is just the opposite. We have just opened up to 13 new countries! Even the US has not been able to do this. NAFTA is a much weaker political project. It is just free trade, an old concept.
6. In your publications, you refer to the “business avant-garde” and the “cultural-creatives”. Recently, you had Miha Pogačnik, violinist and Cultural Ambassador of Slovenia, stimulate a debate about European identity at the graduation ceremony of the first generation of MBAs in the CBA Business School (Zagreb). Why turn to the arts?
We need new strategies to learn to “think” out–of-the box and to inspire innovation. The arts are a boundless resource that can help integrate “left-brain logic” with “right-brain creativity”. I have been lucky enough to experience Miha Pogačnik’s use of the power of music for this purpose. Intuitively, he is aware of the changes in our society. Like many artists, he has a strong sense of intuition and is thus a forerunner in our society. As the French Poet ARAGON said "Le poète a toujours raison, qui voit plus haut que l'horizon!" He sees beyond the horizon and has those qualities and charisma that enable him to communicate his vision through his music and teachings. OK
7. You have said that the “common good” aims of corporations are becoming more important, and that profit is considered as a necessary, but no longer the only purpose… Why should business take responsibility for the whole?
Because it has become too powerful not to assume this responsibility. This is what the "World Business Academy" says, for example. By the way, the Vice-President of this academy lives in Prague! His name is Jim Cusamano.
8. What does gender equality mean to you in the business context?
One of the BIG good news is that we have reached the end of the patriarchal values. Why? Because they are not able to ensure our future. We need a new cocktail of yin and yang values. We need more values of care, respect, reconnection … This does not mean that the patriarchal bastions (like religious groups), or other groups are inactive. On the contrary, they have become more aggressive because they know that they have NO future! In the business context, as in the rest of society, women are leading the change. They are leading the transition towards the new human-centred management. But they are also leading the transition towards the knowledge society. They usually complain the "the upper levels are not accepting the change".
9. Can Europe in our lifetime overcome its history to become tolerant and value racial and ethnic diversity?
Sorry but this non-violence between states is by essence tolerant. And respect for diversity is the essence of the European project..... if we understand that it is a non- violent association between states. The US is more like France in that there is still hope to make them all American or French (clarify).The US and France identities are integrative. This means that they try to mould the citizens into a common national identity. The European Union knows that a Greek will NEVER become a Dane! And the European Union, certainly in the knowledge society, is trying to capitalize on this very rich cultural diversity.
This means that EU citizens have above their regional and national identities, just another level of EU identity: they are part of a huge project of non-violence between States. An important future oriented project for the XXIst century, which is by definition capitalizing on cultural diversities.
10. What has your work in the European Commission given to you personally?
I have learned a lot. Most importantly, we are in a deep and rapid change ---- deeper and more rapid than during the Renaissance. Unhappily, with no explanations forthcoming, the citizens are in the dark…
Thank you.
Brief Biography:
Mr Marc Luyckx Ghisi (1942), Futurist, Consultant, Author
Ph.D. in Russian and Greek Theology, Rome. MBA in Catholic Theology. University of Louvain, MA in Mathematics (civil engineer), University of Louvain. Married to Isabelle; six children.
During 1990 – 1999, as a member of the “Forward Studies Unit”, European Commission, Brussels, worked directly for Presidents of the European Commission, Msrs. Jacques Delors and Jacques Santer. In charge of the meaning of the European construction and of its ethical, cultural, religious, and political dimensions, in the context of the paradigm shift. One of the organizers of EU programme entitled “The Soul of Europe”; organizer of many meetings of President Delors with religious leaders and philosophers.
Fellow of the “World Business Academy”, Ojai, California, USA.
Dean, "CBA Business School", Zagreb, Croatia.
Member, "International Advising Committee" of Auroville, India.
Director, “Vision 2020”, a think tank on the New Paradigm, Brussels.
Expert for the Information Society Programs of the European Commission, Brussels.
Fellow, “World Academy of Arts and Science”, San Francisco California, USA.
University teaching: “CBA Business School”, Zagreb, Croatia; ROUEN ESC Business School; Swedish Trade’s International Export Management MBA.
Latest Publications…
· "A win –win strategy for the European Union in the knowledge society" to be published in the "Vision book" edited by the European Commission, 2005.