EU leaders desert research in Brussels budget showdown

Europe needs a common vision–one that inspires and excites everyone in the EU. This is not impossible. China, a much larger and more diverse polity, has a vision. Its politicians call it the Chinese Dream and, though it is two-thousand five hundred years old, it still attracts the loyalty (and sacrifices) of 95% of citizens. Perhaps more significantly, they have shared those goals for 2,500 years and by now, they're almost genetically imprinted. Ninety-nine percent of Chinese willingly forego present indulgences–a cultural characteristic we find puzzling–so that future generations will achieve the goals. The goals are sequenced according the Confucius' Instruction to Rulers in The Analects: "First enrich the people, then educate them." Mao adopted them as strategic goals in 1950 and everything that followed is 'Mao Thought.' Today, Confucius' first stage, enrichment, xiaokang, is usually translated as 'moderate prosperity' since, in 1978, Deng Xiaoping called on the Party to achieve xiaokang by the centenary of the founding of the Party, June 1, 2021. In 2011 PM Wen Jiabao defined xiaokang as ‘a society in which no one is poor and everyone receives an education, has paid employment, more than enough food and clothing, access to medical services, old-age support, a home and a comfortable life’. China will reach that goal next years, on June 1, 2021. Confucius' next goal is more ambitious because it was about emancipating people from egoic bondage (all Chinese goals, including liberation, are collective!) by creating a society he called dàtóng. Mao's favorite definition of dàtóng, which he quoted often, is from Kang Youwei’s Liyun zhu, (Commentary on Liyun), here abridged: Now to have states, families, and selves is to allow each individual to maintain a sphere of selfishness. This infracts utterly the Universal Principle (gongli) and impedes progress. ...Therefore, not only states should be abolished, so that there would be no more struggle between the strong and the weak; families should also be done away with, so that there would no longer be inequality of love and affection [among men]; and, finally, selfishness itself should be banished, so that goods and services would not be used for private ends. ... The only [true way] is sharing the world in common by all (tienxia weigong) ... To share in common is to treat each and every one alike. There should be no distinction between high and low, no discrepancy between rich and poor, no segregation of human races, no inequal- ity between sexes. ... All should be educated and supported with the common property; none should depend on private possession. ... This is the way of the Great Community, dàtóng which prevailed in the Age of Universal Peace. In 2017 President Xi announced two intermediate goals on the way to dàtóng: the world's best Gini Coefficient by 2035 and, “By 2049 we will reach new heights in every dimension of material, political, cultural and ethical, social, and ecological advancement: we will have modernized of our system and capacity for governance; we will be a global leader in composite national strength and international influence; everyone will be prosperous and enjoy happy, safe and healthy lives and our nation will be a proud, active member of the community of nations.” There are surely universal aspirations that all Europeans share and which, articulated, can make policy formulation and execution as effective as China's.