With the Paris demonstration, the European people has shown itself as the only effective dike against violence, more powerful than numberless police measures, the main way to fight inhumanity with human tools. After the horror of the Paris slaughter, the dream of a United Europe is raising free of hate and fear. And yet, a European Constitution which begins like the US one “We the people of the United States of Europe” does not exist. What the European Treaties and institutions have been unable to do, has been done by the European people: millions of citizens belonging to all religions together with non believers have shown the same will to defeat terrorism by staying united. It is a unity that goes beyond Europe. It has pushed Netanyahu to march together with Abu Mazen and suggests that the only reasonable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a federation between the two peoples, which could progressively include the other peoples of the Middle-East. Instead, Netanyahu’s declaration of Israel as a Jewish state goes in the opposite direction, which would entail the discrimination of the Arab minority (20% of the Israeli population).

If the display of unity among world leaders and European peoples is not to be an episodic phenomenon, it should be interpreted and led by politics and materialize through a comprehensive strategy against terrorism. Europe is at the forefront and needs to decide whether it wants to yield to violence and fear or play a leadership role showing that its political vision is largely shared. The terrorist attacks to Paris marked the irruption in the heart of Europe of the war underway in Syria and Iraq, which is a consequence of the vacuum of power opened up by the decline of the American influence in the Middle-East and Africa. The alarming escalation of the terrorist threat from jihadist cells in Europe and the atrocities committed by ISIS, Boko Haram and other jihadist groups needs an immediate reaction.

Europe has to fight on two fronts: domestic and international. To defeat the jihadist challenge, Europe needs to gain the consent of the Muslim communities and promote a project of integration based on the principle that the Islamic faith can peacefully coexist with western freedoms. This is one of the most serious problems to be faced, as the two main models of integration adopted in Europe – the French one, i.e. assimilation, where the accent is on unity, and the British model of multiculturalism, an approach that privileges diversity – have failed. The right balance between these two extremes lies in the federal model, which combines unity with diversity. Unfortunately, in Europe the conditions for success of a third model do not exist now. On the one hand, the nation-states have lost power and legitimacy to assert a peaceful way of life built on the constitutional principle of equality of citizens, whatever their religion may be. On the other hand, the EU has not yet achieved the stage of federal union. For the moment, it is mainly a market, unable to promote the values of a multinational community of destiny. From historical experience we learn that freedom of expression is respected, provided that there is a government and a state which protects it. Since national governments have lost legitimacy, it is time that the European people claims a European government and a European federation.

The indignation that surrounded the murder of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists did not prevent a wide debate on the limits of freedom of expression. Total freedom is a concept unfit for the world we live in, marked by tensions and conflicts. From the Paris terrorist attack we have learnt that, if we feel free to satirize religions, we run the risk to receive a gun shot. The angry and sometimes violent reactions of the Muslim world show that the assertion of the value of freedom of expression has a price. It undermines vital political requirements: dialogue of civilizations and negotiations between the Western and the Islamic World on crucial issues which have an impact on the global order. The world is divided over the fundamental values of political life. And more specifically, religions have divergent views on important issues like the nature of divinity, the universe, the meaning of human history, life and death. Therefore, prudence and responsibility should be practiced to mitigate conflicts between different visions of the world. As regards the impact on social relations, a pencil and a kalashnikov are not comparable tools. Only politics can ban violence from social relations, submit the old demon of intolerance and religious fanaticism to political control and let peace prevail through the state monopoly on the legitimate use of force and the rule of law. The glory of the West lies in the separation of religion from politics. This principle has paved the way to mutual tolerance and peaceful coexistence between different faiths. Unfortunately, this principle is not shared worldwide. For instance, in numerous Islamic countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, apostasy is punished with the death penalty. The Arab Spring reignited hopes that obscurantism could be defeated. This longterm struggle is played at the international level. And Europe has a crucial role.

There is to deplore the inertia of Europe which has been unable to ensure peace, political stability and economic development in the Mediterranean region, and to help the Arab Spring. The military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, which have brought about the disintegration of those multi-ethnic states, were not followed by policies aiming at political and administrative reconstruction, restoration of international order, promotion of sustainable development and regional integration. Moreover, those interventions are responsible for having fostered the resentment of the Arab popular masses. It is up to Europe to strengthen its unity and be able to defeat terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism, and promote freedom, sustainable development and peace in the Arab World. First, the EU should unify the investigation systems of all the countries involved in the struggle against terrorism, and create a single European police and intelligence corps. Second, it should strengthen the international coalition fighting against the ISIS and the other jihadist groups operating in the Middle-East and Africa. At the same time, the EU should take a resolute step forward toward a single European foreign, security and defense policy, in order for the EU to speak with one voice and behave as a global actor.