The Design Office of the Action Committee

Developing a Design Office (DO)  for the Third Monnet Action Committee (TAC)

“Not all problems can be solved, but all problems can be illuminated. If the eggs are scrambled, they’re scrambled. You can’t unscramble them. All you can possibly do is cook them and share them with somebody” Ursula Martius Franklin, physician- metallurgist and peace militant, Munich 1921-Toronto 2016, in discussion with Meredith Meredith, internet researcher and poët, in December 2015.

Both previous Action committees functioned with a ‘bureau d’études’ which gives in  translation the term ‘design office’. This permanent exchange with experts was of precious help to illuminate the problems the European Communities were confronted with. These design offices were in a certain sense the intellectual kitchens were the problems European countries encountered were illuminated and possible solutions were precooked for political decisions on the level of the then European Communities.

To be an effective influential group and collective Monnet, as we like to portray the TAC, we need to be able to mobilize the expertise necessary at different design stages of new legislation and instruments in the EU, and therefore we need not to be in the position of only reacting after strategies are proposed. Helping the members of the TAC to formulate single unified ideas with clear lists of priorities and timetables, based upon inputs from diverse academic sources and think tanks, from different societal actors, economical, social, cultural, political such as the social partners (business  and trade unions sectoral and umbrella organizations) and NGOs, is the main reasoning behind the launch of the DO for the TAC.

Bringing effective results as DO goes also through the possibility the existence of the network of experts mobilized by the DO offers to exchange on a high level with international organizations such as the OECD, The CoE, etc. to finetune proposals and interventions and have these organizations take into account our views. It must further give us the possibility for the TAC to inject into international gatherings of importance for the EU and Europe such as the G7,G20, etc and even non-Western high level gatherings our insights and proposals.

This is in line with the needs of Europe and the EU: even more than now upstream coordination at the design stage, not after strategies are finalized.

No competition to Think Tanks private and public, on the contrary. But bringing together, confronting, and so giving incentives to practical and thoughtful design, remind and clarify common principles that could and should guide further action. Helping to install resilience in the informational sphere—integrating diverse efforts, bridging silos, and ensuring that responses are coherent, transparent and rooted in democratic values.Central in all research and design models to be developed is the purpose of organizing trust and so organizing peace, which was the motor for Jean Monnet’s and Max Kohnstamm’s actions.In accordance with work of previous AC’s and of the historical engagement of the founding organizations an approach through the perspective of institutional design is going to be very present and needs deliberation beyond silos and specific expertises.