1. In his speech “The future of Europe” Romano Prodi tries to explain the reasons for the British reluctance towards Europe. Especially during and after the Second World War Britain was an important partner of the other European countries and had a major influence on the happenings in Europe. At this time Britain had lost its chance to become an important member of the first European organizations (l.4ff). Britain’s reluctant attitude towards Europe relies on the fact,
that it is split from Europe from a geographic point of view (-> Island status)
and that the USA was and still is a close ally of the United Kingdom (l.10-12).
Prodi also explains Britain?s positions in the present by saying that it differs from the other members of the European Union. The British government and its population often dither concerning its attitude towards Europe between “fascination” and “perplexity” on the one hand and “sometimes frustration” on the other hand (l.15). This indecisive attitude between reluctance and affection makes a European integration very hard.
2. Prodi is off the opinion that the relation between the UK and Europe could be better than it currently is. He cannot understand why some people think that the EU wants to oppress the UK. (L.20-21) By using the colloquial expression “your fellow Europeans” Prodi wants to point out how absurd such an assumption of oppression is. To show that the EU is not a complete but an always changing organization Prodi uses the present progressive form “The Europe we are building” (l.22). To convince his audience that the European Union does not oppress national customs and cultures he uses a climax (to express our regional, national, and European identities without l 24-25). Prodi tries to compare the mixed culture situation in Britain with the situation of the EU to convince his audience that Britain is tolerant enough to fully accept the EU. By using the enumeration “England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland” (l.27) Prodi wants to show how divers and also tolerant the British mentality is. The expression “So I appeal to you” is a direct address to the audience. Prodi asks the British population to use its national tolerance in regard to the European Union. The word ?please? illustrates the importance of this sentence for Prodi. He uses the expression “European future” or “future of Europe” (l. 31+35) when he speaks of Britain’s policy to show how important the UK is for the European future. Prodi refers to Britain’s “island status” (l.36) to find reasons for its European isolation. To underline his assumption he uses a quotation of Winston Churchill in which he says that “each time the UK has to choose between Europe and the open sea, it will always choose the open sea” (l.37-39). The metaphor of the “open sea” in this context stands for national freedom and independence. The short sentences “That may be so. Britain is an island?”(l.39) show Prodi’s consternation concerning this fact. By using the word ‘But’ (l.39) Prodi wants to point out that there is still hope in regard to the relation between the European Union and the UK. The expression “deep down” (l.39) shows that the there isn’t a clear but more over a hidden connection between both.
The adverbs “culturally” and “historically” (l.40) illustrate the close connection between Britain and the EU. By using the anaphora “For their” (l.41-42) Prodi underlines his admiration towards Britain.
He cannot understand why the UK cultivates its relation to the USA but not to Europe which is far closer. The distance between the UK and the USA is shown by the number of ‘three thousand miles’. The nearness between the UK and Europe is illustrated by the verb ‘belongs’ (l.47). Prodi tries to find reasons for the close relation to the USA but he doesn’t find a right solution. The sentence ‘I don’t think it is the case’ shows that his previous assumption hasn’t been confirmed yet. It becomes clear that the main topic of Prodi’s speech is the relation between the UK and Europe. To emphasize his argumentation Prodi repeats arguments which he has mentioned before. (“Britain is culturally and historically part of Europe”) (l.52) Prodi uses a quotation of John Donne to show that it is very important for Europe that the United Kingdom won’t dissociate from it. At the end of his speech he says that Europe and the UK “could live without each other” but by using the enumeration “less wealthy, less strong and less secure” (l.58-59) Prodi points out that it would have negative consequences for both.
All in all it becomes clear that Romano Prodi is very emotionally influenced by the UK-European discussion. His speech is full of valuing words such as “proud”, “great admire”, “indispensable”, and “hope”. It seems as if it is very important to him that the UK increases its efforts to ameliorate their relation with the European Union.