The last item on the current agenda

In Gubbio:

Francis of Assisi and the wolf 

In Fernand Braudel's 'A History of Civilizations:

. . . debates about customs duties, prices and production levels . . . address only the spirit of calculation.

. . .

It is disturbing to note that Europe as a cultural idea and objective is the last item on the current agenda. No one is concerned with a mystique or an ideology; no one pays any attention to the misleading calm waters of revolution or socialism, that still run deep; no one seems concerned by the living waters of religious faith. But Europe will not be built unless it draws upon those old forces that first formed it and still move within it: in a word, unless it calls forth the many forms of humanism that it contains.

In fact, it has no choice. It will either work with them or, inevitably, sooner or later, they will overturn it and cast it away. 'Europe of the peoples' is a fine slogan; but it remains to be achieved.