European Papers intends thus to be part and parcel of the debate on the process of European legal integration, on its causes and its functioning, on its most remote interconnections with other social events. Its mission is to draw attention to the manifold forms of integrating Europe and to the far-reaching implications of this process. Moreover, such a reflection requires a wider dialogue be
tween the legal experience and other forms of integration, economic, social and cultural. To forge a law journal as an instrument for a cultural mission entails a number of inescapable steps. This conception implies passing over the traditional hurdles of language, nationality and traditions. European Papers could be an ideal opportunity to match this demand, through its multinational governing bodies, whose members share its ideal and cultural philosophy. It further entails the capacity to reconcile antithetical needs. On the one hand, we intend to promote a scholarly debate on the theoretical foundations of the process of European integration in its manifold expressions. On the other hand, the tumultuous development of this process, which takes place on a daily basis, requires an on-going debate on events that incessantly unfold under one’s eyes. To reconcile these apparently antithetical needs, we have thought of European Papers as composed of two parts: a four-monthly e-Journal – i.e. an electronic and open access journal, that emphasises our belief in the open and free character of scientific research – and a “militant” European Forum, designed to be a hotbed of intellectual discussion, a breeding place for ideas, and an indispensable tool for updating and keeping in touch with the latest developments. The aspiration of European Papers to be an interlocutor for an open set of recipients entails a multilingual option. Par contre, uniformity reasons, and the need of reaching a wider, potentially universal, readership would plead for a sole common language. The compromising solution, for an uncompromising project, has been the adoption of a dual-track: English, French, Italian and Spanish for the European Forum; English for the four-monthly e-Journal.
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European Papers is not inspired by preconceived ideas or ideologies. It has been conceived of as an area where every hypothesis about the process of integration in Europe can be freely verified and discussed. It intends to be a living laboratory for the analysis of a social phenomenon whose uniqueness vis-à-vis the contemporary legal and political categories has been widely recognised. Yet, European Papers has the ambition to go beyond this recognition and appreciate, day after day, its technical as well as its conceptual features, in the belief that this is the path through which the scientific knowledge can advance. It is our hope that we will not be left alone in this impervious road.