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The fact that this project lacks the culture, the sense of shared destiny and common identity, means that it also lacks the reciprocal solidarity and loyalty of the member states. Indeed, the absence of this solidarity is directly related to the economic catastrophe of Europe, since a country like Greece could allow itself to cheat the others for years and at the time of the first crisis economic nationalism appeared and everyone started to defend its borders from the workforce and the financial problems of their neighbours, etc. This shows how little solidarity there is in the project called "United Europe". It was based on shared interests, but as soon as these shared interests were shaken it turned out that its political core, consisting of shared wealth and shared vision for the future, was too fragile. This is also evident from the EU programmes. The Cultural Programme is relegated to the end of the line like an “orphan” and the cultural policies were actually left to the states. I do not mean that this is the only reason. On the contrary, there is very serious financial and political turmoil, such as migration, for example. But the lack of solidarity is one of the important reasons.

What is your personal view of the European Union in the form in which it exists today?

For me this is a great personal disappointment. I am a staunch supporter of the European Union and now circumstances have forced me to realize, that the project of a united Europe was focused too much on the past and on the overcoming of the post-war disasters and trauma and too little on the future. I.e. there is no shared utopia, no shared value, and this is a very serious problem.

Analysts say that in ten years’ time, Europe will be a peripheral power, while Turkey will have become a great economic power in the region. What is your view on this?

I am not a politician, and I’m not a political scientist, so my reasoning in this area will be amateurish. Europe has a population of 600 million people and the population of Turkey is currently 80-90 million people. This makes them incomparable. Turkey's ambition is to become the regional leader of the Islamic world. This is not easy to achieve as Turkey itself is torn by the underwater pro-Islamist currents and secular policy – the legacy of Kemal Ataturk. Not even Erdogan can deal with this inner split of Turkish politics. They can not become radical Islamists while in the rest of the Muslim world there is a variety of attitudes and currents, often extreme ones. Consequently, Turkey can hardly become a leader of this region, not to mention that there are ethno-cultural barriers between the Arab world and Turkey, and therefore I cannot see any chance of it becoming a leader in this world. It is much smaller and weaker than Europe. Nevertheless, this does not mean that a part of this prediction hasn’t already come true. Europe is already a peripheral economic power as compared to the U.S., China, Japan, etc.