"The dialogue between the countries remains sterile. We reject what we don’t know. And this is the card that draws the extreme right and populism. As I have already illustrated in De Welwillenden, there is a monster lurking in our hearts. At any moment, that monster can be drawn into a power game…. Although I don’t fear the imminent return of fascism in Europe, I deplore the reintroduction of all those borders that point to an absolute lack of political responsibility.

Isn’t Europe’s problem its total lack of empathy? Exactly. Understanding someone is already a lot. A relation with a single person can offer the possibility of understanding an entire group.  This is one of the lessons of Claudel’s novel. Without having the solution myself, I think Europe has to sharpen the dialogue."

Read the French article here.