Artists’ group calls for rise of citizens

Artists and intellectuals across Europe are calling for the founding of a continent-wide republic to replace its many nation states.

Activists planned to proclaim a “European Republic” in dozens of cities at 4pm yesterday, almost exactly 100 years after the end of World War I.

The event is being organised by a group calling itself the European Balcony Project. Its supporters include political scientists, philosophers and writers such as Austrian literature Nobel prize laureate Elfriede Jelinek.

Their manifesto on their website declares that “the sovereignty of states is hereby replaced by the sovereignty of citizens”.