"We define ourselves as Europeans because we eat together, sing together, sleep together, tell stories together and sometimes we fight together, not simply because we vote together." Michael Dobbs has no doubt about what is the real source of identity for the European citizens. That’s culture.

During the ICS Rome 2014, the author of House of Cards spoke exactly about culture. Through an ironic anecdote and also citing the Treaty of Rome (1957), in which “for the first time, the concept of a united Europe took shape speaking not about institutions but about union among peoples" he emphasized how differences between the various peoples can unite and enrich the Old Continent.

“In this point of view - he added - our European culture is expressed better by Messi and Montalbano than the European Commission. Europe remains the best story ever told. So let's keep telling it, without worrying too much about institutional punctuation.”

With biting irony, the author of House of Cards also spoke about politics, defining it as “the second oldest profession in the world, which has taken many of its rules from the first.” And on the current Italian prime minister, he added: “I’ve reminded Matteo Renzi that my book is a work of entertainment, not a set of instructions.”

House of Cards was also cited by the author as an example of success related to the power of culture, which - in the words of Dobbs – “makes unimaginable things possible.”​