Europe defaced

Brexit was a hard blow; post-Brexit seems even worse. An event of such historical significance can’t be handled as business as usual.

Suckered into complacency by the reassuring exit polls, the fallout from the Brexit bombshell has swept across the whole of Europe. The recent eruption of security concerns has further complicated the picture with the chilling modus operandi of the Nice attack and the dramatic upheaval in Turkey (a country right on Europe’s doorstep) shocking both European citizens and its institutions.

Since its inception, the economy has been at the heart of the EU agenda. Nowadays however, the Union finds itself having to manage new and problematic issues for which it is unprepared. The migrant and refugee crisis has developed into the largest exodus of human beings in the Mediterranean since WWII. The impact of other migrations, such as those that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall, were mitigated by a common ethnicity, religion and language.

The millions of refugees and migrants that have entered Europe in recent months, besides having abandoned countries that no longer exist (Syria chief among them), are also bearers of ethnic, religious, and linguistic differences which, compounded by the overwhelming numbers and desperate conditions in the countries of origin, have made the impact on both transit and destination countries particularly difficult to manage.

With member states reluctant to relinquish sovereignty to Europe on internal affairs and law enforcement, the EU has never developed the necessary tools to manage even smaller-scale refugee crises. Entire election campaigns have hinged on the idea that security should be managed by individual nations with Brussels always handy as a possible scapegoat if things don’t pan out, a juggling act European leaders have become particularly adept at.
The same reasoning that applies to the management of the refugee crisis also holds true with regard to the security of European citizens, shocked by the dramatic sequence of terrorist attacks that have blighted France, Belgium and Denmark over the course of the last two years. Joint responses to counteract terrorist activities have been few and
inconsequential, while the level of criticism levelled against Brussels, accused from all sides as being ineffective, has been particularly harsh. Powerless yet ineffective, an astounding contradiction in terms. Thus non-economic issues have begun to take centre stage in debates concerning European integration. Previously, political differences had always hinged around competition, the internal market and monetary affairs.

Now domestic affairs and justice systems have become the focus of political attention and public opinion. These are now the pivotal questions upon which governments rise or fall and elections are won or lost.
Consider, for example, the short circuit experienced by Great Britain, a country untouched by the refugee crisis but deeply affected by a completely different phenomenon: the free circulation of European workers.
However, in the months running up to the referendum, the leave campaign focused mainly in immigration, an issue that ultimately decided the UK’s involvement in the EU. Western democracies are in a period of deep crisis. Representative democracy itself is in turmoil, and the Brexit referendum provided the perfect opportunity for UK citizens
to disavow its political establishment. Though two-thirds of MP’s were in favour of remaining in the EU, slightly over half the population were against. Predictably, the post-referendum period has opened a Pandora’s box.
Similarities abound between the Brexit campaign and recent events in the US: the rise of political outsiders such as Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders and the resulting political bewilderment. The reaction by continental Europe to the post-Brexit fallout has also been extremely negative. Divided over everything
initially, they now betray total inertia. As if such a historic event could be handled with a business as usual approach.
The Bratislava summit on 16 September is drawing nearer, with everyone seemingly looking the other way. As if such a summit could also be summed up in a traditional press conference statement beginning with “The European Council welcomes..” or “The European leaders encourage…”? The truth is that even if Brexit had not taken place, the process of European integration was in need of a profound revision. This said, leaving the EU was one of the worst decisions Britain could take, both for the itself and for the rest of Europe. Perhaps Brexit will finally convince EU leaders that a business as usual approach no longer works. If so, they may be able to pursue a fresh start for the EU.
Never let a crisis go to waste. Brexit management must clearly be separated from the opportunity to reform the EU. A renewed commitment towards European unity must be the main focus of the 27 remaining countries and the 19 in the eurozone, in particular, whereas the EU-UK divorce, however complex and laborious, must be managed with the utmost professionalism, setting aside emotions and without letting it rule the agenda.

All available political and emotional investment must instead be focused on the opportunity to reinvent and restructure the EU, starting with the euro and including all those initiatives that might enable the new EU to guarantee the prosperity and wellbeing of its citizens. European leaders must create a Union capable of protecting its citizens both economically and socially as well as from a security perspective. European societies are approaching a breaking point, given the everwidening chasm that that is opening up between winners and losers in the globalisation stakes. Prior to the economic crisis, there were many winners who had mistakenly come to believe that the EU was, above all, for them, while those left out in the cold were just unfortunate collateral damage. The great crisis has turned this situation on its head and now fear rather than optimism prevails. The many who haven’t managed to climb on board the globalisation train now want to go back to the good old days and a few parties have played on their fears to such an extent that this has produced the most astounding of rear-guard actions: Brexit. 

Any hope of the good old days returning is nonsense. The world has changed. When the UK entered the European Economic Community in 1973, China accounted for just 1% of world GDP. Now China accounts for one-fifth of world trade, the same share as Europe. But although a return to the security of the past is out of the question, this does not mean that the one can brush aside the fallout and refuse to address the issue of
growing inequality within our Western societies.

Europe can’t be just for those successfully negotiating change. The EU must protect its citizens, all of them, and provide comfort at a time when uncertainty and crises have replaced the idea of unstoppable progress. The EU must deliver individual advantages to everyone. It must react to the current, dramatic security challenges in an
effective and convincing manner by setting up a real European ‘FBI’ and border police corps. Tangible instruments that might hope to address the major concerns of EU citizens. 

The time has come for a new European politics that can deliver certainty, security and protection. Although the politics of Old Europe appears to be in a critical condition,
the EU is being presented with a unique opportunity to regenerate itself. It must not let this opportunity slip by.