Our dream of Europe
"We can have a common market, but if we do not have common dreams, we have nothing". These were the powerful and inspiring words of MEP Esteban González Pons in a speech to the European Parliament in 2017. They speak to a sense that Europe is not simply a cold economic exchange, that Europe is a heartfelt desire for something more, for something better. He described it in words that resonated with so many of us and I know I felt it too. Yet what is this feeling? What is our common dream?
First and foremost, it is a dream of peace. For centuries Europe has been a continent of violence. It has been the epicentre of many of the most horrific wars, culminating in the destruction of human lives on an industrial scale. To have emerged from our ash-laden past, a coating thick with guilt for the crimes perpetrated against the minority groups of Europe, into a peaceful present is a miracle that we too rarely speak of and too often take for granted. Only through Europe, through the pooling of our differences and of our interests, have we been able to build a peaceful environment, safe for ourselves and for our children. After centuries of constant infighting, Europeans are now near unanimous in the view that conflict between Europeans would be a horrific aberration, a civil war with only losers and no winners. We have learnt, only through the trial of a millennium of suffering, that we cannot become stronger through more violence, that our wars have only led to our own destruction. Our burgeoning European society has made war between Europeans increasingly unthinkable, and this is a journey we must continue to take. We cannot pretend that there will not continue to be differences and clashes, for Europe has not eliminated our differences, and we see today that there are still real and passionate debates over our future. Rather it has recognised our right to be different and to live together in one community all the same. As we have turned battlefields into gardens, the contests of today and those of tomorrow will be peaceful and political - to be led by politicians in our Parliament, not generals in palaces, and manned by voters with ballots, not conscripts with guns. Peace here in Europe is our greatest triumph and we must believe in a future that preserves that peace. We must never let go of what our predecessors have won.
Our common dream is a dream of democracy. Europe was not born a land of democratic freedom. Throughout most of our history we have been subject to one form of tyranny or another, whether of kings, barons, corporations or the mob. Where democracy has been established in the past, it has often fallen victim to national divisions and rivalries, a nuisance to be dispensed with the moment it ceased to be useful to the pursuit of 'national glory'. It is only recently that we have instituted durable universal democracy and for many, it was Europe that showed the way. Against the dictatorships of the fascists, of the Soviet Union, or of Franco, Europe stood as the alternative. Today still, though Europe has largely rid itself of despotism, it is surrounded by a number of unstable and authoritarian states. In Ukraine people risked their lives in the fight against a corrupt government for the right to wave the European flag. We believe that Europe should continue to uphold this role as a guardian of democracy, to not shun those around us who long for the same rights we enjoy but to help them along the way. Europe must be both democratic at home and a champion of democracy abroad. This is not to say that we should uncritically embrace the logic of military intervention. We cannot bomb countries into democracy. But in supporting civil society abroad, in supporting political activists seeking to expand their civil rights and freedoms, without force of arms, we can be champions of European freedoms. It has been and will always be right to defend our values.
Europe is a dream of freedom. The freedom to travel across our home, to discover its varied history and geography, from the Alpine mountains to central European forests to Balkan rivers. The freedom to learn in another country and in another language, to develop your skills and improve yourself, whether as part of the wonder of academic exchange or as one of the many ordinary people filled with ambition and initiative, willing to take a plunge into new opportunities and to seek out success beyond their own local confines. All this without the weighty stare of state bureaucrats brooding over you. In our Europe all are free to live the lives they wish to live, given the space to develop to their full potential and so to benefit the whole community through their growth. Freedom of religion, freedom of sexuality, we believe in a Europe that is a guarantor of the rights of the vulnerable and persecuted. Through the expansion of freedom, we also help maintain the European peace. By softening the barriers between Europeans, we remove the need for people to pick sides in battles of identity, liberating people to express their true selves, multi-faceted and multi-layered not one-dimensional and nationalistic.
Our shared dream of Europe is a dream of prosperity. Freedom is important but people need financial security too. Without the safety of food on your table and a roof over your head, exercising your freedom can become a near impossibility. Within our common dreams, we should not therefore disregard our common market as unimportant. The construction of the European economy is a lifeline to so many millions of families. As we have removed trade barriers so we have allowed our economy to flourish. And yet we can go much further. By expanding our European market into the digital realm, allowing companies the same certainty and confidence that they have in the physical space, we can continue to grow and ensure that a good standard of living can be maintained for all in the years to come. The ease of companies to do business is not a good in itself, but the jobs and income that this brings to ordinary people undoubtedly is. However if our prosperity is limited only to a small section of society then it ceases to become a good and starts to wear down at the social bonds that bind us. Prosperity must not simply be the existence of wealth in Europe, it must be a pact between all groups, a pact that commits us to distributing this wealth fairly and equitably. If we are honest, in recent decades this has not been the case. The importing of US-style capitalism has steadily chipped away at the protection and security of the European model. More and more citizens find themselves trapped on the margins of society, while the new mega-corporations of today use all the methods they can to avoid paying their share of taxes, to avoid repaying societies that sustain them. To prevent an even greater social disaster than the one we see now, our prosperity must be used to secure the well-being of all citizens, so that we may, for all Europe's hundreds of millions of citizens, guarantee that if they are sick they will be treated, if they are hungry they will be fed and if they are homeless they will be housed. This model, of the European social market economy, is essential.
Ours is also a dream of unity. The belief that all Europeans, from the outmost shores of the Atlantic to the Russian border, could come together and speak as one. That together we could be stronger than we can ever be apart. And that only through a unity of all of Europe can we best guarantee our security and prosperity. Our fates are interlinked, in the modern world more than ever; instability and chaos in one state will hit all of us - this is a reality we must recognise. That is why we must stand by one another, in times of plenty, in times of hardship, in peace and when under attack. In the face of the existential threat of climate change too, the imperative to set aside our differences and work together is stronger than ever. As one of the wealthiest and most stable parts of the world, Europe is well placed to lead the global green transition but we will only be able to step up to this responsibility through a unified effort - we cannot afford to waste time on our internal disputes. We believe in a world where the family of Europe, so long divided, could once again be brought together. Yet let us avoid doubt, this is a unity that would celebrate rather than overrule our unique and varied qualities. While nation-states have sought to centralise and homogenise, pushing millions of people into fitting a predetermined national 'ideal', Europe is something else entirely. Europe is strong because we are different, because we all have our particular quirks and characteristics, and because every part of Europe has something to bring, something to offer, creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Europe is the promise of unity in diversity. We can be attached to both our individual nations and to Europe. We can retain our national identity and, without any contradiction, walk out into the world saying: "I am a European".
Our dream is one of openness, and here, it must be said, we have not lived up to the standards we should set ourselves. Europe in and of itself is already the product of diversity - cultural, political, religious - yet racial diversity is not extensive overall and is in many parts not greeted with much sympathy. The risk for us is that we rest on our laurels and fail to address a question that will only keep on growing in importance: who are Europeans? Immigration from outside of Europe will not go away anytime soon - it is even likely that the numbers of people wanting to come to Europe will increase in the years to come. To give an answer to this reality, it would be easy to reproduce the 'melting pot' rhetoric of the United States but it would also be inaccurate. Europe's relationship to immigration and race is not the same as America's and so we must develop our own understanding of these questions. When it comes to regular, economic migration, in many parts of Europe there is wariness. In the worst instances this develops into outright hostility, a nationalist populism promoting anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. Meanwhile our response to the increase in refugee numbers was confused and reactionary, with many innocent people losing their lives as a result. We can do better. Just as we have promoted and learned to love the diversity within Europe, so we can incorporate the diversity brought to us from outside of Europe. This will mean not just tolerance of those who have a different skin colour or who practice a different religion, but acceptance. To tolerate would be to merely allow someone to live here, to accept them means to recognise them as part of our community. And as people choose to make their lives here, there can be no equivocation that those born within Europe's borders are European. The alternative, of an identity based on the ideology of bloodlines and racial purity, is without doubt unacceptable in a place that has seen exactly where that sentiment can end. A comprehensive, European, open policy towards immigration and asylum will be good for both the individuals we welcome and for Europeans.
This is our dream. And for so many hundreds of millions of Europeans, this dream is not set of empty words looking to a distant future but a vital necessity for the present and an intrinsic part of the fabric of our lives. We see this dream in the winding rivers and deep forests of the European horizon. We see it in our own, personal hopes and aspirations. We see this dream in the faces of those we hold dear, of our friends, of our children, of our partners. We are not Europeans because of the classes we have taken or the books we have read. The European project is not something we have learned; it is something we live. It is who we are.
First and foremost, it is a dream of peace. For centuries Europe has been a continent of violence. It has been the epicentre of many of the most horrific wars, culminating in the destruction of human lives on an industrial scale. To have emerged from our ash-laden past, a coating thick with guilt for the crimes perpetrated against the minority groups of Europe, into a peaceful present is a miracle that we too rarely speak of and too often take for granted. Only through Europe, through the pooling of our differences and of our interests, have we been able to build a peaceful environment, safe for ourselves and for our children. After centuries of constant infighting, Europeans are now near unanimous in the view that conflict between Europeans would be a horrific aberration, a civil war with only losers and no winners. We have learnt, only through the trial of a millennium of suffering, that we cannot become stronger through more violence, that our wars have only led to our own destruction. Our burgeoning European society has made war between Europeans increasingly unthinkable, and this is a journey we must continue to take. We cannot pretend that there will not continue to be differences and clashes, for Europe has not eliminated our differences, and we see today that there are still real and passionate debates over our future. Rather it has recognised our right to be different and to live together in one community all the same. As we have turned battlefields into gardens, the contests of today and those of tomorrow will be peaceful and political - to be led by politicians in our Parliament, not generals in palaces, and manned by voters with ballots, not conscripts with guns. Peace here in Europe is our greatest triumph and we must believe in a future that preserves that peace. We must never let go of what our predecessors have won.
Our common dream is a dream of democracy. Europe was not born a land of democratic freedom. Throughout most of our history we have been subject to one form of tyranny or another, whether of kings, barons, corporations or the mob. Where democracy has been established in the past, it has often fallen victim to national divisions and rivalries, a nuisance to be dispensed with the moment it ceased to be useful to the pursuit of 'national glory'. It is only recently that we have instituted durable universal democracy and for many, it was Europe that showed the way. Against the dictatorships of the fascists, of the Soviet Union, or of Franco, Europe stood as the alternative. Today still, though Europe has largely rid itself of despotism, it is surrounded by a number of unstable and authoritarian states. In Ukraine people risked their lives in the fight against a corrupt government for the right to wave the European flag. We believe that Europe should continue to uphold this role as a guardian of democracy, to not shun those around us who long for the same rights we enjoy but to help them along the way. Europe must be both democratic at home and a champion of democracy abroad. This is not to say that we should uncritically embrace the logic of military intervention. We cannot bomb countries into democracy. But in supporting civil society abroad, in supporting political activists seeking to expand their civil rights and freedoms, without force of arms, we can be champions of European freedoms. It has been and will always be right to defend our values.
Europe is a dream of freedom. The freedom to travel across our home, to discover its varied history and geography, from the Alpine mountains to central European forests to Balkan rivers. The freedom to learn in another country and in another language, to develop your skills and improve yourself, whether as part of the wonder of academic exchange or as one of the many ordinary people filled with ambition and initiative, willing to take a plunge into new opportunities and to seek out success beyond their own local confines. All this without the weighty stare of state bureaucrats brooding over you. In our Europe all are free to live the lives they wish to live, given the space to develop to their full potential and so to benefit the whole community through their growth. Freedom of religion, freedom of sexuality, we believe in a Europe that is a guarantor of the rights of the vulnerable and persecuted. Through the expansion of freedom, we also help maintain the European peace. By softening the barriers between Europeans, we remove the need for people to pick sides in battles of identity, liberating people to express their true selves, multi-faceted and multi-layered not one-dimensional and nationalistic.
Our shared dream of Europe is a dream of prosperity. Freedom is important but people need financial security too. Without the safety of food on your table and a roof over your head, exercising your freedom can become a near impossibility. Within our common dreams, we should not therefore disregard our common market as unimportant. The construction of the European economy is a lifeline to so many millions of families. As we have removed trade barriers so we have allowed our economy to flourish. And yet we can go much further. By expanding our European market into the digital realm, allowing companies the same certainty and confidence that they have in the physical space, we can continue to grow and ensure that a good standard of living can be maintained for all in the years to come. The ease of companies to do business is not a good in itself, but the jobs and income that this brings to ordinary people undoubtedly is. However if our prosperity is limited only to a small section of society then it ceases to become a good and starts to wear down at the social bonds that bind us. Prosperity must not simply be the existence of wealth in Europe, it must be a pact between all groups, a pact that commits us to distributing this wealth fairly and equitably. If we are honest, in recent decades this has not been the case. The importing of US-style capitalism has steadily chipped away at the protection and security of the European model. More and more citizens find themselves trapped on the margins of society, while the new mega-corporations of today use all the methods they can to avoid paying their share of taxes, to avoid repaying societies that sustain them. To prevent an even greater social disaster than the one we see now, our prosperity must be used to secure the well-being of all citizens, so that we may, for all Europe's hundreds of millions of citizens, guarantee that if they are sick they will be treated, if they are hungry they will be fed and if they are homeless they will be housed. This model, of the European social market economy, is essential.
Ours is also a dream of unity. The belief that all Europeans, from the outmost shores of the Atlantic to the Russian border, could come together and speak as one. That together we could be stronger than we can ever be apart. And that only through a unity of all of Europe can we best guarantee our security and prosperity. Our fates are interlinked, in the modern world more than ever; instability and chaos in one state will hit all of us - this is a reality we must recognise. That is why we must stand by one another, in times of plenty, in times of hardship, in peace and when under attack. In the face of the existential threat of climate change too, the imperative to set aside our differences and work together is stronger than ever. As one of the wealthiest and most stable parts of the world, Europe is well placed to lead the global green transition but we will only be able to step up to this responsibility through a unified effort - we cannot afford to waste time on our internal disputes. We believe in a world where the family of Europe, so long divided, could once again be brought together. Yet let us avoid doubt, this is a unity that would celebrate rather than overrule our unique and varied qualities. While nation-states have sought to centralise and homogenise, pushing millions of people into fitting a predetermined national 'ideal', Europe is something else entirely. Europe is strong because we are different, because we all have our particular quirks and characteristics, and because every part of Europe has something to bring, something to offer, creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Europe is the promise of unity in diversity. We can be attached to both our individual nations and to Europe. We can retain our national identity and, without any contradiction, walk out into the world saying: "I am a European".
Our dream is one of openness, and here, it must be said, we have not lived up to the standards we should set ourselves. Europe in and of itself is already the product of diversity - cultural, political, religious - yet racial diversity is not extensive overall and is in many parts not greeted with much sympathy. The risk for us is that we rest on our laurels and fail to address a question that will only keep on growing in importance: who are Europeans? Immigration from outside of Europe will not go away anytime soon - it is even likely that the numbers of people wanting to come to Europe will increase in the years to come. To give an answer to this reality, it would be easy to reproduce the 'melting pot' rhetoric of the United States but it would also be inaccurate. Europe's relationship to immigration and race is not the same as America's and so we must develop our own understanding of these questions. When it comes to regular, economic migration, in many parts of Europe there is wariness. In the worst instances this develops into outright hostility, a nationalist populism promoting anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. Meanwhile our response to the increase in refugee numbers was confused and reactionary, with many innocent people losing their lives as a result. We can do better. Just as we have promoted and learned to love the diversity within Europe, so we can incorporate the diversity brought to us from outside of Europe. This will mean not just tolerance of those who have a different skin colour or who practice a different religion, but acceptance. To tolerate would be to merely allow someone to live here, to accept them means to recognise them as part of our community. And as people choose to make their lives here, there can be no equivocation that those born within Europe's borders are European. The alternative, of an identity based on the ideology of bloodlines and racial purity, is without doubt unacceptable in a place that has seen exactly where that sentiment can end. A comprehensive, European, open policy towards immigration and asylum will be good for both the individuals we welcome and for Europeans.
This is our dream. And for so many hundreds of millions of Europeans, this dream is not set of empty words looking to a distant future but a vital necessity for the present and an intrinsic part of the fabric of our lives. We see this dream in the winding rivers and deep forests of the European horizon. We see it in our own, personal hopes and aspirations. We see this dream in the faces of those we hold dear, of our friends, of our children, of our partners. We are not Europeans because of the classes we have taken or the books we have read. The European project is not something we have learned; it is something we live. It is who we are.
Comments
Post a Comment