On Thursday, a video summit of the European Union will take place – the sad future of which is increasingly being talked about by a person who has been claiming to be its leader for the past three years. On the eve of the summit, Emmanuelle Macron raises the question of whether the EU should decide whether it is an economic project or a political one. If the first one is chosen, a united Europe will fall apart, the French president says.
The European Union is facing the biggest crisis in its history. Will it be able to survive it?
“We have reached the moment of truth when we have to decide whether the European Union is a political project or just a market project. I think that the EU is a political project… If it is a political project, the human factor is a priority and the concepts of solidarity come into play… the economy follows that and let’s not forget that economy is a moral science. We need to provide financial assistance and show solidarity so that Europe can remain united”, – Makron told the Financial Times.
That is, the rich countries should help the poor, the northern countries should show solidarity with the southern ones – more severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic:
“One cannot have a single market where some are sacrificed, it would be a historic mistake to say again that “sinners must pay”.
That is, Germany must stop resisting the idea of creating a special fund that would provide financial assistance to EU countries according to their needs – not the size of their economy. This is what the countries of southern Europe, starting with Italy, the most affected by the coronavirus, insist on – not only in terms of the number of victims, but also economically. But if Germany refuses to help, not only the eurozone will be at risk. The European Union, as a political project, may not survive the current crisis, “we have to say clearly that it is going to the collapse of the European idea”.
Defending his position, Macron even recalled France’s “colossal, fatal mistake” in demanding reparations from Germany after World War I – huge payments have exsanguinated the Germans, caused a “populist reaction” in Germany and the ensuing disaster. “This is a mistake that we made at the end of World War II,” Macron said, recalling Marshall’s plan, that is, massive aid to the European economy. About the fact that the aid was external and not gratuitous at all – the payback was also the submission of Europe to the Atlantists – Macron did not spread. He is more concerned about the future – in which Europe may not be united:
“If we cannot do this today, I tell you that the populists will win – today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, in Italy, in Spain, perhaps in France and elsewhere… It is obvious, because people will say: “What kind of life do you offer? These people will not protect you in a time of crisis or from its consequences. They have no solidarity with you, … they are not for a united Europe when it comes to sharing hardships”.
It is – the European Union has faced the biggest crisis in its history. But can it not survive it?
No, it can’t. Because, contrary to Makron’s words, the EU has always been a political project – even when it was not yet there, when the pan-European idea itself emerged at the beginning of the last century. Economic problems cannot collapse the European Union – it can be destroyed only by political challenges: internal or external.
It is becoming easier with external players – the efforts of external players aimed at weakening and disintegrating the EU have a completely pragmatic basis. Nobody needs a strong rival on the world arena – and Europe, integrated to the stage of a single state (federation), is in any case the most powerful global force. Of course, it is not the same as in the European era of world history in the 16-19th centuries – but still. Neither the US, China, nor Russia need a strong united Europe – for various reasons, but this is not fundamental for Europe itself. It is easier for everybody to negotiate and deal (and in case of which to be hostile) with individual European powers or blocs of European countries. However, the main enemy of united Europe is now not outside, but inside itself.
Europe has always strived for unity – one can remember Rome, the Empire of Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation, Napoleon, Hitler. The principles of unification could be different – but the essence is always the same: Europeans must be together, and under one leadership, they will become stronger and more successful. The two penultimate projects broke down on the endlessly incomprehensible for Europe Russia, which was to be pushed far away to Asia.
But the last project, the European Union, as the idea emerged just after Russia’s most grandiose victory over a unified, albeit Nazi, Europe – when Moscow gained control over Eastern Europe. And the United States and the United Kingdom took control of Western Europe. Europe lost its subjectivity – but began to integrate under the sensitive control of its Anglo-Saxon elder brother. At first the western part of it – and since the beginning of the 90s, after the collapse of the USSR, the eastern part as well.
As a result, we now have a huge unfinished, underintegrated empire – with the world’s largest economy, with giant exports, with its own currency and financial system. But with a very weak will – an inaudible, uncoordinated and dependent foreign policy, a lack of independent defense policy. The economic giant has no geopolitical sovereignty – it still remains a part of the West, or rather, of the Atlantic project of globalization, which combines some European and American elites aimed at world domination. But the course of history says, even screams, that it is time to think about the soul – not clinging to the world leadership (already lost), but to build a home. What is preventing this? The coronavirus?
No, there are two main obstacles to the transformation of the European Union into a single sovereign state. The external one is the unwillingness of the Anglo-Saxons and the Atlantic-minded European elites to let the European ship go on an autonomous voyage.
“Europe must take responsibility for its future into its own hands”, – both Merkel and Macron say, but our desires must match our abilities. In this case – at least it is necessary to have political will, strategic thinking, that is, people who declare such things should really believe in an independent Europe, want to build it. There is great doubt that the current leaders of Germany and France (and, more broadly, the ruling groups) are setting such serious goals for themselves.
The second obstacle to a united Europe is internal. Indeed, the nations do not want such a united Europe – the European Union is unpopular, and the current crisis will strike a terrible blow to it at all. But who said that a united Europe should be exactly as it is now? Many of the European sceptics, those whom Macron and Euro-integrators despise as populists, are not really against the united Europe as such – they are against the EU as it is now. With an ideology that blurs national identity, with anti-traditional values, with the diktat of supranational elites, both weak in spirit and strong bureaucracy. The inevitable and ever-growing German leadership also scares many Europeans – but the Germans are in any case the linchpin and foundation of any European integration, the only question is whether the current German elite is independent in its actions.
There are many things that frighten different European nations – but there is something that unites them more than all differences. It is the understanding that together they are stronger than separately – and in today’s globalized world this is a very important motive. Europeans understand this even better than others – because they were the main builders of this global world order. They wanted (especially their Anglo-Saxon relatives) to rule them – it did not work, now it is time to play back, to prepare for the battles between the regional centers of power and civilizations. To strengthen, i.e. to complete, its European fortress – to compete, to enmity, to negotiate with others on behalf of a mighty united Europe. In order to get it, you don’t need to unify everything and everything from Lisbon to Helsinki – you just need to take responsibility for an independent future and be very much afraid of alternatives, that is, disintegration.
At the moment, fear comes first – not of the coronavirus, but of the fact that the consequences of the coronavirus crisis will tear the European Union apart. And this is a good incentive for actions to build confidence in the European peoples. In fact, there is no alternative to Macron’s proposals – you can, of course, think about the same Italy, “well, where they will go from the submarine,” saying, still will not leave the eurozone and the EU. Indeed, they will not run to Russia, will they?
No, not directly to Moscow – but to Asia. Beijing will gladly help Rome – and if Italy leaves the EU, it will be possible to put a fat cross on the dream of a united Europe. This is well understood in Berlin (not to mention the Anglo-Saxon capitals) – so the Germans will pay, one can not doubt. The EU has always been a political project – and for Germany, the further the more.
Peter Akopov, RIA.