The EU\u2019s turn to American \u2018identity politics\u2019 was the product of a legitimacy crisis facing the bloc in the aftermath of the 2008-2009 financial crisis, argues Frank Furedi, executive director of MCC Brussels, a conservative think-tank. <\/p>\n
Questions about European identity are now at the heart of a culture war that has polarised politics across most of Europe.<\/p>\n
The financial stakes of this intellectual battle are significant. In 2020, the Hungarian government of Viktor Orb\u00e1n transferred assets worth an estimated $1.7bn[\u20ac1.45bn] to the MCC foundation, the parent organisation which finances MCC Brussels.<\/p>\n
This funding has turned the think-tank into a formidable counter-weight to the liberalism of the so-called Brussels bubble, providing a platform for those who believe that Europe\u2019s future lies in its traditional past rather than a \u201cvalue-free\u201d federalist future.<\/p>\n
Why\u00a0do you\u00a0think that European leaders\u00a0have got\u00a0themselves so tied in knots over\u00a0the question of what European identity is?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think it\u00a0goes back to the 1990s, when they\u00a0basically became\u00a0aware that\u00a0what gave the EU legitimacy was the fact that throughout the post-war period there was a\u00a0post-war boom. In terms of economic performance, the EU\u00a0appears to be\u00a0playing a positive role\u00a0in meeting the social and economic needs of people in Europe.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the economic troubles began,\u00a0they began to\u00a0realise\u00a0that they needed\u00a0something else and so they basically tried\u00a0to come up with\u00a0a number of different arguments. First of all, they said it\u2019s because the EU has brought peace\u00a0to Europe, there\u2019s been no wars,\u00a0but\u00a0they didn\u2019t give it any moral depth and in the 1990s they began to\u00a0employ a number of public relations companies to try to promote themselves, what kind of values they should be espousing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
And it was very\u00a0interesting that when you had the Lisbon conference, there was a big debate about what\u00a0should be the values of Europe and already at that point you had the difference\u00a0between the more traditionalist-minded members of the Parliament and the Commission and the\u00a0ones that were much more involved in federalism.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Value free\u2019 values<\/p>\n
So, if you look\u00a0at some of the documents published in the last four or five years, you know, Europe of values,\u00a0it\u2019s actually value-free in the sense that there\u2019s no moral\u00a0depth,\u00a0there\u2019s no discussion\u00a0about what it is.\u00a0instead\u00a0what you have is these throwaway remarks,\u00a0particularly the embrace of what I call American manufactured values, like diversity.\u00a0All of a sudden, it becomes a value in and of itself, which is an absurd proposition.\u00a0One\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0have to be against or for\u00a0diversity,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a fact of life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s\u00a0not something\u00a0that you just value in and of itself and inclusion, various other, what in America they call DEI,\u00a0And\u00a0I think that the EU\u00a0recognises\u00a0that its own legitimacy is\u00a0fairly fragile.\u00a0And\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0why it has\u00a0embraced\u00a0a number of\u00a0passions that exist independent of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This disagreement on what is,\u00a0what is or what should be defined as European identity is at the heart of the main political divides.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yes, across most of Europe at the moment, right?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yes, there is a\u00a0polarised\u00a0situation that has developed\u00a0between the hegemonic values that are\u00a0promoted by the cultural elite, the people who have really embraced some of this new, what I call \u2018administratively created\u2019 values.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And then some of the more traditional who are\u00a0attempting\u00a0to ensure that legacy of Europe\u2019s\u00a0experience and of its achievements, somehow, are at foundation of the\u00a0whole process\u00a0of valuing. And that\u2019s something that has come under a lot of the political controversy,\u00a0particularly the way in which there is virtually no point of contact between an emphasis on national sovereignty and a federalist moment, which regards anything that is more\u00a0cosmopolitan or more\u00a0globalised\u00a0as trumping any of the nationally rooted values that\u00a0are\u00a0organic to people\u2019s experience.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Do you think these\u00a0identities\u00a0can be codified in any way?\u00a0When the constitutional treaty was being drawn up, there was a row over\u00a0whether to refer to Europe\u00a0as Christian.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think that Europe should not be talking about\u00a0values,\u00a0period.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
But it was the commission, who wanted to find some way of\u00a0legitimating\u00a0itself,\u00a0that began to talk about the Europe of values. And they were very selective\u00a0in what values they took seriously. And they, in a sense,\u00a0politicised\u00a0values,\u00a0which I think is entirely wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And I think that in Lisbon, when the treaty was discussed,\u00a0they self-consciously distanced themselves from Christianity. And my own position is\u00a0that if\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0going to talk about European values, then\u00a0you\u2019ve\u00a0got to say that it is\u00a0based on a Judeo-Christian tradition.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0not the same thing as saying\u00a0that\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0all Christians or Europe is Christian.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think there\u00a0are four moments in Europe\u2019s history: the Judeo-Christian, the Greek,\u00a0and the Roman, and the Enlightenment, which are all critically important to cherish and take seriously, as the founding on which our values or morality are\u00a0based.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, myself, I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0think the EU\u2019s got any business discussing these things. It should be\u00a0much more about pragmatic politics.\u00a0But you have to remember that\u00a0they\u00a0have\u00a0introduced this sort\u00a0of\u00a0culture\u00a0war, which they always blame on the other side.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How can such a\u00a0polarised\u00a0debate play out?\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s\u00a0going to lead to\u00a0more and more\u00a0polarisation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Commission is in the\u00a0business of\u00a0politicising\u00a0values, because\u00a0it has now married the sphere of values to\u00a0the rule of law. So, according to that, if you\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0take seriously\u00a0the Commission\u2019s values in your day-to-day work in the national domain, then\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0violating\u00a0its rule of law, and\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0got financial consequences. So, when\u00a0you\u2019re confronted\u00a0with that,\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0going to provoke a counter reaction\u00a0and you end up in this unhappy situation\u00a0where every time the rule of law is used,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0going to lead to backlash.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
You talked about \u2018administratively created\u00a0values\u2019. What do you mean by that?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well, if you look at human history,\u00a0what we call values\u00a0emerge\u00a0organically to the experience of society and the debate\u00a0that\u00a0holds. And even if you look at something like tolerance, or moral autonomy or freedom, they\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0invented by a public relations company.<\/p>\n
They\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0just\u00a0uncritically\u00a0borrowed from America.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They were the product of a\u00a0genuine interaction within society itself. And they\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0always all\u00a0accepted,\u00a0it took a lot of\u00a0intellectual\u00a0struggle. But they were values that different generations have lived\u00a0by\u00a0and\u00a0amplified and rejected bits of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whereas this just comes out of nowhere.\u00a0The people of Europe\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0wake up one morning and say, \u2018oh, diversity is wonderful.\u00a0Let\u2019s\u00a0have diversity.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
They\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0say, \u2018oh, yeah, we need to have more inclusion.\u2019 None of these\u00a0things come from real\u00a0communities,\u00a0they all come from above.\u00a0So\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0top-down\u00a0accomplishments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How do you think\u00a0migration policy fits into this question of European identity? 20 years ago, open borders were the\u00a0accepted norm among Europe\u2019s political elite.\u00a0But\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0had 20 years of European electorates saying,\u00a0\u2018actually, no, we\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0want this.\u00a0We want tight border control\u2019. And now\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0got European leaders from the\u00a0centre, the left and the right\u00a0saying, \u2018yes, we are in\u00a0favour\u00a0of tight border control.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think the way it ties in is that when there was a relatively open attitude towards migration,\u00a0it wasn\u2019t represented as a value in itself.\u00a0People\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0say that migration would make our society better than it really is.\u00a0But once you had the imposition of both\u00a0diversity, more importantly, of multiculturalism,\u00a0then at that point,\u00a0you were saying, the society of migrants\u00a0is preferable to a society\u00a0that was\u00a0relatively homogeneous.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The implication of that,\u00a0which\u00a0the elites never understood,\u00a0is if you say that a diverse society is morally superior to what existed before. What\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0doing\u00a0is\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0rendering\u00a0those people morally inferior. And that logic was just not understood at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And that means a lot of people become resentful,\u00a0they get really pissed off. And I think that year by year,\u00a0this has\u00a0expanded and become increasingly powerful.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I remember the 2005 UK election, which in retrospect marked a high point of left liberalism across much of Europe.\u00a0Back then it was much easier for politicians such as Tony Blair to play down fears about bogus asylum seekers as racist or xenophobic. Do you think\u00a0liberals have sneered at\u00a0their\u00a0voters?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well, they did. I mean, if you remember that\u00a0very famous\u00a0episode with Gordon Brown going around\u00a0and talking to that old lady, and calling her bigoted because she was worried about it.\u00a0They could get away with\u00a0that, because\u00a0the Tories were quite cowardly and defensive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The minute they were denounced as racist, they just\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0have the bottle to carry that through. And that kind of call to\u00a0self-censor,\u00a0on the part of millions of people, became almost\u00a0institutionalised. And\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0only latterly\u00a0that this has, in a sense,\u00a0unravelled. And Reform is the beneficiary\u00a0of that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Reform\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0have to do anything. Because\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0already a demand for\u00a0a party that\u00a0said\u00a0what\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0thinking. And that development exists all over Europe now. If you look at the European Commission now, where\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0agreeing\u00a0return\u00a0agreements and readmission agreements across the piece. The UK\u2019s Rwanda deal\u00a0is now being\u00a0seen as a model.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Performative exercise<\/p>\n
Having moved so far on migration, do you think that European leaders and the Commission will change their stances on identity politics?\u00a0<\/p>\n
They find that very difficult, because you have to remember that,\u00a0at the moment, there\u2019s a lot of pressure from Parliament, in the way that it now exists.\u00a0And also from within the Commission itself, there are people that have, in a sense, been brought up, you know, on\u00a0idealisation\u00a0of LGBTQ politics, the\u00a0idealisation\u00a0of trans ideology,\u00a0the\u00a0idealisation\u00a0of the Green Deal, and all these things that are\u00a0fundamentally underpinned by identity politics.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is their life.\u00a0There is an element of pragmatism because\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0under pressure. They\u00a0realise\u00a0that unless they\u00a0seem to do\u00a0something,\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0going to be an even greater reaction against\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0happening in\u00a0Brussels.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I think that it would be a mistake to see these changes, this kind\u00a0of sudden conversion by the German government, other\u00a0governments\u00a0and the\u00a0Commission, as a genuine attempt to do anything more than damage limitation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the moment, unfortunately, this is just a performative exercise on their part,\u00a0and I\u00a0wouldn\u2019t\u00a0really read too much into it, though it does\u00a0indicate\u00a0that the influence of the Patriot\u00a0in Parliament and the ECR, is getting\u00a0more\u00a0pronounced.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hungarian-Canadian professor Frank Furedi is executive director\u00a0of the think-tank MCC Brussels and\u00a0an\u00a0emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent in Canterbury. His latest book, \u2018In Defence of Populism\u2019, is due out in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The EU\u2019s turn to American \u2018identity politics\u2019 was the product of a legitimacy crisis facing the bloc in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[5754,211,210,37869,5766,41363,37690,37688,41361,37867,5764,37689,41362,37868,5765],"class_list":{"0":"post-77291","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brussels","8":"tag-typedefinedterm","9":"tag-belgium","10":"tag-brussels","11":"tag-identifier23","12":"tag-identifier29","13":"tag-identifier4069","14":"tag-identifier4283","15":"tag-namefar-right","16":"tag-nameinterview","17":"tag-namemigration","18":"tag-namerule-of-law","19":"tag-termcodefar-right","20":"tag-termcodeinterview","21":"tag-termcodemigration","22":"tag-termcoderule-of-law"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116534748553774118","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}