Demonstrators shine the lights of their mobile phones as they stand under a large European Union flag, during a pro-EU rally in Bucharest, earlier this year. [AP]
In recent days we have been experiencing a paradox. A motley coalition made up of very different political building blocks has suddenly decided to savagely attack Europe. The Kremlin itself and its echo chambers in Europe and on the internet, the hardline MAGA ideologues who drown out the cool voices in the US State Department and the Pentagon, the billionaires of the social media platforms led by the famous, systematic spreader of crazy news, all of them together decided that the major problem in the modern world is a united Europe.
Mind you, the criticism is not for potential imperfections, problems and mistakes (of which there are many) but for its core, the raison d’etre of its very existence. Their main argument is that the EU has declined and that the only solution to Europe’s problems is the return to independent states that will abolish it in practice. They miss something simple. The EU was the answer to the devastation of war and the millions of dead caused precisely by the independent, militarized states that tore the continent apart twice in the last century. Since European integration began, not a single war battle has taken place in EU territory.
Their subsidiary argument is that the EU’s cultural fabric is disintegrating due to immigration. Here the view is presented as fact, but it ignores that the problems of migration and lack of integration arose precisely from the absence of a European migration policy. Finally, after decades of failures, Europe will now have a strong, holistic and coherent regulatory framework for the first time, with the new pact that will enter into force next year. Already, with the expectation of the upcoming European solution, migratory flows are significantly reduced. So, where do they base the argument that the organized future will be worse than the anarchic past? Or that individual countries will have more means, resources and tools than the combined power of the 27 member-states?
Finally, the motley crew of Euroskeptics are incredibly disturbed by the European rules on digital governance that want to bring order to how social media platforms and tech businesses influence the way we think, shop, fall in love, and of course vote. They want the operators of algorithms to be unchecked, guiding what we see on social media, which products and services “suit” us, to steal our personal data without our consent to sell it to the highest bidder and, of course, to prevent us from seeing who is funding the political ads that determine who will govern us. But the EU is – and will remain – a union of democracies that will always put the common interest of the many ahead of the commercial profits of the few.
How should the EU react to this new wave of attacks? First, with composure. Any reaction in the same tone would be wrong. In particular, maintaining transatlantic ties is the highest, absolute priority for the EU. Europe and the US are the center of gravity of the world, aligned on the same side by history. We must not stop distinguishing between the good from the bad who surround us.
We must not stop distinguishing between the good from the bad who surround us
Secondly, with confidence. The European model of cooperation has been vindicated by history. It has secured peace for 80 years. It has buried dictatorships and helped democracies to flourish. It has raised our standard of living. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, it has definitively reconciled the continent’s history with its geography.
Thirdly, with evidence. Let us continue to remind ourselves of what many forget: We have the largest and best-regulated internal market in the world, the second global reference currency, we produce almost 20% of the world’s wealth, we are global champions of freedoms and rights, we have free health and education for all, we respect and protect women, we take care of the elderly, and we do not have the death penalty.
Perhaps this is the real explanation why all of them are suddenly attacking Europe. Because the European way of life, which is an honor and pride for us, is a threat to them. Because it threatens their primacy and sets limits on their growing authoritarianism. This is also the main reason to defend what we have achieved, to constantly improve, not to surrender our weapons.
Margaritis Schinas is former European Commission chief spokesperson (2014-2019) and vice president for promoting the European way of life (2019 to 2024).