Back To The European Community - by Rene Cuperus

The European Union needs a strong dose of John Gray philosophy. The European Project as it has developed over the years needs a strong antidote against hybris. An antidote against imperial overstretch. An antidote against technocratic materialism and the Brussels ‘one size fits all’ tyranny. And a Gray-ish antidote against naïve and dangerous utopian thinking. John Gray’s thoughts (and work) stand for a realistic common sense filter. For modesty. Self- constraint. And self-criticism.  

That’s what the European Project utterly needs, if it ever wants to be able to reconnect to the hearts and minds of the majority of the European people.

No misunderstanding. History forced us to become Europeans, to be Europeans. The historical legacy of Europe in the 20^th century should lead to intensive forms of cooperation, cross-border coordination between European nation states, to overcome national superiority thinking, ethnic definitions of national identity or cultural hostility.

History transformed us, Dutchmen, French, English, Swedes & Poles into Europeans. The bloody European civil war 1914-1945, the Communist and Nazi occupation, have made Europe into a ‘’language community’’. The common language being about war and oppression, persecution and lack of freedom. Being European means that one feels obliged to do everything possible never to let European peoples get into violent conflict, or under occupation, again.

That’s fair enough. Europeans we should be and have to be. But only to a certain extent. To certain limits. Defined by the radius of action of democracy, solidarity, shared values and cultural understanding.

Is Eutopia, the European Dream of Unity, the right and only answer to that? That remains the big question. Especially in these days of the eurocrisis.

Without such a fundamental debate about the future of the European project, the pan-European revolt of populism will gain more and more momentum.

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