Europe, more union, please!

BORDER CROSSINGS Op-ed by Katja Gentinetta, published at PRAGMATICUS

EU countries must form a real federation. Otherwise, the community lacks the power to defend itself.

Not crisis-proof. The EU as a community is facing a test. It has reacted more poorly than positively to recent crises.

Union of Values. The fundamental values of the Union include freedom, democracy and the rule of law. These values can and must be defended.

Weak protection. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine shows how important a simultaneous expansion of the EU’s military power is.

Armed neutrality. Only by forming a defense union would the EU be able to defend its independence.

I am writing this text during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I am listening – coincidentally, but eerily fittingly – to the new album by Avishai Cohen entitled „Naked Truth“. The invasion of Ukraine reveals what many people in the West had thought impossible for too long: War is now reality. At this point, no one can know what the world, the West, Ukraine will look like in the near future. But one thing is clear: a new era is beginning for the European Union, one that requires fundamental reflection on what it is and how it wants to secure its future.

Unfinished Community

The European Union identifies with the story of overcoming war and taming open hostilities. The remaining animosities between former wartime enemies are little more than memories of cultural differences and stereotypes evoked with a certain affection, but which no longer pose a threat to internal cohesion. The relationship between former arch-enemies Germany and France in particular is remarkable proof of how enmity can turn into friendship if handled with care. Nevertheless, it is the axis between these two countries that, for historical reasons, is of central importance for the development of the European Union. And it must not become an obstacle to the EU’s next step in development.

Facts & Figures

While Germany shies away from any form of war because of its guilt, French President Emmanuel Macron speaks openly about the need for „strategic autonomy“. With this, he touches  an open, even sore point of the European Union. For this has become – to its great credit – a „community of values and law“ over half a century of challenging integration processes: an incomparable entity that has renounced violence and dedicated itself to the joint creation of democracy, peace and prosperity, and which is globally unparalleled.

Era of crises

This story is a success, but it is not finished yet. The past decade in particular has shown this: an era of cascading crises, from the financial crisis of 2008 to the refugee crisis of 2015 and the pandemic of the past two years. During this time, the Union has presented itself as a rather mediocre, sometimes disappointing and little trust-building institution. It may have been able to save itself financially from the crises by resorting to its affluence. But substantially, it still fails to prove that it can hold its own entity together and lead it into a common stable future. Perhaps now – as bitter as it sounds – it will be given the opportunity to do so. For one of the first and sometimes last tasks of a state entity is the ability to protect itself – from the superiority of others who cultivate different values and ideas and who seek nothing more than to destroy and exterminate those who think differently. One of the tasks of a state entity is the ability to protect itself. That Putin has such plans has been well documented for a good decade and is now a brutal reality. Accordingly, Macron’s demand is nothing other than the – politically and historically – only viable combination of law and power: the power to enforce one’s own law. This power is called sovereignty after Jean Bodin, the famous state theorist of the 16th century. It is what gives the state the power to enforce its values and rights – against internal and external enemies. Until now, Europe has always rejected this power, because its history has enabled it to understand power only as violence. Power, on the other hand, as a positive force that can secure itself and its own future, is an instrument that no state and no union can do without.

The EU as a federal state

From my Swiss perspective in particular, the „strategic autonomy“ demanded by the French president, which ultimately aims at a defense union that is powerful enough even without NATO, can be interpreted as „armed neutrality“. In other words, a political position that – at least militarily – does not measure itself offensively against the USA, China or Russia, but would very well be capable of defending its own independence against aggressors. So if Europe wants to remain a community of stable and prosperous democracies in the future, it must be able and willing to add the factor of power to its „community of values and law“. Only in this way can it become a „sovereign community of values and law“. The logical conclusion would be the path towards a United States of Europe: on a democratic basis, consistently federal, but globally united. There is not much time left – and the need for it seems to be recognised.

Conclusion

The EU has undergone a remarkable integration process in the past. However, the current era of crises raises doubts as to whether the Union can find sustainable solutions. It is true that Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine provided a new impetus for unity. But in order to be able to protect itself from an external enemy without the help of the USA, a common EU military capacity would be necessary. This would not only transform Europe from a mere community of values and economic ties into a genuine power alliance, but also – following the example of the United States – enable it to reassert its sovereignty and position in the world.