As I write this the government is taking the risk of Britain leaving the European Union without a deal. It isn't doing anything practical to prepare for this as far as I can see. But it is spending a lot of money on advertising. Maybe they are now so detached from reality that they think that counts as preparation. But whatever, it looks like a lot of Brexit partisans are either in complete denial about the economic risks of the disruption of not leaving in an orderly way or simply don't care.
It's easy to criticise idiots. But by definition it is also pointless - being idiots they won't take any notice. And in this case it might also be unfair. I am not saying that Brexit supporters are not stupid. They manifestly are. But if other remainers are anything like me, the economic arguments don't really resonate with me either. So on this particular point we are just as much idiots as they are. I don't want to leave the EU so the disruption to be anticipated from the leaving process is particularly galling. But if I am honest I'd be ready to go through a similar trauma in order to rejoin. The thing is I just think that if there is a European Union going on then Britain absolutely has to be in it. Being outside would be like being the only person who isn't invited to the works Christmas Party.
Britain is, and always has been, a part of Europe in as real a way as it is possible to be. We have followed European politics, including all the wars, religious controversies, scientific advances and artistic developments. We have lapped up European culture. Europeans have moved here. We have moved there. We have hardly had an English monarch in our history. We are a European country just as much as France or Germany. There is nothing better or worse about us than any of the others.
It is worth looking at another example. You could make just as strong an economic case for Japan joinining a co-operative body with China and Korea as you can for Britain linking up with its local trading partners. But the history of that region is totally different so the idea is a non-starter. If Britain had the same relationship to its neighbours as Japan has with its, we'd never have joined the EU in the first place and nor should we have done.
The main thrust of the argument from the phobes has always been a basically negative one. They mainly harp on about the EU's faults. But even they from time to time have to at least try to put forward a positive view of what a non-EU Europe would look like. They usually talk about a Europe of nation states. This isn't a totally unappealing idea. People sharing a common language and set of cultural references living and working together and minding their business together is something that could work.
The trouble is there are only a handful of countries which can be described as authentic nation states where everyone shares a common identity, and who are comfortable with the boundaries of that state. Countries with a lot of sea nearby are the closest - so Scandinavian countries just about work and so does Portugal. The UK is a bit problematic, though England would be fine on its own if you ignored its long connections with Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Maybe Italy, if you don't peer too closely at the details. Every other country has significant national minorities, break away regions or diaspora living in other nation states. Some states exist purely and simply by reasons of history. Why should Bavarians be any more or less German than Austrians for example. And how does Belgium end up even existing?
And nation states are a pretty recent historical idea anyway. England as an island emerged as one relatively early on - and it worked pretty well for it. Ireland might have done the same, if it hadn't been quite so close to England. Most other nationalities are basically creations of particular political and geographical circumstances. In the case of France, Germany, and to some extent Italy, they are the conscious creations of particular rulers or politicians whose names we know. Mainland Europe is a kaleidoscope made up of a patchwork of areas with different histories. The thing that unifies them is their common European culture. The thing that could potentially divide them is their national identity.
National identity has not been a huge motivating factor through most of European history. It was basically an idea of the nineteenth century. As experiments go, it wasn't a great success. Nationalism was to lead to wars which got bigger and bigger. It was the biggest of those wars that was the stimulus behind the creation of the EU. Memory of the war is still a potent motivator and basically the true purpose the organisation, even though it has expanded to do lots of other things. It still strikes me as a pretty good idea.
No comments:
Post a Comment