OpiniOn
Malta Business Review
ARE WE All EuROpEANS Now, oN ThE sAmE pAgE? by Patrick J. O’Brien
The idea of the unification of Europe was a dream until it became a real political goal
“A day will come when all nations on our continent will form a European brotherhood…A day will come when we shall see… the United States of America and the United States of Europe face to face, reaching out for each other across the seas.” Victor Hugo – 1848
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ow, the EU is one of the main bodies which plays a decisive role in the world’s politics. It has plenty of uncertain challenges, where it makes mistakes and where it wins. The emerging European Identity is of interest as I wonder how many of us really see ourselves as Europeans, fighting as a united group rather than a nation with our own national identity, out on our own. It would be true to say that until the financial crisis, European identities were pretty stable. But the financial crisis has shifted the sense that people in Europe are in this together. This has been most pronounced in those citizens who sometimes thought of themselves as Europeans. There have been decreases in the number of citizens who sometimes think of themselves as European in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Great Britain, and to a certain degree even Malta, France and Germany. Not surprisingly, this decrease in European identity has been accompanied by the resurgence of right wing nationalist parties across Europe. It is worth thinking about why the sense of being European has decreased so much. The European politics of the crisis have
been very ugly. There has been little or no sense of solidarity from the “northern” countries towards the southern countries. Those citizens in the southern countries have heard these sentiments loud and clear and their reaction has been as one would expect. Who would want to be associated with people who thought ill of you?
supporters and its vulnerable citizens. Politicians are fond of saying that crises are opportunities to make change. This crisis has produced, not more of popular will to solve problems at the European level, but a huge skepticism that such a solution will be in the interest of all citizens. This skepticism will not go away.
There have been decreases in the number of citizens who sometimes think of themselves as European
It is a fantasy, given the resurgent nationalisms across Europe, to believe that suddenly a sense of common fate will sweep through northern Europe to produce a European wide solidarity and support for a European social democracy. And if it did, those who live in the southern countries would be suspicious of the conditions attached to such an offer. MBR
Those in the south wonder, “Europe, what Europe?” and throw their lot in with national political parties who say they will try and protect them from heartless, neoliberal global capitalism as presented by the EU and the IMF. Citizens in the north cannot be faulted for not wanting to pay for the economic errors or misdeeds of the south. Since the vast majority of them already view themselves as mostly having a national identity, they do not have a sense that they “owe” those in the south anything, because they are all “Europeans”. Indeed, many of them have even thought of themselves as being European at all. Ironically, the attempt to solve Europe’s banking problems at the EU level and within the Eurozone has undermined support for the European project of both its staunchest
EDITOR’S NOTE
Patrick has worked in all forms of the media as a journalist, educator, and public relations specialist. He is senior writer on Malta premier business publication Malta Business Review as well as being a contributor on The UK Times and The Mail. Recently he was awarded the title of International Trade Journalist 2014 presented by PBS. Patrick is Director of Communications, EXANTE based in Malta. www.maltabusinessreview.net
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