Europe is an idea, and that idea is our only strength

Posted by Maryam Yamin on October 28th, 2018

 The paradox of Europe is to be a power with a Kantian vocation in a context of growing reactionary hegemony, characterised by protectionism, unilateralism and nationalist sovereignty written by Fox News Point.

Perhaps this explains the plaintive tone of liberal Verhofstadt in Strasbourg in the face of Khashoggi's horrible murder: "We need common actions, not vague statements!"

And it is that the succession of international crises has demonstrated the inability of the Union to maintain a strong common action in an increasingly Hobbesian world where the perception of justice is reeling from this revival of our state of nature, always brutal and guided by the strength and deception. However, this strategic vulnerability contrasts with its internal coercive capacity.

How to explain, if not, the iron hand in the negotiations of the Brexit, or in the pulse with the schizophrenic Italian Government? The EU has been able to internalise that, with the Brexit, any internal division constituted an existential threat, and that firmness has ended by exposing the contradictions of a supposed sovereign project that was nothing more than a flimsy house of cards built on the basis of lies.

The same goes for ultra-Italian populism: although something has learned from the Greek experience and the eagerness to burn austerity, Europe can not afford to play dice with the disruptive potential of the third economy of the eurozone, which He avoids negotiating his budgets by pure electoral. But, how is community action presented to the world? It seems that the question of the Union's foreign policy, also of an existential nature, is not even on the table, as if it were not part of our identity or our survival.

However, the paradox that Brussels has acted as an unbreakable machine against London and Rome while unable to build an assertive position vis-à-vis the Saudis is not an anecdote: it is part of the decline of Europe in the world, of our renunciation of being an engine of democratic persuasion, based on universal values.

Located at this crossroads, we have decided to stop acting like a liberal leviathan, as that actor that legitimately promoted an international order based on its internal values. Make no mistake: the ability to jointly respond to systematic violations of human rights is linked to the very nature and existence of the EU.

That is why those who analyse the Khashoggi case through the false dilemma between principles and realpolitik are wrong. Because Europe is not a place, it is an idea, and that idea is our only strength.

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Maryam Yamin

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Maryam Yamin
Joined: October 25th, 2018
Articles Posted: 31

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