The EU has no coherent strategy on many issues. It has only sketchy economic policies toward Russia; ambitions, but no game plan, to become a player in the Middle East; and, despite its original leadership on the Kyoto Protocol, no successor program on climate change. And the biggest question of all – how to engage with China, India, and other giants of the future – has received virtually no attention from EU-level policymakers.
These issues require attention now, and an integral part of the EU’s search for new global strategies should be to invite, rather than avoid, criticism of its activities. If the EU is to lift its gaze from its navel to the horizon, it must reconcile the very different views that exist across Europe of its place in the world and its own best interests. That means engaging with those shades of political opinion that the European Commission and the European Parliament consider “Euroskeptical.
The counter-pressure, of course, is that EU officialdom feels unloved and unappreciated. There is an almost embattled culture among many senior officials, who fear that fanning the flames of dissent among Europe’s voters could one day knock European unity off course.
Euroskepticism represents everything the Eurocrats dislike. They worry that politicians and journalists who oppose their strategies for closer political and economic union could yet tip the balance of public opinion against the EU.
Euroskeptic politicians elected to the European Parliament are often treated with the disdain that true believers reserve for the infidel.
Yet it is ludicrous to think that Euroskeptics represent a silent majority that could rise up and destroy the EU. Popular support for the European project has barely faltered over the last 25 years, and has even begun to strengthen of late.
At the beginning of the 1980’s, when Europe was faltering and the media catchword was “Eurosclerosis, 50% of people polled for the Eurobarometer surveys viewed membership as positive for their country.
About 19% said its effects were negative, and the rest didn’t know. Today, overall support for the EU stands at 57%, and the share of people unhappy with it has dropped to 15%.
There are now no EU countries where Euroskeptics are in the majority, and the widespread impression that citizens in Western and Eastern Europe alike are turning their backs on the EU is wrong. The reality is that even though voters may find the EU remote, most appreciate the need for Europe to unite in a world where China, India, and other fast-developing countries are set to challenge it.
Reassured by this groundswell of support, the Eurocrats should be fostering a much more pluralistic approach to EU policymaking and debate. The Commission should be organizing public debates that give equal prominence to dissenting views. Eurocrats must learn that Euroskepticism is fundamentally healthy, because it invites closer examination of the policy options open to Europe, and thus increases the involvement of ordinary people in the EU’s policymaking process. And greater involvement quickly leads to better understanding of the issues at stake, and the reasons why some policies have been adopted that challenge or even override the sovereign powers of individual countries.
For half a century, Europe’s integrationists have sought unquestioning acceptance of their efforts. That demand must be abandoned. It will probably take several generations before a workable EU-wide political system emerges, but the first step is for the EU to encourage people to have their say, however uncomfortable that may be.
Giles Merrittis secretary-general of the Brussels-based think tank Friends of Europe and Editor of the policy journal Europe’s World. This commentary is published by DAILY NEWS EGYPT in collaboration with Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org).
