The union is bloated and stale. It’s bureaucratic beyond comprehension. The press, let alone EU citizens, barely understands the layers of its dense structure. Few vote in the parliamentary elections, which some say puts the fringes — especially the far right — at a distinct advantage. Free trade — particularly between countries with different standards of living and labour rules — can open the door to exploitation of weaker countries.
And as more states join, there are more compromises to be made, more sovereignty sacrificed in Brussels boardrooms.
But for what?
I recently learned why the sacrifice is so important. Along with two other young, Canadian journalists, I just returned from a study tour centred around the European Union. On the first day of our little EU boot camp our instructor posed a point I had not yet considered.
“It’s the cost of peace,” he said, referring to the compromises that states have to make in order for the Union to work. I doubt he was trying to be poignant, but it really put things in perspective for me.
It’s easy to see how I missed this, being Canadian. There are just two official languages, English and French, and our population — despite the country’s massive size — lies somewhere between that of Romania and Poland.
Canada has sent soldiers elsewhere, but it has never been at war (at least in recent history).
I have not known war. I barely know of it, and neither do my parents or my grandparents.
The EU is flawed, sure. But history, if not economics, provides a case for the collective benefit of this unprecedented pooling of sovereignty. The project’s kinks (and there are far more than the ones I listed) need to be worked out, but the alternative is worse.
But in order for the EU to keep Europe together, it needs its people. If voter turnout continues to be very low, then there’s no basis for legitimacy.
(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
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