16 June 2016
Wachet Auf!
International co-operation is the dream; supra-national coercion is the nightmare.
by Neil Tidmarsh
I lived and worked in Spain for a year in the early 1980’s. It was an exciting moment. Franco had died only a few years before, and Spain was anxious to make up for lost time after forty years wasted under a fascist military dictatorship. Everyone was determined to enjoy their new liberty. The whole nation was ready and eager to become a modern, free, European, democratic country at last. They were justifiably proud of the amazing progress they had made in a few short years: their new constitution was up and running; the new parliament and the new king had seen off the coup d’etat attempt of Lieutenant Tejero and his handful of military dinosaurs; membership of the EC was on the way. While I was there they successfully hosted the World Cup, showed maturity in their attitude towards the Falklands War, and elected the socialist government of Felipe Gonzalez. It was like being present at the birth of a nation. The optimism was thrilling, exhilarating.
And now, a generation later? Spain, like most of the Eurozone, is groaning under EU-imposed austerity measures. Although these have produced some growth, they are socially painful; the unemployment rate is over 20%, and the youth unemployment rate is approaching an eye-watering 50%. They are also politically toxic; Spain has been without a government for six months, since votes for new, minority, protest parties in last December’s general election resulted in political deadlock. There will be fresh elections later this month, but it’s likely that these will simply produce another hung parliament; this paralysis of democracy in Spain may well continue for some time yet. At the beginning of the year, the European Commission issued stern warnings against abandoning austerity measures when it looked as if a left-wing coalition was about to form a government; and last month the Commission threatened to impose financial sanctions on the country for exceeding recommended budget-deficit levels, threats which will probably materialise into actual fines after the forthcoming elections.
It’s all quite heart-breaking. The straight-jacket of the Euro gave Spain no room for manoeuvre when the credit crunch hit in 2008, leading to bank collapse, the bursting of the property balloon, recession and a sovereign debt crisis. And it’s the same story all over the Eurozone – Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland (even France has the threat of EU-imposed austerity measures snapping at its heels – so far it has only just about managed to fend off those unforgiving teeth). Eight years later the EU is still trying to find a way out of the mess. And in the meantime, democracy is suffering: I’ve lost count of the number of referendum results that Brussels has ignored; a technocrat was imposed on Italy as an unelected head of state; protest votes against supra-national coercion are going to minority parties which make the forming of working majorities difficult; and, most disturbing of all, the resulting disillusionment is feeding all kinds of unsavoury extremist parties.
As June 23 approaches, I worry about many things. I worry about the effect Brexit might have on the City of London, which has fed, clothed and sheltered me (and much of the rest of the country, indirectly) for the last few decades. I worry about the effect it might have on the Union. I worry if British agriculture, the construction industry and the NHS will be able to cope without hard-working immigrants. I worry about losing the “free movement of peoples”, the EU’s one beautiful idea.
But, even more than all these, I worry about the effect the EU has had, and is having, on Europe, our great continent, this magnificent collection of nations whose civilisation has shaped today’s world. Am I the only one who wants to shout “Wake up, Europe! Sleepers, awake! Reveillez-vous! Despertarse! Wachet auf! You’re sleep-walking round and round in circles in a deep, dark pit of high unemployment, low growth, sovereign debt, austerity, the degradation of democracy, a plummeting share of global business and global influence. Wake up and ask yourself “ What has happened? Where am I? How did I get here? How do I get out? ”
“Remain” argues that Britain should stay in the EU and carry on shouting “Wake up!” until our partners’ eyes open. But we know that our voice is just one of many in Brussels, and have seen how reviled it is when it is raised; “difficult”, “frustrating”, “uncooperative” and “obstructive” are typical labels the UK has earned in Brussels in recent years. David Cameron’s recent shout of “Wake up!” achieved little when he went in search of reforms a few months ago. And back in 2008 he was more or less sent to Coventry when he reminded the other EU heads of state, when they were about to be stampeded into surrendering a slice of their nations’ sovereignty to the Central bank, that none of them was authorised to give away what belonged to their electorate (as I’ve said before, it would have been like a butler giving away his employer’s family silver).
Does the Continent want to wake up? Perhaps it doesn’t. Perhaps all this simply highlights an important cultural difference between Europe’s mainland and its off-shore island (yes, there are cultural differences, even though we are one civilisation). The continent likes big ideas, prefers the theoretical approach; it has a tendency to take a beautiful idea like ‘liberté, fraternité, egalité’ or ‘property belongs to all’ or ‘a single currency’ or ‘ever closer union’, and to impose it on reality, top down, whether it’s practical or not, whether it’s necessary or not, and impose it with such rigidity, such inflexibility, that reality is made to fit whatever the cost. Britain is wary of ideas, of abstract theories, of ‘isms’ and ‘ologies’. We prefer a more practical, pragmatic and empirical approach, a more organic process, preferably from the bottom up.
Next week’s vote is essentially a choice between these two approaches. The one has served Europe badly in recent decades (and disastrously in recent centuries); the other has served Britain well for millennia. The choice is yours.
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