A Europe of destiny

Last May's European elections were once again an opportunity for the various parties to demonstrate their desire to «reform the European Union». That's all well and good, but there's room for doubt. Of the twelve candidates in a French TV debate, all called for more protectionism within a Union deemed «ultraliberal», «neoliberal» or simply «liberal», a word that is enough of an insult in a country that would nevertheless deserve a good shower of economic liberation, downsizing of public services and lower taxes. What if, instead of denouncing the free market on which an admittedly imperfect EU is built, we were to recognize that this is the best economic system there is, while asserting that the problem lies elsewhere, namely at the national level? civilizational?

Basically, the great flaw in European integration is not the liberalism of its economic system, but the exclusively economic nature of its system. You'd have to be a libertarian devoid of all pragmatism to imagine that simply opening up the market and borders is enough to create an inter-state political community that is also a community. of destiny. The truth is that, as the European Union currently stands, there are only national communities of destiny. But why, you might ask, talk about destiny? Isn't that a vague concept for philosophers? 

Tragedy is an essential dimension of life, both for human beings and for the political entities in which they live. We've known since Paul Valéry that civilizations are mortal, but we've also known for as long as civilizations have existed that they have a destiny. The mere fact that civilizations exist should already be a warning to us, in a world where we are increasingly aware of the various threats to our survival as a result of globalization and the rapid sharing of information. Attacks by terrorist groups such as the Islamic State, the depletion of natural resources, the rise of global powers - these are all global problems that call for a community of destiny.

What would a Union of Destiny be? It would be a union defined by values, before being defined by economic principles and technical and legal standards. Europe can be proud of its human rights record - less so of its excesses, of course. Yet, beyond the legal aspect, human rights are the manifestation of a particular history, that of a family of Western peoples who were the originators of a great idea: freedom. An ancestral idea first manifested politically by the ancient Greeks, present in its own way in the Christian conception of the European Middle Ages, and finally rehabilitated by French universalism and the British Enlightenment against the backdrop of Roman law, freedom as a civilizational concept was born in Europe.

Paul Valéry, again, defined a European as any people who had been Hellenized, Romanized and Christianized. It's a pity we have to call ourselves Eric Zemmour to remind people of this. Whether on the left or the right, among progress advocates or lovers of preservation, this idea of a European public spirit should animate all souls. The Socialists, who, like French MEP Vincent Peillon, have endeavored to demonstrate the urgency of such a work on our common history, have failed to find support in their own camp; the Sovereignists, apparently keen on this issue, have struggled to adopt a positive approach; the Liberals, for their part, seem to be interested only in the economy and «federal Europe», even though freedom lies at the heart of the European spirit. As for the ecologists, their desire to preserve the environment does not make them conservatives, which is a pity, because the environment is just one facet of a common heritage to be preserved.

A civilization that no longer even defines itself is a civilization that runs the risk of losing itself. The European Union, founded on peace between nations, has had the merit of ensuring a certain stability. But to truly unite of the people European, A definition of Europe other than geographical and economic/legal is essential.

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

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