The Ukraine crisis has not only shown that the old conflict between America and Russia still exists. It has also made it clear that Europe is still the locus of this conflict, but without any independent power of its own to affect the outcome. The Russians and the Americans argue about redrawing borders within Europe, and they don’t care what we Europeans think about it. They don’t care because they don’t need to care. “Fuck the EU” sums it up quite well. “Don’t listen to the Europeans. All they can do is talk. They don’t matter.”
And because Europe has no power of its own, Ukraine has only two options: it can either be part of the Russian or the American zones of influence. To be part of Europe was never an option for Ukraine. It could not become so, because an independent Europe does not exist.
How did it come to pass, that nobody needs to care about us Europeans? The EU nations combined have an army that is twice the size of the Russian army, and they have a stronger economy than does the US. Nevertheless we are still completely dominated by these foreign powers. This begs the question: do we need a different form for the organization of Europe? Yes we do!
We need an independent Europe. We should not believe that the Russians or the Americans will ever respect us. And why should they? It is our job to protect our continent. And it is their job to take care of their countries. They just see that we don’t do it.
Today we Europeans are vassals of the US. That is the reality.
If we want to be free again, if we want to be independent, if we want to be able to make our own decisions about what happens in Europe, if we want to stop being the laughingstock of other powers, we must find a way to reorganize the strengths that Europe actually has.
Why a European State Cannot Work
I’ll be honest. I strongly reject the idea of a European superstate. For several reasons, I do not believe that a European state would work, or would even be desirable.
Empires and superstates have never been formed without violence. To do so, one needs force (a lot of force) to suppress any rebellious groups that arise, calling for independence within the various regions of which they are comprised. This would especially be true if one tried to unite more than 20 nations in one state. The reason why there is no European state today is because no region of Europe has ever had enough power to force the construction of such a state. The Habsburgs, Napoleon, and even the Germans were not powerful enough to defeat all their enemies in Europe.
You need force to form an empire. Even the “democratic” European Union has realized that. This is why we Europeans are not allowed to vote concerning “European questions.” If the peoples of Europe had been consulted, there would be no euro or “Treaty of Lisbon,” and the Eastern European countries surely would not be part of the EU.
Modern democracy and the nation-state appeared in history together. They did so because modern democracy requires a nation. The dream of a democratic European state is a chimera. If we ever see a European state, it could only be a dictatorship (though it might call itself “democratic”) and it would be destroyed as soon as the people got their power back.
If one is not satisfied with modern liberal democracy but is in favour of the Swiss model of “direct democracy,” as I am, one must necessarily reject the idea of a European state.
There is a reason why there are so many nations in Europe. It’s because we Europeans love our freedom. And it’s because every region of our continent has always defended its independence. The day these nations give up their freedom to be part of one great empire will be the day that Europe ceases to exist and turns into Western Asia.
A Europe of Nations
I am not a nationalist. I am a convinced European, and because I am, I must accept that Europe is nothing without its nations. If we want to reorganize Europe, we must acknowledge that Europe is different from the US or China. And because it is so unique it also needs to find its own unique method of self-organization.
The European Union obviously does not work. It tells us every day what to do and how to live, but it is not able to unite the Europeans or to defend their interests against foreign powers. The European Union has completely failed. It took our freedom, and in return we do not even get to enjoy the benefits that a united European power would bring.
I want to go in the other direction. I want a Europe that is united in the face of foreign powers, but which does not try to make its nations equal. Europe does not need a common currency. It needs no universal regulations and no stupid EU laws. It needs a military alliance, a common border protection, and it needs to defend the Mediterranean against African invaders (which the media prefers to call “asylum seekers”).
A European military alliance is needed to replace NATO. During the Cold War, we Europeans needed the US to defend us against a possible Russian invasion. Today we don´t need the Americans to defend ourselves, so there is no longer any reason for us to participate in any wars perpetrated by America. A European military alliance is necessary to form a strong European army, which would combine the advantages of all its nations. Who on Earth could have better winter soldiers than the Scandinavians? Who could build better tanks than the Germans? Who could build better ships than the British? Together, we Europeans are strong, and there’s no need for us to fear any foreign power.
We should not fear that such a new European power would be used to start unnecessary wars, because I want the peoples of Europe to have a much larger influence on the foreign policies of their own nations. We Europeans need an institution where our nations come together to discuss and decide how they want to act in the world. The European parliament might be useful for that, especially as, in my vision, it would have lost its powers to regulate the daily lives of the peoples it governs. In the EU elections, the peoples of Europe could then decide directly whether or not they agree with the foreign policies being pursued by Europe, or if they want some other faction to determine them. That would give us the possibility to vote once for our domestic politics through the national elections, and once for foreign policy through the European elections. We, the peoples of Europe, would therefore be much better able to determine what we want our politicians to do.
I believe this is the way we should go. I am certain that only such a “Europe of nations” (or a “Europe of fatherlands,” as we call it in Germany) could give us both freedom and power. Today we have neither. That is why we need to dissolve the European Union and attempt to found a united, and therefore independent, Europe.
We need to do this so that countries like Ukraine could one day say: we choose neither Moscow nor Washington.
We choose Europe.
Om skribenten: Markus Willinger
