As my profile so concisely says, I am a student of European studies, having specialised first in Economics, and now in Politics and Law. Nobody seems to have heard of European studies, so a brief word on the subject. ES are a relatively new subject, usually focusing on the history, economics, law and politics of the construction of the European Union, though it can also take into account cultural studies, languages and other subjects relating to the EU. I chose ES for my two-year MA after my economics-and-french degree in England at the University of Sussex in Brighton.
A word on why the EU is important to me. I am British but was brought up in China, Belgium, the US and France. I was twelve (and in France by then) when there were 12 countries in the EU, fifteen when there were 15, 25 when there were 25. Ok, amusing parallels aside, my attachment to all things European does run a bit deeper than that. I honestly believe that European values (there is still some debate about what these actually are) are the way forward. In my mind, the principles (inspired from the Enlightenment) based on freedom, equality, non-discrimination and so on are both fantastic on paper and, as the EU gets stronger and they are actually applied, actually quite amazing. The abolition of the death penalty, the right to vote, to go to school, to own property, to have access to a swift and efficient judiciary; these things that many take for granted first budded as theories and then slowly became firmly-anchored values. The Irish, the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Greeks, and more recently Cyprus, Malta and ten central and eastern European countries have joined and in their different ways benefited from the Union. Some may scream at the fact that so much money was given to these countries before and after their accession, but just as the Marshall plan (curtesy of our American brethren) allowed Europe to rebuild and implant solid, peaceful democracies in Europe after the war, so have European structural funds avoided countries returning (or just turning) to the desperate nationalism and xenophobia that accompany economic and democratic poverty. A hundred and sixty years ago, a third of all Irish died or emigrated out of hunger. Seventy five years ago the Germans turned to National Socialism in the belief it would give them a job and feed their family. Seventeen years ago the Romanians were living in a dictatorship and extreme poverty that are only familiar today in the form of banana African republics. Today, all are sealed in mutual peace due to economic interdependence and (somewhat forced admittedly) solidarity emanating from an invisible unknown called the EU.
I'm quite capable of sobbing when I see old men remember the Wars as they take the train from France to Germany, and knowing that there can not be a similar occurence because of the links between these countries today. (On a similar note, I also weep when I look out of my window on to the courtyard below and see the Portuguese and Indian kids from next door playing French games together even though their parents hardly speak the same language). I love the fact that students (such as I) now have the chance to study one or two semesters in other country, to meet different cultures, to talk about things that go well beyond nationality, that through students and the younger generation in particular a real European identity, based on freedom, non-discrimination and mutual respect is emerging. Unlike other great blocks that have been created in the past, the US or the USSR, the EU has incorporated from the start both individual rights (property, justice, political) as well as ideological, which incorporate society as a whole. Refusal of the death penalty, belief in free movement, the right to study whatever and whenever, the right to choose your job, to live decently whoever you are, in peace, with free education, free health and free transport, all these ideas that are engraved in the treaties and are the very root of what the founding fathers of the EU believed in represent the ideal backbone of the society I want to live in.
Cynics will cry: "Christ, do you know how much the Common agricultural policy costs?!", "the difficulties of harmonsing the economies of 13 countries so that their common currency actually refelcts their economic health...", "Jesus, Miranda, the European Parliament is the least legitimate democratic institution in the world", "I hate the Portuguese, don't want them in Europe". I actually agree with the first three of these (I don't hate the Portuguese, only the British and French actually ;), but must respond to these fictional cynics that they do not see the bigger picture.
Ok, so the CAP is hideously oversubsidised (trust me I know, I studied the problem for my dissertation last year), and it must be reformed. It will (it must, nobody denies), only in the meantime it is allowing Europe to feed itself (people were starving to death after 1945 remember) as well as not just letting millions of farmers just die out and move to shitty jobs in the city, as they would have 200 years ago. Obviously the Euro is absurdly overvalued, making the EU less competitive than undervalued (currency wise) China, and making our exports absurdly expensive. In the meantime however we have insulated ourselves against inflation (remember pictures at school of people buying potatoes with sacks of money? Life savings disappearing overnight?) and made imports very cheap for ourselves. Also, being tied together where it really hurts most (the pocket) means that we won't be shooting each other for a while. As for the lack of legitimacy of the EU Parliament you see me nodding vigourously. I am currently (not) writing my 100 page dissertation on the subject, and you will find no one more convinced then me that most of our European representatives are tossers, well paid and inefficient at that. But hey, 30 years ago the European Parliament was literally just a lot of old guys who talked. Now they decide where the money goes, suggest laws, and are directly elected by us. Not bad for a such a short life, try and find a Parliament in history that was so settled so quickly. And vote. As for the Brtish and French, both are definitely arrogant and bossy. The French are pretentious and smug and self-centred; the British are hypocritical, anal and disloyal. On the other hand, the French are passionate, fighters and dedicated. The British are inventive, firm and rational. The fact these countries, along with the humourless-brilliant Germans, sqawking-creative Italians and all the others are free to sniff each other out and more or less forced to cooperate with the quasi-garanty they they will not be killing each other and will show solidarity towards each other in the forseable future is a great thing.
All this to say, yes the EU is bollocks, a fifty year old pile of treaties that have somehow shuffled out buildings and people, institutions that control many aspects of what we do and how we do it. Some countries may have lost out on the EU, and some realise it. But all this is so new, we are judging on such a short-term activities. Surely peace and economic prosperity have been proof that we have probably got it right, at least in the parts that matter. Yes, we have to reform so many parts of the EU, not the least show that we have world presence, that we can perhaps avoid wars outside our borders (Iraq would have been a good opportunity), that we can collectively do something about the economic development of Africa or the environment. Yes, we must deal with cultural identities so that no one feels left out or that he is sacrificing his roots for something new. Of course we must allow Europe to help the Europeans have good lives.
But the EU is so young. Have the UK, Italy, Egypt, the US managed these things? Whether a region, a nation, a state, a union or a federation political structures are built on values, recognition of something bigger than one's self but working for one's self. European values are as good today as they were fifty years ago when they decided, for the first time in history, that countries, nations that had traditionnally been enemies would conscientiously and volontarily work together and become interdependent. This is surely just as revolutionnary as deciding that the people choose their own representants, or that the State must take care of the weakest.
European values and the building of Europe to make these values real to all those who adhere to them was the whole point to this...
A word on why the EU is important to me. I am British but was brought up in China, Belgium, the US and France. I was twelve (and in France by then) when there were 12 countries in the EU, fifteen when there were 15, 25 when there were 25. Ok, amusing parallels aside, my attachment to all things European does run a bit deeper than that. I honestly believe that European values (there is still some debate about what these actually are) are the way forward. In my mind, the principles (inspired from the Enlightenment) based on freedom, equality, non-discrimination and so on are both fantastic on paper and, as the EU gets stronger and they are actually applied, actually quite amazing. The abolition of the death penalty, the right to vote, to go to school, to own property, to have access to a swift and efficient judiciary; these things that many take for granted first budded as theories and then slowly became firmly-anchored values. The Irish, the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Greeks, and more recently Cyprus, Malta and ten central and eastern European countries have joined and in their different ways benefited from the Union. Some may scream at the fact that so much money was given to these countries before and after their accession, but just as the Marshall plan (curtesy of our American brethren) allowed Europe to rebuild and implant solid, peaceful democracies in Europe after the war, so have European structural funds avoided countries returning (or just turning) to the desperate nationalism and xenophobia that accompany economic and democratic poverty. A hundred and sixty years ago, a third of all Irish died or emigrated out of hunger. Seventy five years ago the Germans turned to National Socialism in the belief it would give them a job and feed their family. Seventeen years ago the Romanians were living in a dictatorship and extreme poverty that are only familiar today in the form of banana African republics. Today, all are sealed in mutual peace due to economic interdependence and (somewhat forced admittedly) solidarity emanating from an invisible unknown called the EU.
I'm quite capable of sobbing when I see old men remember the Wars as they take the train from France to Germany, and knowing that there can not be a similar occurence because of the links between these countries today. (On a similar note, I also weep when I look out of my window on to the courtyard below and see the Portuguese and Indian kids from next door playing French games together even though their parents hardly speak the same language). I love the fact that students (such as I) now have the chance to study one or two semesters in other country, to meet different cultures, to talk about things that go well beyond nationality, that through students and the younger generation in particular a real European identity, based on freedom, non-discrimination and mutual respect is emerging. Unlike other great blocks that have been created in the past, the US or the USSR, the EU has incorporated from the start both individual rights (property, justice, political) as well as ideological, which incorporate society as a whole. Refusal of the death penalty, belief in free movement, the right to study whatever and whenever, the right to choose your job, to live decently whoever you are, in peace, with free education, free health and free transport, all these ideas that are engraved in the treaties and are the very root of what the founding fathers of the EU believed in represent the ideal backbone of the society I want to live in.
Cynics will cry: "Christ, do you know how much the Common agricultural policy costs?!", "the difficulties of harmonsing the economies of 13 countries so that their common currency actually refelcts their economic health...", "Jesus, Miranda, the European Parliament is the least legitimate democratic institution in the world", "I hate the Portuguese, don't want them in Europe". I actually agree with the first three of these (I don't hate the Portuguese, only the British and French actually ;), but must respond to these fictional cynics that they do not see the bigger picture.
Ok, so the CAP is hideously oversubsidised (trust me I know, I studied the problem for my dissertation last year), and it must be reformed. It will (it must, nobody denies), only in the meantime it is allowing Europe to feed itself (people were starving to death after 1945 remember) as well as not just letting millions of farmers just die out and move to shitty jobs in the city, as they would have 200 years ago. Obviously the Euro is absurdly overvalued, making the EU less competitive than undervalued (currency wise) China, and making our exports absurdly expensive. In the meantime however we have insulated ourselves against inflation (remember pictures at school of people buying potatoes with sacks of money? Life savings disappearing overnight?) and made imports very cheap for ourselves. Also, being tied together where it really hurts most (the pocket) means that we won't be shooting each other for a while. As for the lack of legitimacy of the EU Parliament you see me nodding vigourously. I am currently (not) writing my 100 page dissertation on the subject, and you will find no one more convinced then me that most of our European representatives are tossers, well paid and inefficient at that. But hey, 30 years ago the European Parliament was literally just a lot of old guys who talked. Now they decide where the money goes, suggest laws, and are directly elected by us. Not bad for a such a short life, try and find a Parliament in history that was so settled so quickly. And vote. As for the Brtish and French, both are definitely arrogant and bossy. The French are pretentious and smug and self-centred; the British are hypocritical, anal and disloyal. On the other hand, the French are passionate, fighters and dedicated. The British are inventive, firm and rational. The fact these countries, along with the humourless-brilliant Germans, sqawking-creative Italians and all the others are free to sniff each other out and more or less forced to cooperate with the quasi-garanty they they will not be killing each other and will show solidarity towards each other in the forseable future is a great thing.
All this to say, yes the EU is bollocks, a fifty year old pile of treaties that have somehow shuffled out buildings and people, institutions that control many aspects of what we do and how we do it. Some countries may have lost out on the EU, and some realise it. But all this is so new, we are judging on such a short-term activities. Surely peace and economic prosperity have been proof that we have probably got it right, at least in the parts that matter. Yes, we have to reform so many parts of the EU, not the least show that we have world presence, that we can perhaps avoid wars outside our borders (Iraq would have been a good opportunity), that we can collectively do something about the economic development of Africa or the environment. Yes, we must deal with cultural identities so that no one feels left out or that he is sacrificing his roots for something new. Of course we must allow Europe to help the Europeans have good lives.
But the EU is so young. Have the UK, Italy, Egypt, the US managed these things? Whether a region, a nation, a state, a union or a federation political structures are built on values, recognition of something bigger than one's self but working for one's self. European values are as good today as they were fifty years ago when they decided, for the first time in history, that countries, nations that had traditionnally been enemies would conscientiously and volontarily work together and become interdependent. This is surely just as revolutionnary as deciding that the people choose their own representants, or that the State must take care of the weakest.
European values and the building of Europe to make these values real to all those who adhere to them was the whole point to this...
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