Editorial: ten years in European Union, always in Europe

Photo: Urmas Nemvalts

Tomorrow, Estonia will have had a decade in EU. Ten years ago, we mainly joined for practical reasons. Even today, membership is largely viewed as a thing pragmatic: EU equals security, subsidies, freedoms to go and to come, options to work abroad, and access to a larger market. Even so, EU is not pragmatism and bureaucracy alone – it’s a shared world view, deeply rooted in the European culture. To grasp this world view is somewhat harder, and it is more readily forgotten than material gain. It’s worth remembering, though.

The European world view has sprung up from three roots, the first being the democratic sprout birthed in Ancient Greece which, rather than seeing the truth as a given, treats it as something birthed by discussion. Generally speaking, the second would be the Christian understanding of people as free individuals, and society as a congregation of free individuals who, in order to function together, enter a societal pact. And the third being the human rights principle based on European philosophical world view applied to all equally and without exceptions. Put together, these form a part of what we have come to call European values. Democracy, rule of law, human rights, and open economy – these are expressions of said world view. In a weird way, though, these are words that carry much more meaning outside of Europe, than inside of it.

The values we have gotten so used to that we wouldn’t imagine life without them, yet unnoticed due to their everydayness, strike the eye on Europe’s borders. Events in Ukraine is a reminder of the world at large not operating on these same principles. On an Internet freedom conference in Tallinn this Monday, the Turkish writer Elif Şafak talked about state level restrictions on freedom of speech – hard to imagine in the European context.

Both – as several other experiences of happenings outside of Europe – may be regarded as reminders of the treasures we’ve attained to, here in Europe, over a couple millennia. Still, partly because the economic crisis, the member states have considered attacking the basic European liberties: restricting the free movement of labourers, the need to protect the domestic market, and the occasional behaviour which may be regarded as doubting the basics of democracy. In part, this is because of economic interest of countries; in part, it’s the Europe-fatigue of the citizens.

As proposed by the Italian author Beppe Severgnini, it would help combat the fatigue if for a day in each year we’d try to live as if EU never existed. No value will stand out better as when one is deprived of it.

The other option is offered by European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso: let’s remember that EU was not birthed so much by the Europe of businessmen, politicians and officials – rather, by the shared world view of European citizens.