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Europe Lives On

Feb 7, 2020 Bernard-Henri Lévy

There is no denying that the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union represents a loss for all involved, and strikes a blow against the very idea of Europe. But while Britain has left Europe, Europeans should not abandon the British legacy – particularly the deep, historical commitment to liberalism.

PARIS – Brexit is a disaster for the United Kingdom. Given the risk that it will now lose Scotland and Northern Ireland to secession, the country seems to have accepted the idea of Great Britain turning back into “Little England.” Britain is that rare lion that chooses to become as small as a mouse.

To be sure, saving the English realm is all the Brexiteers ever cared about. But what sort of realm has a prime minister who lies to its queen, as Boris Johnson did when he suspended Parliament last year? Through it all, the Brexiteers have exalted the British Empire and Winston Churchill. Yet they have forgotten Karl Marx, an earlier wanderer of the London streets who warned that history eventually repeats itself as farce. With Johnson in power, the UK is governed by a pantomime Churchill. Rather than an exponent of courage, it has the Prince of Cynicism – a scruffy knock-off who adapts his opinions to whatever is politically expedient.

The Brexiteers are now fixated on the “sovereignty” that they have supposedly regained. Yet it is well known that they owe their success in the 2016 referendum to Russian interference and American social-media algorithms. The “Leave” campaign was a saturnalia of cynicism and fake news, led by charlatans who were only too happy to be mistaken for the country’s staunchest democrats. It was less a moment of truth than a bad novel come to life.

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vivek iyer Feb 9, 2020

This article nicely summarizes all the reasons why Brexit was a boon to Britain.
Firstly, it reverses the centrifugal tendency which threatened the break up of the United Kingdom. Now Westminster is sovereign again, there is no point going down the devolution road because England won't redistribute its wealth whereas the EU Social Fund might have done so- that too in a corrupt manner favorable to regional elites.

Secondly, it decouples British politics from European imbecility. Our unwritten Constitution worked well. Then we had to change it so as to conform to European requirements. The result was that suddenly we had a Supreme Court which was supposed to function as a check against a possibly dictatorial Government. This was an absurd development. Hopefully, Britain will get rid of all sorts of supposed defenses against Fascism or other types of Continental stupidity which, as we can see in Poland, are wholly ineffective in any case.

John Locke wasn't a 'true liberal' as far as England itself was concerned. Why? The guy wasn't a lawyer and M.P. He was a nobleman's Doctor. As for Isaiah Berlin, his chief function was to reassure us that Continentals be kray kray. Liberty was not something Professors could tell you about but it was something which, if violated, would cause the man on the Clapham Omnibus to feel outrage. God alone knows what Levy means by 'the cosmopolitanism of Gulliver'. Like most sensible Englishmen, that gentlemen ended his days believing in the superiority of horses to human beings. As for 'swinging London'- why not simply say 'Liberty had no greater defender than Austin Powers'? As the great French philosopher, Jean Baptiste Botul, said ' Le botulisme est la philosophie européenne suprême'.
- P. Kamath Feb 10, 2020
  
  Vivek Iyer: Shalom! You say, ” ..... Our unwritten Constitution worked well. Then we had to change......we had a ......... Government. ...“. Who are we?
  Now that The hard Brexit is real, a fact of life and feverish, are you sure that they will hug you as one of them😊?
  - vivek iyer Feb 10, 2020
    
    Sajid Javid & Priti Patel seem to be doing very well. Why not me? Anyway, I am a refugee from Maratha ruled Iyerland- you know how people with names like Varadkar feel about Dravidians like me- and should receive a gallon of Guinness a day so as to be able to survive.
    - P. Kamath Feb 11, 2020
      
      Very good indeed! Virtues: Hope, desire to see goodness in others, and being one always are recognized. But then, no harm in being cautious to detect around the corner , seeds and shadows of Enoch Powell too. 🙂
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- Jonathan Engel Feb 9, 2020
  
  A splendid reply, to which, as you can read below, I subscribe completely.
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Henk Crop Feb 8, 2020

Up to about 20 years ago we had the EEC (European Economic Community ) a trading bloc of sovereign Nations. It was lead by the biggest economies Britain, France and Germany, a balanced leadeship you could say.
With the end of the Cold War and the German unification, the balance got lost.
Germany became the biggest and most competitive economy, France could not keep up economically.
Then France and the EU Commission pushed the idea of transforming the EEC into a Superstate, the EU.
A Constitution was drafted, the role of Brussels was strengthened, the Euro was, hurredly, implemented ( by Mitterand ), the policy of the ever closer Union was implemented.
This was not the Union Britain had ever joined, so they did not adopt the Euro and disapproved of the the ever closer Union.
The people in France and the Netherlands rejected the Constitution in a referendum. But they were disregarded.
The reckless implementation of the Euro has led to, very costly, Greek and Euro crises.
It has also left the Euro as a half-way house. To complete it, it will have to turn the Eurozone into a Transfer Union. This is what Macron is continously pushing.
The Transfer Union means that the Northern EU members will forever have to pay, in unlimited amount, the debts of France and his Southern Friends.
In the current budget discussions, for example, France wants to invest in agriculture and social developments but less in borderprotection and innovation.

The EU has now 27 members, with 27 languages and cultures.
The EU is being led by the Government leaders, each with the authority to block a decision. This makes the EU a ship with 27 Captains.
Of course it could be decided that the strongest member takes the lead.
That would be Germany. It has 19 % of EU population ( France 15 % ) and it is also one of the most competitive economy. Ranks 7 on the Global Competitive Index ( France 15 ).
The EU would then become a German Empire.
I wonder if the Germans or many of the other members want that ?

I think the EU has to stop with the ever closer Union and dreaming about the Superstate.
We have to go back to the EEC, that worked well.
The Euro has to be split up, because it is unsustainable.
Sovereignty of the members have to be respected and cooperation between the members have to be encouraged.
These days France is leading a naval patrol in the strait of Hermus. The patrol comprises of a Dutch and a Danish ship. Why would we need a EU Navy ?
Drastic measures have to be taken to prevent the EU from drifting into a bureaucratic swamp.
The EU members are just too diverse. It is not like France, where you have one language and one culture. The only thing EU members have in common is that they are located in Europe.
- Christine Constable Mar 6, 2020
  
  Well done Henk you make a lot of sense and something I have been arguing for for decades. If it returned to the EEC without all the political baggage we might get somewhere - stealing national sovereignty and getting people like Barnier to micro manage the legislative programmes of 27 different countries is never going to work sadly the deaf, dumb and blind in Brussels have their teeth into the power trip and will not let go without a fight .....or a massive economic disaster guess where it is headed??!
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- Henk Crop Feb 8, 2020
  
  Henk. When the EU goes back to the EEC it will achieve:
  - a more competitive and stronger Europe
  - it will make it more attractive for the UK to rejoin Europe
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j. von Hettlingen Feb 7, 2020

Bernard-Henri Lévy is an “unabashed” Anglophile and mourns Brexit. He urges the EU to keep Britain “close in heart and mind,” working out a relationship that is mutually beneficial. A partner has left, but the partnership could be restored “through our actions,” by creating “a union not of technocrats but of Churchills.” Brexiteers do not share Churchill’s deep passion for an ambitious political union of governments. They resent unelected technocrats in Brussels who decide over their future.
The author highlights the history of Britain’s relationship with Europe and the lasting legacy of its democracy and culture on the Continent. Throughout history, there were lessons to be learned – from Magna Carta, the Industrial Revolution, to the thoughts and ideas of great writers, philosophers and scientists etc. Britain had attracted intellectuals like François-René Chateaubriand, Alexis de Tocqueville, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Sigmund Freud and many others.
During the two World Wars, Britain was a “safe refuge” for those who fled an occupied Europe. Dissidents and freedom fighters set up resistance movements and governments in British exile. The ‘Swinging Sixties’ marked the defining decade for post-war Britain, with London being transformed from the bleak, conservative city into the capital of the world - full of hope, promise and freedom, helping Europeans to forget the troubles of World War II.
The author says “without the UK, Europe will become more stifling. The continent will still have its Don Quixotes and their splendid dreams, as well as its Sancho Panzas, restraining others’ flights of fancy. It will have the ruins of Rome, the splendor of Athens, and the ghost of Kafka. But it will have lost the cradle of liberty. “ While John Locke, widely seen as the “father of liberalism" and one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers, was English, Isaiah Berlin, an advocate of “true liberalism” was Russian-born.
English nationalism was the motivation behind Brexit. Locke would unlikely agree that Britain turned its back on the classical liberal principles he expounded. Nearly 400 years after his birth, the UK wants to rewrite its trading relationships with the EU, and the rest of the world. It remains to be seen if the UK’s trade debate embodies two of Locke’s greatest legacies: free trade (as channeled through Adam Smith and his ideas) and human rights (the result of natural rights thinking). However Brexiteers’ vision for post-Brexit trade deals is probably an illusion.
According to the author, “it is safe to say that, without England playing its historical prophylactic role, the epidemic of populism will become more virulent on the continent.” The UK had played a decisive role in supporting the premature eastern enlargement of the bloc, that saw countries like Hungary and Poland becoming members in 2004. Their flouting of EU laws and values has prompted calls for their expulsion.
“This true taste of Europe – a blend of freedom and ironic skepticism – is precisely what we need to stare down the truculent faces of democratic-dictatorship. Just recently in Italy, a Swiftian movement called the Sardines rejected slogans and insults in favor of righteous anger and humor. They beat back the populist League party leader, Matteo Salvini, and demonstrated that the exponents of illiberalism are only as strong as we are timid.”
The populist tide has risen, but it has failed to flood the Continent. The author questions whether “Europe will always come together in times of crisis, as though compelled by some physical law.” He asks “why is it assumed that Europe, in its great wisdom, will respond to every authoritarian and populist thrust with an equal and opposite advance of democracy?”
Europe has learned its lesson. It is noteworthy that many Germans reject the far-right AfD and shun its members in a coalition government. They took to the streets this week to protest against the party playing kingmaker in a regional election. Despite the threat of far-right populism, democracy is still alive in Europe.
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Jonathan Engel Feb 7, 2020

Perhaps I'm just being a cranky older fellow, but I really would like to read someone arguing that staying in the European Union is more than having something to hide behind... but I don't think that's where the decision is... It's awfully hard to be admiring of the EU: it has lots of huge problems, from a weak democratic legitimacy, through a Commission made up of politicians who have failed in their own countries, including operating a very low growth economy, with significant issues of banking weaknesses, and in its heart a demographic catastrophy as Germans and Italians no longer believe it appropriate to have children.

Of course there is some comfort in ageing together into the deep black night, so long as our support systems function, which of course they won't once Germany becomes someone else's Lebensraum, Italy cannot invent a new illusion to hide its bankrupt banks, and France takes its next few steps into the violent repression of its state supported underclass.
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