Leo
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from today's NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/02/o...on=article&isLoggedIn=false&pgtype=Blogs&_r=0
Why I’m Still Bullish on Europe’s Future
by Beppe Severgnini
BRUSSELS — If London is Europe’s New York, Brussels is our Washington, D.C., a small city made globally important by the political institutions centered here, and at the same time, and perhaps for that reason, often unloved by the people who pass through it. In the eyes of jaded Western travelers it is boring, so clogged with international bureaucracy that it has no soul.
They’re wrong. True, Brussels is not dominated by a single, longstanding and widely appealing national culture, like Rome, Paris or Berlin. But that absence has been filled with a vibrant international cosmopolitanism that allows all cultures to feel at home in its diverse array of ethnic restaurants, neighborhoods and assorted entertainments. A fulcrum of power and underrated as a town, Brussels is livelier and prettier than most people think. Only Eurocrats, lobbyists and spies get it. Most other Europeans miss the point.
We miss something else, something that is even more important. Brussels represents a Continent that has come a long way. After centuries of disastrous infighting, over the last 70 years Europeans have seen no more major wars, steadily rising prosperity and a way of life that most of the world would give its eyeteeth for.
You can travel across borders and live more or less where you like. Whether your home is in Lisbon, Warsaw or Palermo, you can take your kids to a hospital when they’re ill and they’ll get looked after. It’s free, most of the time. If you’re stopped by the police, they won’t harass you, beat you up or demand cash. If you don’t like your leaders, you can kick them out (or try, anyway).
Obvious? Of course it is. So obvious that we forget it. Europe’s narrative is controlled by its foes — and there are many, as we know. Every country in the European Union has a political party that built its fortunes on bashing Europe. Even the pro-European parties, many of them in government, can’t resist blaming Brussels for their own failures. The union has become everybody’s punching bag. It’s right there in front of you, and it can’t hit back.
“But of course Europe is collapsing!” I hear you say. “Greece is on the brink of default! The Islamic State is recruiting young Europeans. The Middle East is on fire and the flames are getting closer! Ukraine is hurting and you can’t do anything about it! How can you be high on Europe at a time like this?” Well, this is precisely the right time to be high on it, and to be thankful for what we have before it’s too late.
The European project is not perfect: Look at the recent, embarrassing squabble about refugee quotas, or how long it took to give the elected European Parliament a proper role. But these are relatively minor imperfections in a superstate of 500 million people in 28 countries, 19 of them with the same currency, living, marrying, studying and working together.
Ask Ukrainians whether they prefer living by the rule of law or by the mood of Vladimir V. Putin. Ask migrants and refugees why they risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean to get to Italy, or try to enter Greece, Hungary or Britain clinging to the underside of a truck. The peace, security and welfare that we take for granted is for most migrants a dream.
They say the grass is always greener on the other side of the hill. It seems that from our side of that metaphorical elevation, we miss the bigger picture. We don’t have the equivalent of the Fourth of July or Thanksgiving. Europeans don’t thank anyone; we moan. We don’t celebrate; we just feel sorry for ourselves. For us, lack of pride could come before a fall.
The European Union is a work in progress, but it is a stunning piece of work. And I refuse to believe that the majority of Europeans disagree. I suspect that when they are asked to vote in a referendum Sunday, the Greeks will decide to stick with the euro and get rid of the garrulous leaders who got them into this mess.
And I believe that the citizens of Britain will do the same when the time comes to vote in their referendum. Not only because a “Brexit” — Britain leaving the European Union — would sink the country’s exports, financial services and political clout. Britons will stay because the European Union is where they belong.
We need Britain and Greece, and they need us. We are in this together — and we must never forget why that is a good thing. It is only when we Europeans forget what we have that we risk losing everything.
Beppe Severgnini is a columnist at Corriere della Sera and the author of “La Bella Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind.”
