A Europe without the EU ?

In an Opinion-article in EurActiv Michael Meyer-Resende is reflecting about how Europe would work without the EU. The reason for the question is the European governments struggling to solve problems through the EU, and that the EU’s right to exist is questioned.

He asks "How did Europe work before the EU existed?" and thinks the 19^th century provides the best comparison.

The organising principle of European relations in the 19^th century was the ‘concert of powers’, which called the shots: Great Britain, Russia, France, Austria-Hungary, Germany once it was unified, and the Ottoman Empire as a dwindling force in the Balkans. Most of these players have started returning to the stage today. Russia pursues 19^th century objectives of territorial expansion. Turkey asserts itself as an increasingly independent player, less constrained by NATO membership and EU aspirations than it has been only a few years ago. After Brexit, the UK intends to reemerge as a self-standing power, albeit much reduced compared to its 19^th century role. A lot has already been written on Germany’s return to centre stage, while France remains an essential European player, despite the current sense of crisis...

A growing role of big states is traceable in the EU. Take Germany, determining the response to the euro crisis. But the EU is still a different place from 19^th century Europe.  Smaller member states have rights, vote and voice in a way they could only have dreamed of the in the 19^th century. In the European Parliament, smaller member states are over-represented. It is one of the paradoxes of Europe today that right-wing parties in smaller states undermine the EU when their national interest would dictate that they make it stronger. A 19th-century situation cannot be in the interest of any Hungarian, Slovak or Dutch nationalist...

He concludes that

Nowadays, no EU member state is a world power. In global terms, all EU member states are more likely to be subjects than objects if they do not team up. Looked at in the cold light of geopolitics, nobody in the EU should have an interest in a 19th-century world.

Meyer-Resende´s comparisons and reflections are interesting, and reminds us why the EU cooperation exists. That is always important. But to day it is not enough. What we need now is is to figure out how to improve and preserve it. This is difficult, but necessary. May be the Brexit-process can provide a better understanding of the strength and the weaknesses of the cooperation.