FROM DUCT TAPE-FEDERATION TO NEW EUROPE

European Union and its leadership failed. Britain is leaving the union that they said was an irreversible one way street to ever greater integration.

One of the gravest issues the EU leadership failed at was the inability to communicate their vision of the future of our continent. Both official EU PR and the “Bremain”-campaign focused tremendous amounts of energy, time and funding telling the voters how awful the Brexit would be. Every respectable politician knows that you don’t win elections by mudslinging alone and the same applies to referendums too.

Let’s put Britain aside for a while. How should the EU proceed from here on?

European leaders surely have a goal in their minds. A European utopia they work to achieve. The question they have failed to ask themselves is why the rest of the European people do not share their vision?

So far the Union has been built with ever tightening integration. At no point has there been a moment, where the level and methods of integration have been subjected to a decent scrutiny. Development of the EU has been characterized by crises, temporary measures and overwhelming feeling of panic. As a result Union’s structure and machinery look as they were hastily cobbled together with some duct tape. Any problem, however fatal it may be, is fixed by yet another makeshift solution.

This “duct tape federation” must be stopped. The end result of all these independent compromises will not be satisfactory to any of us. I think that both federalists and nationalists can agree on this.

Why can’t we disintegrate EU, pick what works and build a new system that would be better for all Europeans?

The importance of the EU is often justified by the same things that lead to its integration in the first place: Crisis. And there are many to choose from: Euro, Migration, Russia…

For example the phrase “EU must stay united to counter the aggressive Kremlin” is often used. The threat is very real here, but can we seriously rely on security guarantees from an organization that has hard time on deciding tomorrows lunch, let alone anything potentially dangerous?

Even worse, majority of the military power within the Union is earmarked for NATO, so there are preciously few troops available to a non-NATO-led mission. Solution here is not EU, but NATO. And for those nations that, for one reason or another, aren’t under the NATO-umbrella, we must give reliable security guarantees one on one. Every nation should promise to act, whether or not some others chicken out. Instead of creating additional bureaucratic structures, we need to stand tall and take responsibility as nations working together to stop the aggression from the east.

So how should the Europe proceed from here?

I see two possible solutions, both that will include the direct defense agreements between the nations. First one would have the EU leadership and those political forces that desire ever deeper integration to draft out a clear path to the vision they see. All the concrete changes must be laid out openly. Then arrange referendums in every nation whether or not this path should be followed.

Personally I prefer the second option. Divide the European Union in to two, or more, parts that have different levels of integration. The central European nations like Germany, France and the Benelux should keep on the integration path that would lead to a federation with common economic policies, taxation and European army. Other nations must be given a choice on their integration level, from loose access to the single market to joining the federation.

We must work hard to find the optimal solutions to benefit all of the wonderfully diverse nations on our continent. Walk together into the future, without sacrificing the things that got us this far.

What about the post-Brexit Britain?

Let’s give Britain a fair deal, with access to single market. There absolutely nothing to gain from being arrogant and selfish here. Growing Britain next to the rest of the Europe benefits us too.