AMERICAN PERISCOPE. The idea of EU

Britain, forever the euro-sceptic, is trying to re-negotiate its terms of membership of the EU. There are always some, in a game, who want to change the rules if the score is not going their way.

It would be appropriate to reflect on what the EU means. Beginning in 1950, the founders intended that coordinating the decisions of the coal and steel resources across six countries would hopefully reduce the chances of future wars. Here was a business solution to a political problem. Over the next several years, the EU grew from a free trade area to a customs union and then a common market of 28 countries with free movement of people and goods. Along the way, other powers became scared or jealous.

With success and increased cooperation, the dreams went beyond economic issues and free trade to an ‘ever closer union’ and in 2004 efforts began for a constitution. Trading areas do not have constitutions; nations do. The rejection by the French public shocked the process to a stop and re-examination.

The key question is whether a European identity has emerged in the 65 years of its existence. Turkey, which is being kept out, wants to know whether the identity is geographic or religious or what.

A fundamental decision of every resident in an EU member country is to examine what he or she gives up in terms of national prerogative compared to the benefit of being a part of larger group and submitting to centralised decisions. The financial crisis starting from the US in 2008 put pressures on the euro, and the more recent Syrian refugee resettlement crisis has put further strains in the community. The EU has never really addressed the issue of identity. It is not easy. Even though several EU agencies are headquartered in Brussels, Belgium itself has not been able to reconcile the interests of the Dutch-speaking Flemish, the French-speaking Walloons, and the smaller German speaking group.

That question is no different than what India goes through on a regular basis when demands for a separate statehood are considered and approved. Are the residents of Uttarakhand better off over the years that they separated from Uttar Pradesh?

With all its problems, the EU is still a miracle. It was able to show the world that debates and negotiations work, and democratic societies can let their people decide these important questions through a referendum.

There are very few examples of countries that have voluntarily come together and stayed together.

The EU has also remained a beacon for several Regional Trading Areas. A scrutiny of the founding principles of many RTAs will reveal shades of the EU; they all want closer cooperation, common currency, and so on. None have progressed to the level the EU has done.

The desire of some in the UK to exit from the EU has its own irony, for those seeking independence for Scotland want to exit from the UK but stay in the EU. A revised deal will certainly influence the way the British vote in the 23 June referendum when the country will decide whether it wants to stay or exit (Brexit). The rest of the world needs to take the happenings in the EU seriously. After all, this is the bunch that started two world wars!

The writer is a professor at Jindal Global Business School, Delhi NCR and at Suffolk University, Boston

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