Ukraine needs a revitalized Europe

As Ukraine yearns for freedom and of becoming part the European project, we who already have this freedom, need to reassess who we are and what our purpose in the world truly is.

It is said: «Discontent is the first necessity of progress.» The question remains: Will Europe be able to turn it´s discontent around for good? Not only do we need it for the sake of our own future, but also for that of Ukraine. They look to us – for hope.

Member of the Ukrainian Parliament, Lisa Yasko, was one of the keynote speakers at the Oslo Freedom Forum a month ago, and her words express the hope of the Ukrainians. In her speech, she said: «I will do everything I can to live in a free, democratic European Ukraine.» For Ukraine, Europe means the European Union, and hope lies in a future membership.         

Beacon of hope

If we are to continue to be the beacon of hope for countries like Ukraine, we need to clean up our own discontent. Because despite the fact that Europeans are among the richest in the world, discontent is growing. It is felt across Europe as inflation soars, the interest rates point upwards, and heatwaves and hot summer fires are to be expected again this summer, with greater intensity in the years to come.

This discontent materializes in many ways, but also in negative expectations for the future in general, and for the future of the European Union. According to a comprehensive working paper written by Lewis Dijkstra, Hugo Poelman and Andres Rodriguez-Pose for the Directorate-General of Regional and Urban Policy in the EU, the parties opposing the integration of Europe through the European Union, has doubled its votes between 2013 and 2018. The paper maps the share of votes for parties that opposed EU integration in the last national election between 2013 and 2018 across more than 63000 electoral districts in the 28 EU member states.

What is the cause of this lack of trust in the European Union? According to a summary of the paper, written by the Jesuit European Social Centre, the economic and industrial decline is a key reason. « Areas with lower employment rates or with a less-educated workforce are also more likely to vote anti-EU», states the summary.  At the turn of the century, 41 of the 100 largest companies were based in Europe. In 2021, the number has been reduced to 15, according to the Economist. As the paper describes, the layers of discontent are more complicated than this, but it proves a point. Without work, men wither. For young Europeans today, the peace fought for after two devastating world wars, is seemingly not enough to bind us together.

However, turning nationalistic and autocratic, as countries like Poland and Hungary to various degrees have, and strong political forces, such as Marie Le Pen of the National Rally party in France vocalize, is not the way to go. It was exactly this the founding fathers of the European Union had to overcome, in settling the deep historic animosity between Germany and France, the very source of the great wars.

Common vision needed 

Jean Monnet was the entrepreneurial Frenchmen crucial to the founding of the Coal and Steel Union in 1951 as well as getting the Schuman Declaration into reality in 1950. Both laid the foundation for the Union. In his «Memoirs» from 1978, Monnet recounts the process leading to the establishment of the Coal and Steel Union, during one of the prepatory assemblies: «Only if we eliminate from our debates any particularist feelings shall we reach a solution. In so far as we, gathered here, can change our methods, the attitude of all Europeans will likewise gradually change.»

To get European´s hope back on track, this sentiment will be needed to remain intact. Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament, among many others, have called for reforms of the Union. Czech economist Tomas Sedlacek calls for a renewal of «the Spirit of Europe». I think both are needed to re-ignite hope and a new entrepreneurial wave, creating jobs for the future. We need it. Ukraine knows what it is fighting for. The question remains for the rest of us: Have we truly woken up to the fact that we need a re-ignited vision for Europe?