There’s the old children’s game of hokey-cokey where various limbs are put in and out of a circle and then shaken all about. And really the entire thing is a good metaphor for what has been happening in Brussels and in the UK over the last few weeks.
It’s rather easy (and simplistic) to reduce the arguments in Brussels over the future of the European Union to a child’s game but in many ways the showing off, the whole “whose my friend” and, at times, down right bullying does have resonances with the playground. Politics has often been like this but when the stakes are so high it becomes even more incongruous with the issues being discussed. Britain has thrown its weight around in the past – like when Thatcher renegotiated how much we got back – so none of this is new. Yet we live in very different times and although the City is 10% or so of the UK’s economy, there is much discussion on the extent to which the proposed treaty would have endangered London’s financial operation. But still the UK’s presence in Europe is desired and various leaders have been emphasising this since the conference. Perhaps the UK is not whole-heartedly “in” Europe but certainly a major player and economic power aligned to it.
What this whole spat comes down to is Britain’s position on the edge of Europe – as has been said before the geography is reflective of a mind-set. Our political parties are divided and, indeed, as is our government. There is no real political refuge in the UK for those in favour of closer ties with Europe so those in favour of closer ties to Europe are very much “out” of things.
The UK is often portrayed as the only country to have these issues but remember that the Czech Republic and Hungary wavered over the idea of a treaty, Sweden has deliberately kept itself outside the Euro and Iceland is heavily divided on whether it should join in. Divisions are not uncommon across Europe and Ireland, the Netherlands and France have all wobbled at times.
But at a time when everything is being shaken all about so much through the economic crisis many see it as necessary to lean together and support each other. And this is the fundamental problem that with much of UK politics (of all colours) and international relations, individuals are too focussed on themselves and forget neighbours (be they actual people or other nation states). The lack of commitment to a wider society with responsibilities to each other is one of the reasons that policies from the Big Society to European Relations stumble. Until all groups are committed to greater, communal projects and not just looking to national leaders or, more specifically, Germany to fund the European Union then this crisis is going to continue. The social divisions at neighbourhood level are just magnified at national level.
This is of fundamental importance to my research: I am assessing one of the education policies of the European Union and seeing if its social intentions are working. When I started the research the future of the Euro and the EU seemed clear and certain; today it seems less so. Yet, the European Union should not be assessed simply on the economic decisions it makes but also on the social and cultural impacts that it has. In many ways whether certain groups or nations are “in or out” does not matter as with all the shaking all about due to a lack of hard commitment the entire Union may not exist in the same way for too much longer.
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