We must work on it

Not only as the chairman of the Senate’s European Committee, but mainly as a citizen concerned over the situation of his country and how we bequeath it to our children and grandchildren, I have been living and digesting the close shave in the British referendum on leaving or remaining in the European Union. It has long been clear that the European Union needs a change. It should relinquish its tendency to subject any and all insignificant details to the red tape. The EU must rediscover its roots, such as peaceful coexistence in Europe and finding collective conditions of prosperity. It is, of course, possible that Brexit will be the right impetus for achieving this goal, in the event. But I am afraid that difficult, and indeed hard times, lie in store for all of us.

Inadvertently I think of the old Czech parable with the three twigs of mythical King Svatopluk. The European Union (and our membership of it) is not primarily concerned as much with subsidies and economic benefits as with security in the fast-changing world. Unfortunately, humankind has not changed that much in its history and power still matters, while safety from outside aggression has much to do with the nation’s size. The European Union is one of the world’s biggest and strongest clubs, and one of the few that fully respect the human nature of their populations. Brexit is a manifestation of serious discord within a community of nations. Old Romans believed in the “divide and rule” principle. Unless we can do something about our European discord, we will pay dearly for that in future.

Another image that springs to mind in connection with Brexit is that of divorce.  It is, regrettably, common occurrence nowadays. It seems that more often than before, the trigger is our plain reluctance to tackle partnership problems as they appear. Instead of trying to solve problems, we just part our ways. I have not lived through that, but I have talked about the problem with many people concerned, and few of them candidly rate their lives after divorce (including possible fresh marriages) significantly better than before (or at least it takes some time to adjust to the new conditions). Brexit seems to be a case in point. Dissatisfaction with the European Union, which led to this, is understandable in a degree, but I fear that divorce will not produce better results than careful and conscious efforts to get an improvement would. Such effort lies ahead, and the stakes are much higher. But we have to work on that.