Right Here, Right Now by Stephen J. Harper

Author:Stephen J. Harper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Published: 2018-10-08T16:00:00+00:00

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It can hardly be a shock that populist anger in Europe has been directed against the European Union. That organization has played an increasing role in the lives of the citizens of its twenty-eight nation-states, but often with only their limited consent. Part of the problem remains the fundamental ambiguity around the basis of sovereignty in Europe. Is it national or continental? The answer has become so muddled that both the EU and its member states are seated at many international meetings.

In fact, the peoples of Europe have lost sovereignty to the EU bureaucracy in a wide range of policy areas. The myriad arbitrary and sometimes inexplicable regulations from Brussels are just one indictor. But the nationalist uptick across Europe is far from limited to regulatory matters.

Europe has a range of significant economic challenges, and some of those are attributable to the EU itself. Most notable has been the unorthodox decision to adopt a common currency. I say unorthodox because, at the outset, the euro lacked most of the key characteristics of a normal fiat currency—a dominant central government, a strong fiscal policy, common financial regulation, and a powerful central bank.

These deficiencies have had very serious consequences. With its nation-states lacking the option of independent monetary policy, there was bound to be pressure to socialize other matters at the EU level in the event of crisis. Thus, post–2008–2009, national fiscal problems have become EU-wide problems. The result has been the budgetary bailouts resented on both sides. Populations in lender countries, like Germany, do not understand why they should pay. Populations in recipient economies, like Greece, do not understand why other member states should dictate austerity measures. Several European populist movements are attributable to these dynamics alone.

There are other common-policy irritants, including foreign aid and immigration. The latter demands a separate discussion of its own. Most troubling, however, is the EU‘s reaction to the public upheaval, particularly its automatic call for “more Europe.”

It was one thing to seek “more Europe” when continental integration seemed to be improving people’s lives. It is another to demand it when, as with the euro, such integration is at least partly responsible for their problems. EU advocates have to come to terms with this reality: they cannot have greater integration without addressing the populist uprising. And that cannot be addressed without greater accommodation of democracy and nationalism.

This has been our experience in Canada in dealing over a long period of time with a similar phenomenon—the threat of Quebec separatism. During my time in office and before, both symbolic and substantive accommodations have been made for Quebec nationalism. I think of the parliamentary “Quebec nation” resolution and Quebec’s seat at UNESCO as examples. These strengthened our hand in managing the core economic interests that all Canadians share.

In Europe, however, the continentalist–nationalist split continues to widen. Brexit is a perfect example. EU proponents somehow see the departure of a major economy as an opportunity for greater integration. They are right in observing that the U.K. was always an outlier—the country by far most likely to leave.

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