Winston Churchill. |
The idea of Europe was born in the ashes of World War II. Winston Churchill, who had been voted out of office by the British public, traveled to Zurich to give a speech outlining his vision of the continent's future. He called for the development of a "United States of Europe" led by France and Germany. The two nations were the main martial protagonists of Western Europe. Churchill called for them to build this new entity and to draw in the smaller countries of the continent that had been trampled in their armies' wakes.
Europe today is many things, but it is not Churchill's vision of a "United States of Europe" even though it has its own anthem -- the "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. But slowly but surely, Europe is integrating into a unique entity. "An experiment in which nation's share sovereignty," according to Anthony Barnett of London's Open Democracy think tank. The laboratory for this experiment is the European Union, which, according to the London School of Economics Fred Halliday, has brought together Europe, "for the first time in millennia, since the Roman Empire in a common political project."
The history of the nations of Europe is one that combines alternating eras of bellicosity and human progress. The almost half-century since the E.U. was founded has been an era of prosperity, and in this time a progressive idea of nationalism has been defined. "Civil nationalism" as opposed to the more traditional "bellicose nationalism" is the order of the day. It has allowed a small country like Ireland, to use its E.U. membership to step out from the long historical shadow of its former colonial master Great Britain. Ireland is an equal in the councils and committees of the Union and is no longer dictated to in economic terms by Britain .
Ireland has been able to modernize. All E.U. countries pay annual dues to this supranational body -- currently 1.27 percent of their gross domestic product -- and receive back development funds according to need. For decades Ireland got back more than it put in, and with that money rebuilt its road and manufacturing infrastructure and created the foundation for its phenomenal expansion in the 1990's, when the phrase "Celtic Tiger" economy was coined.
Map of the European Union. |
Now, with the E.U. itself having expanded to 25 countries -- most of the nations of Eastern Europe have joined or are about to join -- a constitution for Europe has been written for the Union and over the next eighteen months is in the process of being ratified, country by country.
The Constitution for Europe is short on poetic expression, but long on noble sentiment:
"United in diversity, Europe offers the best chance of pursuing, with due regard for the rights of each individual and in awareness of their responsibilities towards future generations and the Earth, the great venture which makes of it a special area of human hope."
The Constitution redefines the Union's procedures -- in other words the club's rules: what authority do the members give to the Union; what do they reserve for themselves; how do their representatives determine policy. The Constitution also states the basic principles and rights of citizens inside the E.U. These rights reflect a European view of what an ideal society should be. A view that is in many ways different from that of contemporary America:
"It shall combat social exclusion and discrimination and shall promote social justice and protection, equality between women and men, solidarity between generations and protection of the rights of the child."
An explicit commitment to gender equality and children's rights is not something you will find in the U.S. Constitution.
Europe is really very different from the United States. For example, there is a very strong socialist tradition in Europe, according to historian Peter Moss of the University of London. And on the right there is a strong Christian Democratic tradition, which also sees a role for the state in smoothing out the inequalities that inevitably arise in a free-market economy.
The role of the state in family life, particularly families with very young children is profound. That is the Europe-wide consensus. It is E.U. law that women be given paid maternity leave on the birth of their children. The Union sets a minimum standard for this leave but most countries exceed it. "Maternity leave is a health and welfare measure," explains Moss.
Beyond constitutional language, there are legal entitlements designed to help parents and aid children, explains Moss.
State help with early childcare is just one strand of the social safety net that citizens of European countries have come to expect. They pay for these social benefits through high taxes. Again, there is a consensus around paying high tax to achieve social solidarity and social cohesion. The average E.U. country has a tax rate of around 40 percent of GDP compared to America's tax rate of 25 percent of GDP. These taxes level the gaps between the richest and poorest, and, not coincidentally, the prison population of Europe is much smaller than that of the U.S.
Even in Britain, the European nation whose economy and society are most like America's, taxes are 35 percent of GDP. Britain has always been the most reluctant European nation -- the last of the big nations to join the Common Market and still not a member of the single currency, the Euro. This is for reasons of history and ideology.
Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher viewed ideas like social cohesion with disdain. Her view was simply stated in an interview with a women's magazine in 1987 when she told a reporter, "There is no such thing as society."
But Thatcher's view reflects an era as distant as the Cold War. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has won two massive election victories because of his willingness to rebuild the infrastructure of Britain's welfare state. He put a particular emphasis on families with young children. Just recently, in an interview on the BBC, he announced his intention to expand paid maternity leave to nine months, hinted that he was looking at establishing paid paternity leave, and has committed his government to establishing 2,500 early childhood centers in all neighborhoods around the country. This will ultimately cost the government $4.5 billion a year.
Private philanthropy remains the American model for a whole range of services from smoothing out social inequality to funding orchestras and museums, but in Europe the state plays that role, and Europeans, regardless of their politics, accept that they will pay high taxes to have these services. It is a profound difference between the two sides and it is necessary to understand in order to comprehend the idea of "Europower."
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