The responsibility to defend Europe

by Dimitris Avramopoulos*

I recently visited the concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. A place of unspeakable crimes against humanity, where human morality, respect for the value of life and human dignity vanished. So when we talk about the atrocities two World Wars, when we talk about the Holocaust, we do not talk about distant history. The generation that witnesses and endured these dramatic moments is still alive. And their story-telling is putting us in front of the duty not to revert to these dark days.

This duty is reflected in the very essence of the European Union. It was exactly 60 years ago, when visionary and determined leaders decided to create a united Europe,  taking this initiative in the name of their nations and setting aside their own dramatic experiences and the old rivalries. A united Europe meant a broader geopolitical and geocultural area which, after some time, would become a place where: peace, cooperation, stability, security, rule of law and human rights would prevail.

This legacy was inherited to us by them, with the clear mandate not to allow to anybody or anything to undermine it. However, it is in the nature of humankind, as history has proven, to forget.  Some take all these European accomplishments for granted. But it is our moral and political duty to uphold and defend the European vision. Nowadays, the European endeavour is being questioned.  

The European vision gradually declines. Not by itself. Dark forces, with populist and nationalistic voices first among them, are challenging and undermining it. Euroscepticism and anti-European voices today aim to weaken the notion and the substance of Europe or even to derail it. Some believed that the catalyst of putting the future of Europe into question was the financial crisis. Finally, we see that it is the migration and refugee crisis. And this is because the handling of this crisis has put in doubt the two fundamental principles on which the European project has been built on: solidarity and responsibility.

These fundamental values are not solely moral. They are legally binding principles for all the Member States which have co-signed and accepted the founding texts of the European Union, where they are explicitly stipulated. Several governments, by  having turned their attention to their domestic affairs and audience and ignoring their responsibilities, have fuelled Euroscepticism by using an easy, shallow and appealing populist narrative. And I said that they have ignored their responsibilities, because, quite easily, they have started using referenda on questions regarding European solidarity. By doing so they transfer the main burden on citizens' shoulders, proving in this way their lack of leadership and responsibility, while they disregard their principal democratic duty to take decisions and being judged about them. Such a development was the BREXIT.

It is still too early to evaluate the cost of and for the United Kingdom's exit from the European structure. I would like to however stress that the impact of outcome of the US elections in Europe had an even stronger impact than the BREXIT.  Because, the US elections have further encouraged extreme populist movements to interpret Trump's victory as a triumph of their own ideas. Despite what is reported and rumoured, I believe that, very soon, the solid values of the American democracy will prove to be much stronger than the loud in intensity but weak in substance, voices of populism. 

The current European leadership is called upon not only to react but to undertake the important duty to keep alive the vision. To enhance the fundaments and values and to move ahead towards the way that the visionary leadership of Europe, 60 years ago, has opened. It is not an "oxymoron" to say that the future of Europe is defined by its dramatic past. The way ahead is the one firstly defined by a strong resistance to the movements of populism and nationalism and, mainly, by the completion of the European Integration process. Because Europe has not been completed yet. And this can explain some of its deficiencies. Europe so far did not manage to have an integrated economic, defence, foreign, or security policy.

Joint projects are not enough, what is needed is common vision, strategy and action. In the field of economy, we hurried to adopt a common currency without having first a common economic policy. In the field of foreign policy, Europe does not yet play the role of a genuine single global stakeholder and power. In the field of defence, Europe has been prevented, from its very first steps, to emancipate defensively in order to create respective structures, to enhance its defence industry and adopt a joint defence doctrine.  

Finally, in the field of security and despite all initiatives that we have taken, we still have a lot of work ahead of us: first of all, to build the necessary trust between us for a Security Union in Europe to take root. And it is exactly trust that we still not have foster among us. This is simply because, and this applies to all countries, the deep state continues to resist. It still sees security as a purely national issue, while all the threats we face are transnational. Our recent experiences have proven that terrorism does not recognise borders.

Everybody acknowledges however, that the safety of our citizens and the security of our societies is beyond everything a common challenge for all of us. Let's not forget however, what has been achieved during the last two years in the field both of security and migration, issues that I am responsible for, on behalf of the European Commission. From the very beginning we stepped up our efforts and we managed in record time to adopt a European Agenda on Migration and a European Agenda on Security.

Acknowledging the gaps in the protection of the European external borders, we put in place a European Border and Coast Guard which is now fully operational and other projects for a stronger border management of our external borders. We also ensured a more efficient security policy while on migration we did not only respond to the immediate needs but also we proposed a long term strategy. In order for this strategy to be successful, implementation is needed. And this is where we are lacking behind. Many governments of the European Union are still reluctant to comply with their responsibilities and commitments. Yesterday I have sent very clear and strong messages form Brussels, that all Member States need fulfil their commitments and on time! No more excuses and pretexts. It is the moment to show responsibility.

I belong in a generation as most of us in this room that does remember the stamps, the queues and sometimes the uncertainty of crossing borders in Europe. In many other places in the world today, passports are not always a privilege, and borders are not openings. I will share a very recent personal experience from Tbilisi, 3 days ago: I went there to announce the legal adoption of the visa liberalization. The moment of the announcement, everyone,

• governmental officials,
•  journalists,
• representatives of the civil society

had tears in their eyes. For them and for many in the wider European area, Europe is still a dream. It is an expectation, a vision and their leadership considers the European Integration as duty. The aspiration of these peoples reminds us what this means being part of a Union of peace, of stability, of tolerance, of solidarity and of prosperity. Many are concerned by the concession of national powers to "Brussels".  Let me clarify: Europe is not something abstract. And I make this clarification, because it is easy but also irresponsible and populist to always criticize the Institutions. Europe is all of us:

•  the governments,
•  the citizens,
• the political parties,
• the businesses,
• the entrepreneurial society, the media.

And we are all co-responsible for the success of the European project. And we have to stay united in order to be stronger.  That is the meaning of the union, becoming greater together. In this context and responding to our duty we presented yesterday with President Juncker some reflections on the future of Europe, to mark the beginning of the process to discuss how we envisage our future. We have put forward 5 scenarios – they are neither mutually exclusive, nor exhaustive. We made clear that we cannot take for granted what we have achieved so far and that the best option is to move ahead in unity as EU27.  

We cannot split or move in different directions. As I said, we cannot become a Federal Union but we can have federal-type functions on certain policies (migration and security, defense, economy, foreign policy). This approach can however NEVER be at the detriment of basic principles enshrined in the Treaty: our common values and our duty for solidarity among people and member states. And this duty for solidarity does not only apply for migration or security. Both solidarity and responsibility should be the fundament of all our policies – from natural disasters, to employment, to the economy. Now the dialogue for the future of Europe is launched. We are all invited to participate with our thoughts, reflections and proposals. Not only critics, but constructive proposals. Proposals on how we will keep the European vision alive. How to come out from this zone of political, social and economic turbulences stronger than before.

Marx said that history repeats itself. No, it is not true. Men repeat history because very simply they don't read it and they don't learn from it. The famous historian and professor from Yale, Timothy Snyder, warns us against the exact same danger. Democracy and prosperity have only been possible by working together, through our European and international alliances – and not through nationalist isolation. Populists today are trying to tell us a different version of history, a different version of the truth. But we need to learn the lessons from the past – and also realise that history is not over.

The biggest threat to our stability and prosperity today, is that we take our democracy for granted, and that we underestimate the possibility of the reappearance of tyranny or totalitarianism in some form. We can never let the voices of nationalism, populism or xenophobia become mainstream. And since we are now in Delfi, and oracles always used to create confusion despite the truth that was hidden in them, allow me to close my speech not with an oracle, exactly to avoid confusion. My message is clear: we have entered an existential period for Europe.

Either we, Europeans, shall build together our common future, or we will revert to our dark past. And the next generations will hold us accountable and will never forgive us.  And I would like to close by reminding you the words of one of the forefathers of Europe, who's voice was unfortunately not heard by his compatriots in the UK, something that they will certainly soon regret.
I quote Winston Churchill, who said in his famous speech in Zurich, one year after the end of the Second World War: "The remedy is to re-create the European Family, or as much of it as we can, and provide it with a structure under which it can dwell in peace, in safety and in freedom. We must build a kind of United States of Europe".

*EU Commissioner – this speech was given during the 2nd Delphi Economic Forum, on March 2, 2017, Greece.