Europe should prepare for war
34 reactions
By PETER VAN HAM 
 
the European Union has all the symptoms of decadence. Its citizens are convinced that the war can not happen to others and they have never earned their place in the sun (with some exceptions, as in the Balkans), they are promised to live forever in a peaceful world. Dangerous illusion. Because if the Union is proud of its "values" and its "normative power" that allows them to peacefully resolve its internal conflicts, it simply does not know how to defend against the outside, for example, against Russia or Turkey. Two recent crises have given the Union a salutary warning. The war between Russia and Georgia last summer, and the gas crisis in January, insisted that war and brutality in the relations between states have not disappeared.

They are uncomfortable reality for the Union, since its primary myth is that of eternal peace and the belief that states should settle their problems through negotiation and compromise. Accordingly, the Union assumed that the war is over, as if wars were for others, less sophisticated people, the less educated. But wars are part and parcel of international politics and human nature, therefore they affect us primarily. Waging war has traditionally taught that "we" are. In the Middle Ages, Europe was Christianity, and Islam and the Ottomans, our declared enemies. Today, Europeans think ill take the sword to defend what they believe. It is risky. We must not forget that the "barbarians" had defeated the Roman Empire, not because he was culturally superior, but because the Romans believed that they had to fight for themselves and their culture. They had lost the courage and faith.

So Europe must rekindle the flame which animates and affirm its confidence in itself. The EU must wake up to defend its business model and values. Who are those who really threaten today? Not the USA or even China or Russia. This threat, it is, for example, illegal immigration, which destabilizes its model of society, or extremist Islam. In the near future, Iran's nuclear weapons represent a danger for Europe.

In the past, the Union has sheltered under the U.S. military umbrella and declined to organize its own defense. Today, that time is over: it must develop its defense policy, not only to prepare for the worst-that is to say the war - but also to embark on a new project involving the catalyst 'nation-building on a European scale.

We have no heroes in Europe, only national heroes. We do not have a "rites of passage" European or wars or to Europe. Rather, it behaves like the perfect son, nice and friendly. The European Union's foreign policy is marked on the corner of the "politically correct": it always takes the low part of complying with international law, it is the maintenance of peace.

In short, she is caring and nurturing. These are feminine qualities undoubtedly important, but also very distant from the wars that create a shared experience and a sense of belonging. If being "nice" is used to gain sympathy, it does not create an identity by comparison to others. The Union must shed its image kind, feminine. It is essential that it become "wicked" and engages in military action, even without a mandate from the UN Security. It would also see its international partners that "Europe" is playing in the Champions League and at the same time, it would signal to its citizens that it (and not its constituent states), which supports security affairs and defense.

The Union must assert that a war might be necessary to protect our ideals and our common interests, especially when the head is euroscepticism and patriotism is back. Thus Europeans feel European, they become aware that they are truly a whole, they share not only history but also a destiny. Show is more important than talking. It is only when citizens understand that they must stand side by side their interests and values, they say be prepared to make the supreme sacrifice, they will come to realize the importance of the Union, to create a European identity.

Translated from English by Edith Ochs

Van Ham Peter is involved in the Union force, documentary Quatremer Jean, a journalist with Liberation, and Jean-Michel Meurice. Tomorrow night on Arte.