I think with our language differences etc it's easy to forget how much as Europeans we have in common compared to the rest of the world. The values that we are now talking about defending were forged within our continent. Europe is the home of the Renaissance, The Scientific Revolution, the Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial revolution all of which have indelibly shaped us as Europeans irrespective of our nationalities. Our 20th Century history left us battered and scarred and arguably lacking confidence; certainly in the UK in the latter part of the 20th Century we got sucked into an American led trajectory that has left too many people behind and arguably sowed the seeds that have led to this moment. American leadership of what we like to call 'the free world' appears to have failed us, so what happens now?
The nations of the EU and the UK together are home to over half a billion people with a rich history and an incredible breadth of talent. In many ways our diversity is our strength. But it also becomes our Achilles heel when we let division take hold. So far the politicians are doing a reasonable job of presenting a united front. If, and it's a bloody big if, as things become more challenging we can maintain unity across the majority of Europe and speak with one voice and act in concert we will be ok and eventually better days will come. We Europeans are like a squabbling family and if ever there was a time to put those, in the scheme of things, petty squabbles to one side it is now. As electorates we have our part to play too, this is going to get worse before it gets better and there will be plenty of opportunists come along with quick fixes, easy answers and seemingly ways to avoid the pain; many of these will be either deliberately or unwittingly doing Russia's bidding as part of its hybrid war. We need to avoid being seduced by these charlatans and not forget the hard learnt lessons of our recent past.
thehill.com