The EU Should Return to its Postwar Origin of Peace and Human Dignity
KIMURA Masato / Journalist
May 18, 2017
British Prime Minister Theresa May has sent a letter notifying the EU of her country’s withdrawal based on Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (Treaty of Lisbon). Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council who presides over the summit meetings, has accordingly presented EU member countries with tentative guidelines for the negotiations. Nine months after British voters opted to leave the EU in a national referendum held last June, unprecedented negotiations are now underway to determine the separation between the UK and EU, and give shape to a new Europe.
Negotiations are to take place over a two-year period. However, talks will not start in earnest until after Germany holds its general election in September and a new administration is formed. Moreover, due to the requirements of the EU’s approval process, negotiations must be concluded by October next year, leaving only a year for actual talks.
So far, scenes from the summit meeting suggest that Prime Minister May has been cut off by leaders of EU countries including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The EU side is signaling a tough stance of “speeding the parting guest to pursue its own ways.”
I have kept a close eye on the relationship between the UK and EU since July 2007, originally under assignment as the London Bureau Chief of Sankei newspaper, and after becoming a freelance journalist five years hence. Although I strongly supported the “remain” camp based on my personal standpoint as a permanent resident, I can hardly ignore the feelings of my friends – pensioners, unskilled workers and low-income earners - who voted for “Brexit.” No matter how threatening the EU becomes, the democratically determined will of the people must be respected.
With each visit to the refugee camps and food banks – shelters that provide free food for the poor – in Greece, or to illegally occupied buildings in Italy, I feel a growing conviction that the EU has failed dismally in its neo-liberal experiment.
It is the nature of globalism to simultaneously give rise to a “race to the top” and a “race to the bottom.” With an actual budget of a mere 0.14 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the EU has no means of preventing a plunge to the bottom. And while that task is left to the governments of its members, heavily-indebted countries such as Greece and Italy are teetering under the weight of the austerity program thrusted upon them by Germany, and are falling further down the spiral towards the bottom.
Expanding the playing field for global companies, bankers, researchers at universities and think tanks, and students can bring remarkable benefits to society by adjusting the supply-side of the economy and providing new inventions and discoveries. And even if they fail n the British market, strong players such as these can always move to Germany or France. But a shift in the industrial structure has also created workers who have been forced to switch from manufacturing to unskilled jobs in the service industry, such as hotels and restaurants. And these weak workers have nowhere to go once they lose out to fierce competition brought about by an influx of immigrants.
Marine Le Pen is the leader of the National Front, the far-right nationalist party advocating an anti-Islam, anti-EU agenda in France. The media is certain she will advance to the second round of the presidential election and expects her to win close to 40 percent of the votes. Nearly 100 percent of her supporters are likely to go to the polls. Clearly, they are calling for an immediate stop to neo-liberalism, and there will be no future for the European Union as long as their demand is simply dismissed as “populism.”
Brexit provides Europe with an opportunity to change course towards a union that better reflects the true strengths and realities of each member nation. Instead of a single market that has become an efficient supply chain for Germany, Europe must return to its postwar origin - to solidarity grounded in human dignity and peace. The ideal vision of unity should be one in which Europe is made even stronger by the strengths of each individual country.
If the EU moves to protect its mechanism of a single market with a single currency by punishing the UK, the project for unifying Europe - which arose out of the devastation of war as a product of human wisdom – will be thrown into an abysmal chaos. That is my fear. Europe should not be afraid of slowing down or stepping back in its pursuit of unification. It is my earnest hope that both the UK and EU opt for an “amicable divorce” that would minimize the damage inflicted on each other.
Masato Kimura is a journalist residing in London.
Negotiations are to take place over a two-year period. However, talks will not start in earnest until after Germany holds its general election in September and a new administration is formed. Moreover, due to the requirements of the EU’s approval process, negotiations must be concluded by October next year, leaving only a year for actual talks.
So far, scenes from the summit meeting suggest that Prime Minister May has been cut off by leaders of EU countries including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The EU side is signaling a tough stance of “speeding the parting guest to pursue its own ways.”
I have kept a close eye on the relationship between the UK and EU since July 2007, originally under assignment as the London Bureau Chief of Sankei newspaper, and after becoming a freelance journalist five years hence. Although I strongly supported the “remain” camp based on my personal standpoint as a permanent resident, I can hardly ignore the feelings of my friends – pensioners, unskilled workers and low-income earners - who voted for “Brexit.” No matter how threatening the EU becomes, the democratically determined will of the people must be respected.
With each visit to the refugee camps and food banks – shelters that provide free food for the poor – in Greece, or to illegally occupied buildings in Italy, I feel a growing conviction that the EU has failed dismally in its neo-liberal experiment.
It is the nature of globalism to simultaneously give rise to a “race to the top” and a “race to the bottom.” With an actual budget of a mere 0.14 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the EU has no means of preventing a plunge to the bottom. And while that task is left to the governments of its members, heavily-indebted countries such as Greece and Italy are teetering under the weight of the austerity program thrusted upon them by Germany, and are falling further down the spiral towards the bottom.
Expanding the playing field for global companies, bankers, researchers at universities and think tanks, and students can bring remarkable benefits to society by adjusting the supply-side of the economy and providing new inventions and discoveries. And even if they fail n the British market, strong players such as these can always move to Germany or France. But a shift in the industrial structure has also created workers who have been forced to switch from manufacturing to unskilled jobs in the service industry, such as hotels and restaurants. And these weak workers have nowhere to go once they lose out to fierce competition brought about by an influx of immigrants.
Marine Le Pen is the leader of the National Front, the far-right nationalist party advocating an anti-Islam, anti-EU agenda in France. The media is certain she will advance to the second round of the presidential election and expects her to win close to 40 percent of the votes. Nearly 100 percent of her supporters are likely to go to the polls. Clearly, they are calling for an immediate stop to neo-liberalism, and there will be no future for the European Union as long as their demand is simply dismissed as “populism.”
Brexit provides Europe with an opportunity to change course towards a union that better reflects the true strengths and realities of each member nation. Instead of a single market that has become an efficient supply chain for Germany, Europe must return to its postwar origin - to solidarity grounded in human dignity and peace. The ideal vision of unity should be one in which Europe is made even stronger by the strengths of each individual country.
If the EU moves to protect its mechanism of a single market with a single currency by punishing the UK, the project for unifying Europe - which arose out of the devastation of war as a product of human wisdom – will be thrown into an abysmal chaos. That is my fear. Europe should not be afraid of slowing down or stepping back in its pursuit of unification. It is my earnest hope that both the UK and EU opt for an “amicable divorce” that would minimize the damage inflicted on each other.
Masato Kimura is a journalist residing in London.
The English-Speaking Union of Japan
EUは平和と人間の尊厳に立脚した戦後の原点に戻れ
木村 正人 / ジャーナリスト
2017年 5月 18日
イギリスのメイ首相がEU基本法（リスボン条約）50条に基づき離脱を告げるEU側に書簡を送り、トゥスクEU大統領（首脳会議の常任議長）が交渉指針案を加盟国に示した。昨年6月の国民投票でイギリスの有権者が52％対48％でEUからの離脱を選択してから9カ月余、イギリスとEUの別離と新しい欧州の形を決める前代未聞の交渉が始まった。
交渉期限は2年。今年9月の総選挙を受けてドイツの政権が固まるまで事実上の交渉は始まらない。EUの承認手続きを考慮すると来年10月には交渉を終えていなければならず、約1年しか交渉に充てられる時間はない。これまでのEU首脳会議の様子を見ると、メイ首相とメルケル独首相ら他国首脳は完全に没交渉だ。「去るものは追わず。我々は我々の道を進む」という強硬姿勢がEU側からは伝わってくる。
筆者は産経新聞ロンドン支局長として2007年7月に赴任（5年後にフリーランスとして独立）してから、ずっとイギリスと欧州の関係を間近で取材してきた。日本人永住者という立場からはイギリスのEU残留を強く支持していたが、離脱に投票した友人の年金生活者や単純労働者、低所得者の気持ちは無視できない。民主主義が下した意思はEUからどんなに脅されても尊重されなければならない。
ギリシャの難民施設やフードバンク（生活困窮者に無料で食料を提供する施設）、イタリアの不法占拠住宅を訪ねるたび、ネオリベラリズム（新自由主義）に基づくEUの実験は破綻したという思いを強くする。グローバリズムは「天辺への競争」と「どん底への競争」を同時に引き起こす。実質的に使える予算が国内総生産（GDP）の0.14％しかないEUにどん底への転落を防ぐ手立てはない。加盟国政府にその役割は求められているが、重債務国のギリシャやイタリアは債権国ドイツから緊縮財政を押し付けられ、さらにどん底へのスパイラルに突き進んでいる。
グローバル企業、バンカー、大学やシンクタンクの研究者、学生らの土俵を広げてやることは供給サイドの改善や新たな発明・発見など社会に目覚ましい恩恵をもたらす。こうした強いプレーヤーはイギリスで敗れてもドイツやフランスに移ることができる。しかし産業構造の転換により製造業からホテルやレストランなどサービス産業の単純労働への移行を強いられた弱き労働者は移民流入による過当競争にさらされると完全に行き場を失ってしまう。
反イスラム、反EUを唱えるフランスの右翼ナショナリスト政党「国民戦線」のマリーヌ・ルペン党首は決選投票に進むのが確実で、40％近い票を獲得すると報じられている。ルペン支持者のほぼ100％が投票所に足を運ぶだろう。彼らは明確にネオリベラリズムの即時停止を求めている。これを「ポピュリズム」と切り捨てている限り、EUに未来はない。
イギリスのEU離脱を機に、今こそ欧州は加盟国それぞれの実力と実情にあった統合に方向転換すべき時だ。ドイツの効率的なサプライチェーンと化してしまった単一市場よりも、戦後の原点である、人間の尊厳と平和に軸足を置いた団結に回帰しなければならない。一国一国の強さが欧州をさらに強くしていくのが本来あるべき統合の姿なのだ。
EUが単一市場と単一通貨というメカニズムを守るためイギリスを懲らしめる方向に動けば、戦後の荒廃から人間の英知として生まれた欧州統合プロジェクトはカオスの深淵と化してしまう。それが心配だ。統合をスローダウンすることや一歩後退することを怖れてはならない。お互いのダメージを最小限に抑える「円満離婚」をイギリス、EUの双方が選択することを望みたい。
（筆者はロンドン在住ジャーナリスト）
交渉期限は2年。今年9月の総選挙を受けてドイツの政権が固まるまで事実上の交渉は始まらない。EUの承認手続きを考慮すると来年10月には交渉を終えていなければならず、約1年しか交渉に充てられる時間はない。これまでのEU首脳会議の様子を見ると、メイ首相とメルケル独首相ら他国首脳は完全に没交渉だ。「去るものは追わず。我々は我々の道を進む」という強硬姿勢がEU側からは伝わってくる。
筆者は産経新聞ロンドン支局長として2007年7月に赴任（5年後にフリーランスとして独立）してから、ずっとイギリスと欧州の関係を間近で取材してきた。日本人永住者という立場からはイギリスのEU残留を強く支持していたが、離脱に投票した友人の年金生活者や単純労働者、低所得者の気持ちは無視できない。民主主義が下した意思はEUからどんなに脅されても尊重されなければならない。
ギリシャの難民施設やフードバンク（生活困窮者に無料で食料を提供する施設）、イタリアの不法占拠住宅を訪ねるたび、ネオリベラリズム（新自由主義）に基づくEUの実験は破綻したという思いを強くする。グローバリズムは「天辺への競争」と「どん底への競争」を同時に引き起こす。実質的に使える予算が国内総生産（GDP）の0.14％しかないEUにどん底への転落を防ぐ手立てはない。加盟国政府にその役割は求められているが、重債務国のギリシャやイタリアは債権国ドイツから緊縮財政を押し付けられ、さらにどん底へのスパイラルに突き進んでいる。
グローバル企業、バンカー、大学やシンクタンクの研究者、学生らの土俵を広げてやることは供給サイドの改善や新たな発明・発見など社会に目覚ましい恩恵をもたらす。こうした強いプレーヤーはイギリスで敗れてもドイツやフランスに移ることができる。しかし産業構造の転換により製造業からホテルやレストランなどサービス産業の単純労働への移行を強いられた弱き労働者は移民流入による過当競争にさらされると完全に行き場を失ってしまう。
反イスラム、反EUを唱えるフランスの右翼ナショナリスト政党「国民戦線」のマリーヌ・ルペン党首は決選投票に進むのが確実で、40％近い票を獲得すると報じられている。ルペン支持者のほぼ100％が投票所に足を運ぶだろう。彼らは明確にネオリベラリズムの即時停止を求めている。これを「ポピュリズム」と切り捨てている限り、EUに未来はない。
イギリスのEU離脱を機に、今こそ欧州は加盟国それぞれの実力と実情にあった統合に方向転換すべき時だ。ドイツの効率的なサプライチェーンと化してしまった単一市場よりも、戦後の原点である、人間の尊厳と平和に軸足を置いた団結に回帰しなければならない。一国一国の強さが欧州をさらに強くしていくのが本来あるべき統合の姿なのだ。
EUが単一市場と単一通貨というメカニズムを守るためイギリスを懲らしめる方向に動けば、戦後の荒廃から人間の英知として生まれた欧州統合プロジェクトはカオスの深淵と化してしまう。それが心配だ。統合をスローダウンすることや一歩後退することを怖れてはならない。お互いのダメージを最小限に抑える「円満離婚」をイギリス、EUの双方が選択することを望みたい。
（筆者はロンドン在住ジャーナリスト）
一般社団法人 日本英語交流連盟