Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1513813
pretty scathing op-ed articles, in that country's media right now, about the European Un- ion's glaring double-standards in this case.) But no matter: for now, I'm quite happy to go along with the premise that this original dream, of a 'peaceful Europe' united by its own common economic interests, has indeed been a success… if nothing else, because (closing an eye at the Yugoslavian conflagration, of course; and even the war in Ukraine, if it comes to it) there hasn't really been any major war - fought between Europe- an powers, on European soil - for the past 80 or so years. Ay, but – as I hinted in the headline – 'there's the rub', right there! The success of this dream cannot be taken for granted, forever. And as the authors themselves point out (in the very first paragraph, too!): "After World War II, visionary leaders understood that the only way to secure peace on our continent was to unite our economies…" Got that, folks? Our ECON- OMIES… NOT our 'political structures'. In other words: if European countries have man- aged to avert internecine con- flict, for so many years… it is only because they limited their 'unification' efforts exclusively to the economic front – com- mon tariffs; common trade regulations; a common curren- cy, etc. – while avoiding any at- tempt to anyhow 'deepen' that union, into a POLITICAL one. The moment that equilib- rium is reversed, however… so too, will the prospect of a lasting 'European peace' be in- stantly overturned. To put that another way: if the EU makes the tragic mis- take of allowing one Euro- pean political 'force' (and an ideologically-motivated one at that; as the authors them- selves freely admit) to impose its own 'dreams' and 'beliefs' on the entire European Conti- nent… THAT, I fear, is when the 'dogs of war' will finally be let loose on European soil, af- ter so many years of (almost) uninterrupted peace. Because let's face it, people. This is hardly the first time, in Europe's long and spectacu- larly-bloody history, that 'sin- gle political forces' have (wit- tingly, or unwittingly) 'let slip' those dogs, in pursuit of their own 'dreams and beliefs'. And before you all pounce on me, for making oblique allu- sions to Germany's Third Re- ich… kindly note that I could just as easily be referring to the Napoleonic Wars; or the Russian Revolution; or the Crusades (and various other religious conflicts: including 300 years' worth of conflict between Catholics and Protes- tants); or even, for that matter, to the Roman Empire… For what did all the 'ideo- logues' who precipitated these, and other conflicts around the world, always have in common, at the end of the day? Like the authors of this article – the 'movers and shakers' of today's Europe, remember? – they all likewise very clearly 'BE- LIEVED', in all the 'DREAMS' that they so persistently (and at times disastrously) pur- sued… Now: just to be clear, the 'dreams' themselves may have varied wildly, over the cen- turies. Obviously, the ideolo- gy represented by people like Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel, Roberta Metsola, etc., is going to be vastly differ- ent from those of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Napoleon, Pope Urban II, or Julius Caesar (and especially, I should think, Adolf Hitler)… But make no mistake: all those people 'believed' – as their adherents still do today - in all their respective, chosen ideologies. The Communists 'believed' in Communism; the Fascists 'believed' in Fascism; and all the various leaders of world religious certainly 'be- lieved', in the myriad Faiths they invariably invoked, when dragging entire nations into, um… WAR! …because THAT, ultimately, is where all these ideological 'dreams' and beliefs' will invar- iably lead us, you know. (Espe- cially when those 'beliefs' just happen to involve 'unifying' an entire Continent, under a single, pan-European political system. I mean: what could possibly go wrong?) All things considered, then: much safer, I would say, for the European Union to simply stick to its original 'dream', as proposed by those early 'vi- sionary leaders'…. and remain the exclusively 'economic un- ion' it was conceived to be (as opposed to the sort of 'political union', that is 'believed in' only by its current crop of leaders; and no one else). For as Michel von Der Ley- en, Lagarde, Donohue, and Metsola themselves all proud- ly tell us, in that same article: Europe's 'economic union' has already proved to be a success, over the past 25 years. So let's not 'screw up' that success today, then: by so un- wisely turning this 'European dream', into a 'political night- mare'... … and on that hugely posi- tive, optimistic note: I bid all my readers as 'Happy' a 'New Year', as we can all realistical- ly expect 2024 to be, under the circumstances. (After all: any- thing more than that would be a tad too 'dreamy'… don't you think?) maltatoday | SUNDAY • 31 DECEMBER 2023 TRIBUTE 11 For now, I'm quite happy to go along with the premise that this original dream, of a 'peaceful Europe' united by its own common economic interests, has indeed been a success…