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Prima-facie yes, Poles and others should learn, or at least know what
others are up to. The European Union is an organisation beyond conventional
thinking. It is founded on the classical liberal idea that commerce and
trade among nations can bring peace instead of war. That idea existed
long before the foundation EU, but its’ realisation required bloody wars
like the Second World War.
Bringing peace was the dream, now it is reality.
During war nations sometimes ally, and their identities may fuse while they
are fighting an enemy. During peace however things are not that certain.
Peace also has its’ complexity.
Peace requires openness, accepting others and treating them as yourself.
The European Union through the process of enlargement faces problems
which question the essence of the union. What is the geography of the union,
Valentia Island might well be where it starts, but where does it end?
Is the union for example based on religion, democracy, or even human rights?
In the near future Kurdistan may become a part of the Union, if Turkey
eventually joins. Kurds have never joined in union with others voluntarily, and it
will be unsurprising if they are suspicious. The Turkish membership is a
real challenge for the Union. During my trip to Brussels two years ago,
Luxembourg foreign Minster and some other officials explained the
Turkish potential membership as the only and the best way to prevent the
country from becoming a fundamental Islamic state. How the Union can do that?
There is some need for theologians and mullahs as policy makers or at least
in a think tank in Brussels. The Union has a motto “supra-nation” which
might be hard for non Latin speaker to mix it with super nation or at least
pronounce it like that. Creating a Union beyond the nations is not an easy task;
that union will need to go beyond the barrier of race, language, culture,
religion, identity, either by accepting all or bringing about an
The Union so far has because of economic reasons. That success
on the one hand has advantage by bringing all together around the work and
giving hope by bringing jobs and creating rapid growth like our (if I
am counted) Celtic Tiger. But on the other hand it has a disadvantage by
reducing the Union only to an economic union. This one dimension
relation makes easy for the citizens of the Union to sacrifice or scapegoat the
Union; as happened in France and Holland when they voted against the
constitution when they wanted to punish their own government. The Union
will succeed and manage to bring different people and different cultures
together only if continues to enjoy economic success.
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