We need Europe - and Europe needs us
Especially now, when the world seems to be reorganizing itself, we need a strong, capable and more democratic Europe. After all, European challenges need European solutions. National parties are reaching their limits and populist promises are putting our peace at risk. That is why we founded Volt, a movement and party for the whole of Europe.
When the United States of America was founded, the motto was: Unite or Die. Europe, too, is at a crossroads - do we fragment into lots of small and tiny states that are being crushed between the USA, Russia and China and where, in the best-case scenario, Austria is degraded to a Disneyland of the powerful, or do we join forces and think European integration through to the end?
On May 9, 1950, Robert Schuman issued his historic declaration in which he called for a stronger, more united Europe capable of facing common threats together. This vision of overcoming the battles and wars within Europe by pooling the production of the war commodities of coal and steel in France and Germany was the birth of the European Union as we know it today - and the beginning of a period of peace and prosperity the likes of which Europe had never seen before.
Trump, Putin, Xi Jinpin - where does Europe stand?
75 years later, the world is once again at a crossroads. With his protectionism and isolationism, Trump is upsetting the global balance that has been built up over decades of hard work and cooperation. We are surrounded by threats: Tariffs, trade wars, climate change, conflicts at our borders. Putin is challenging peace in Europe, not to mention China. And within our own institutions, we are held back by blockades, vetoes and stagnation.
We Europeans should not tolerate a fragmented Europe paralyzed by its own rules. We should have bold visions - and finally think through the “ever closer union” called for in the 1980s. Because the current EU suffers above all from the fact that in recent decades it has come to a standstill halfway through due to a dispute over national competences (“But I want to keep my power!”) and many things have not been thought through to the end.
Demands of a pan-European party
As a pan-European party, we at Volt say: What we need now is a Europe that is institutionally, economically and militarily resilient. We should also rethink neutrality: Neutral, that can mean not with Russia, China or the USA - but defending ourselves as Europe, with a common foreign and security policy.
We now need a Europe that is strong in trade, sovereign in the digital sphere and capable of protecting its values and its citizens. We need a treaty reform that includes defense as a shared competence. We need a more robust European democracy with open debates that are protected from social media manipulation.
“The peace of the world cannot be maintained without creative efforts commensurate with the magnitude of the threat.” (beginning of the Schuman Declaration)
The time to act is now. We should not stand by and let others make decisions for us: “If you don't deal with politics, politics will eventually deal with you.”
May the 75th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration be remembered as the day when Europe came of age - and grew together.