True European federalists value the nation state
Anyone searching for European topics on X (formerly Twitter) will find it hard to miss the advocates of European federalism. With often youthful exuberance, they call for the transfer of essential policy areas to the European Union. For example, they argue that the threat posed by Putin's Russia should be countered by the Europeanisation of the military. (1) However, national defence in particular demonstrates the close link between national politics and the military. One example: due to the historical experiences of the German people, the Bundeswehr is a parliamentary army. (2) This means that the Bundestag decides on its deployments, not the Chancellor or the President. Anyone who wants a strong Europe that is capable of defending itself should therefore not call for the integration of the military. The goal should be, as Herfried Münkler (a German political scientist) has proposed, the creation of a European high command to which the national armed forces are subordinate (comparable to NATO as it currently exists). (3) This not only could be achieved in the foreseeable future. It would also respect the national reservations based on the historical experiences of the member states.
Another policy area that is not well suited to Europeanisation is distribution policy. Here, too, the nation remains the unifying bond that enables solidarity for the time being. The bond may be weakening or fraying, but it still exists: ideas of social justice have been formed in debates at the national level. Financial administrations are organised nationally. And it is the national parliaments that largely decide how tax money is spent. This does not, of course, argue against European programmes that serve to promote economic balance among member states. Since 1975, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) has been supporting structurally weak regions in the EU. (4) And the Cohesion Fund, established in 1994, provides financial support to member states whose gross national income per capita is less than 90 per cent of the EU average. (5)
Defence and distribution policy show that this is about the very heart of national politics and not about questions of the principle of subsidiarity. (6) Apart from the fact that a federal Europe will not come about in the foreseeable future, ill-considered efforts to communitise core elements of national policy at European level would cause great damage. Those who cite the euro as a successful example of the Europeanisation of a formerly national competence should bear in mind that the single currency is not a matter of life and death for people. So what are the arguments against communitarising defence and distribution?
Firstly, the vast majority of citizens do not want it. They have settled in their member state, their nation, and feel Italian, Romanian or Irish. Secondly, because essential prerequisites for the Europeanisation of these tasks are lacking. The most important of these is democracy. Without a European civil society, there can be no European democracy (7) – and European civil society is still in its early infancy (to which the Eurolandpost would like to contribute). We are struggling with language barriers, prejudices, national path dependencies and differing ideas and interests. For many people, European identity does not (yet) play a dominant role. European democracy is also only imperfectly developed in institutional terms. For example, the European Parliament has no right of initiative.
And thirdly, it is not actually necessary. There are forms of European cooperation that allow us to reap the benefits without cutting down the deeply rooted tree of the nation.
Margit Reiser-Schober
Errors in the content? – Errors in the translation? – eurolandpost(at)gmx.eu
- Nur ein Beispiel: Mariska den Eeld von der Partei Volt
https://x.com/eeldenden
- Parlamentsarmee
https://www.bundeswehr.de/de/meldungen/bundeswehr-parlamentsarmee-5230938
- Herdfried Münklers Vorschläge:
https://eurolandpost.eu/Europas-Selbstbehauptung
- Europäischer Fonds für regionale Entwicklung (EFRE)
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/de/sheet/95/europaischer-fonds-fur-regionale-entwicklung-efre-
- Europäischer Kohäsionsfonds
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/de/sheet/96/kohasionsfonds
- Subsidiaritätsprinzip
https://www.bpb.de/kurz-knapp/lexika/lexikon-der-wirtschaft/20791/subsidiaritaetsprinzip/
- Ernest Gellner: „Bedingungen der Freiheit – die Zivilgesellschaft und ihre Rivalen“
Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2001