Rediscovering Europe’s values

Whatever the outcome of the UK referendum in June, there will be equally important questions for EU leaders in the years ahead. The process of Britain’s renegotiation has led many to consider their own national identity and how it fits within the identity of the European Union. With a rising tide of Euroscepticism in countries across the continent, the challenge for Europe’s leaders is to instil a sense of European values which enhance rather than threaten national and regional identities.

The increasingly fragmented debate has been noted by policy-makers across Europe. Dr. Norbert Röttgen, President of the Germany Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee, warned recently that a Brexit would cause other member states to look at themselves and redefine their own relationship with the EU. Lord Mandelson, a Europhile and Remain supporter, said earlier this year that the EU has a vast amount of work to do to build bridges with its citizens.

Eurosceptics argue that the EU is too vast and culturally varied to have a single identity. How do you go about setting common values for a population of over 500 million across 28 member states speaking 24 different languages? The creation (and subsequent volatility) of a Eurozone which some member states refused to join has arguably undermined the economic stability and solidarity of the Union, especially in the wake of the global financial collapse and the Greek debt crisis.

Those financial shockwaves were followed by a refugee crisis which is striking at the heart of core EU tenets regarding the free movement of people within EU borders. Some member states are now openly flouting EU laws on border controls.

In such a context the EU’s task of building bridges between citizens is a daunting one. But perhaps there is an opportunity in the current crisis for EU member states to identify common interests and shared values in among the obvious cultural differences across Europe.

One powerful shared value that is missing from the negotiation tables in Brussels is religion. Faith plays a huge part in the lives of many millions of EU citizens, yet it has been all but barred from the political arena. Whether they profess to have a faith or not, political leaders should look to religion for inspiration when forging the future identity of the EU.

Christianity is arguably something that is common to all European member states and a potential value or source of identity around which they could unite. But how do we reconcile that sense of shared identity and history with those of other faiths or none?

Catholicism, and indeed all major faiths, teaches us to believe in the intrinsic dignity of every human person. If we can look beyond our differences and guard our national interests less jealously, every EU citizen has shared values and a common identity and a commitment to live within and promote a shared pluralist space.

The Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, and Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, agreed at an event earlier this year at Hampton Court Palace that churches must set aside centuries of division and recognise they have a “common agenda” in a more secular age.

EU leaders would do well to appeal to our common humanity as they make the decisions that will shape the way we live together in Europe.

About the author

Since 1997 Francis Campbell has been as a member of HM Diplomatic Service. Postings covered the European Union, the United Nations Security Council in New York, Italy and at the FCO in London. Between 1999 and 2003, he served on the staff of the then Prime Minister Tony Blair, first as a Policy Adviser in the No 10 Policy Unit and then as a Private Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He also served on secondment with Amnesty International as the Senior Director of Policy. Between 2005 and 2011 he served as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Holy See and he served as Deputy High Commissioner in Pakistan, based in Karachi between 2011 and 2013. His most recent appointment was the Head of the Policy Unit in the FCO and Director of Innovation at UKTI. In 2014 he was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London.