From Newcastle to Ypres and back again

A few weeks ago I drove to Ypres to take the morning service at our beautiful St George’s memorial chapel. There was a visiting school choir from South London. After the service we enjoyed drinks in the garden in warm sunshine.

It was hard to imagine that 100 years ago, this place was the site of one of Europe’s most bloody and horrible battles. Supposedly Christian European nations fought each other to death, dragging much of the rest of the world into battle with them.

Today Ypres has become an international city of peace. It is a place of pilgrimage for many people in Britain, who come to search for evidence of family members who died in the fields of Flanders.

If you want to understand Brussels you must first visit Ypres. It is only possible to understand why European nations have put so much effort into overcoming their differences and building shared political institutions if you first take on board what can happen if we allow the forces of nationalism to drive us apart.

More recently, I visited Newcastle. Lots of fine young men from the North East of England died in the two world wars. The beautiful Tyne Cott cemetery at Ypres is where some of them are buried.

I love the North East of England: it is where I trained for ministry and learned how to be a priest. It is where three of our children were born. Returning to this wonderful part of England, I was struck again, and more forcibly than previously, of the distance from North East England to Westminster. Differences of education, wealth, culture and access to resources in the UK are huge – and larger than in many other European countries.

A referendum on the EU does, at least, provide the opportunity for the expression of frustration and anger. Stagnant wages, low pensions, lack of jobs, poor prospects – here, at least, is the opportunity to register a vote against the Westminster establishment. And I sympathise.

Post-2008 austerity, life for many feels bleak. But the bad news is that it could get worse. Peace and security are fundamental. No-one seriously thinks that the EU alone has kept the peace, but alongside NATO and the OSCE it has played its part in reducing suspicion and promoting reconciliation. EU trade and standards deals sound abstract, but without them it would be a whole lot harder for the UK to export its goods to its biggest markets. EU subsidies sound wasteful, until you appreciate that whole industries like farming depend on them.

At the heart of Jesus’ teaching is an ethic of neighbourliness. ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’, he says. And in the parable of the Good Samaritan he stretches the idea of the neighbour to include even those in close by regions with whom we have traditional rivalries.

Being a good neighbour has costs. We may be expected to come to our neighbour’s aid. Frankly, at the moment Europe needs British help. The whole continent is struggling with migration. Debt and unemployment afflict the southern states. And these are generating populist sentiments which threaten us all. The European Institutions in Brussels have benefited from a good deal of British administrative and political expertise in the past. In order for them to work well and to promote the good of the whole continent, they need that expertise now. We have contributed democratic principles, a sense of humanity, tolerance and practical common sense over many decades. These are loved and valued by our European neighbours.

From where I sit, there is an awful lot riding on the Referendum Vote. It feels, from Brussels, like a vote that could determine not just the future of Britain but the future of the European continent, for decades to come. I have already posted my vote. There’s no secret that it was for ‘Remain’. Not everyone in my diocese will agree with me, and I respect that. But I hope that the remaining days of the campaign will be marked by high quality information and truly informed debate. I hope there will be a massive voting turnout. And, yes, I hope that Britain will stay in the European Union and help our whole continent find its way through difficult times and into a new future.

About the author

Robert Innes is Bishop of the Diocese in Europe. He is also the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the EU. He has lived in Brussels for the last 10 years. Before moving to Belgium, he was in ministry in County Durham.