Defending Europe’s peace

2015 was not a very good year for the European Union. It went from crisis to crisis. The Euro crisis just seemed to be resolved when a new crisis emerged around the question as to how to deal with the millions of refugees coming to Europe.

Can the European Union survive another crisis?

Frans Timmermans, Dutch First Vice-President of the European Commission and a strong advocate for the European ideal, said that the European Union could collapse in the near future. This shows how tense the atmosphere is within the Union. In the meantime, anti-Europe parties are the biggest parties in the Netherlands, France, Hungary and Poland. The British referendum on the European Union might be very crucial for the future of the European Union - a ‘no’ would mean one more, and maybe final crisis.

But - also in 2015 - the ‘raison d’être’ of the European Union became again urgent: and this core is the cooperation between countries to maintain peace in Europe. At the beginning of 2015 Nick Clegg, the then Deputy Prime Minister, gave a strong speech in the Dutch Church, and reminded the predominantly Dutch audience of the core of the European Union. It was founded after the Second World War to maintain peace for a longer term. On that basis the United Kingdom agreed to join. For decades we thought that war wouldn’t start ever again in Europe. But 2015 has shown us that the possibility of war is still present in Europe. Russia has been challenging European countries, and the situation could easily escalate. Islamic terrorist organisations also started a war on Europe, in an unpredictable and elusive way. Libyan terrorists are threatening to attack Rome. Paris is already in a state of war.

These anxious developments could be a blessing in disguise for the European Union. It is an invitation to go back to her core task. How can peace be defended in Europe?

A logical and strong step would be to start a European army. Former leader of the Dutch liberal party Frits Bolkestein recently defended this idea. He stated how absurd it was that a small country such as the Netherlands has a very small land armament and a navy. We can be quite confident that France, Germany or the United Kingdom won’t attack the Netherlands anymore. A future war will be fought together. If we strongly trust in this, the Netherlands could leave the land armament to others and focus on the navy - as we have had a very strong naval tradition over the last centuries (might I remind you of the Raid on the Medway in 1667!). Only a common army can play a significant role in the future and defend the values we stand for.

In order to survive the coming year, I hope the European Union will take her core role seriously and defend our peace in a strong and persuasive way. It may feel like a modest task, but it might become the most important challenge the Union will have to face.

About the author

Rev. Joost Röselaers is a minister of the Dutch Church in London, located at Austin Friars, and actively involved with the Dutch Centre in London. He studied Theology and Ethics in Leiden and Cape Town. Until 2013 he was a minister of the liberal Remonstrant Church in Amsterdam. He is a board member of the Dutch liberal party, and has written several books and articles on the relationship between religion and politics.