Postcard from Vienna

Robert Menasse, an Austrian novelist and essayist, who spent a year in Brussels to learn about the European Union, was surprised by the fact that “the Brussels bureaucracy is extremely thin. The European Union has fewer civil servants for the administration of the whole continent than the city of Vienna.” (Der Europäische Landbote, 2012) He goes on to write, “The Brussels bureaucracy is unbelievably cheap. The European Union has a budget that amounts to about one per cent of the European gross domestic product (GDP). For the administration of a whole continent and for the realisation of all her functions six per cent is set aside, which in turn makes up 0.06 per cent of the European GDP. There is no state administration and no major political project that is cheaper.” These two observations will come as a surprise to most Europeans. They underline the point that there is no positive common narrative about the European Union in the public domain. Not a few politicians in Austria and elsewhere have too often and too quickly made Brussels a scapegoat for their own local failures and lack of vision.

The United Kingdom has been a reluctant member of the European Union since the 1980s. The Europe question would lead to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister, despite the favourable terms she had negotiated for the United Kingdom’s continued membership within the European Union. John Major throughout his time as Prime Minister had to contend with a vociferous Eurosceptic wing. Europe and especially membership in the European Union is the issue that has most divided the Conservative Party for the last four decades. This year David Cameron as Prime Minister negotiated more favourable terms for the benefit of the United Kingdom, but not for the benefit of the European Union. St Paul the Apostle counsels the church in Philippi, “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”

Furthermore, it was the United Kingdom amongst other member states that favoured and pushed for the rapid expansion of the European Union from nine when the United Kingdom joined in 1973 to the present 28 nation states. This expansion has weakened the European Union’s ability to act. Throughout the refugee crisis (caused by cutting funds for international refugee relief programmes, by the civil war in Syria, by the Arab Spring and the second war in Iraq, to name a few of the better known facts) fault lines have shown up. A few Central European nation states together with Sweden have been left to manage the humanitarian crisis that presented itself last year and that looks like repeating itself this year.

In Austria we are thankful for the good response by Austrian civil society to a crisis that could have had a different outcome. EU member states have refused to take in their contingent of refugees despite European and international law. Just at the moment when the European Union, which has a responsibility that stretches beyond its own concerns, is required to find a common mind and develop a common response, the United Kingdom is considering secession, which in turn weakens the European Union and any soft power it might have. Even without contributing factors such as war, migration to Europe is an ongoing challenge.

European leaders such as Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, and the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble would prefer to see the United Kingdom stay in the European Union, believing that Europe is stronger with the United Kingdom as a member state. This attitude massages British self-esteem, but may not be rewarded. Should the United Kingdom vote to stay in the European Union, little looks like being resolved. The Eurosceptics will not be satisfied until sovereignty has been restored to Westminster. The Magna Carta holds a special and celebrated place in English awareness. The irony is that the Magna Carta marks a moment in English history when the sovereign had to relinquish sovereignty.

Neil MacGregor, the former director of the British Museum and European cosmopolite, opined at the time of the exhibition Germany: Memories of a Nation that nations such as Austria and Germany were better disposed towards the European Union because they have a history of working in political confederations that are broader than a nation state, as evidenced by both the Habsburg Empire and the Holy Roman Empire.

Referring back to what I said above: A vote to simply stay in the European Union without a change of attitude is only a short-term gain unless a positive and constructively critical narrative is allowed to emerge, which in turn will strengthen the European Union for all her citizens and those who live on her borders. The peace that the European Union has contributed towards is under threat. See the recent Balkan wars. See the annexation of Crimea. See war in Ukraine. See the continuing migration from Africa and Asia. This is not a time to weaken the European Union. John the Baptist is reported to have said, “He must increase, but I must decrease”. This is not the way of the world, but it shows a way forward for the member states of the European Union, which all could do more than pay lip service to their Christian Heritage.

About the author

Patrick Curran is the chaplain of Christ Church, Vienna, Austria with a ministry that includes small congregations in Klagenfurt, Ljubljana and Zagreb. His parents, father British and mother German, met in northern Germany after the World War II. For the past thirteen years Patrick was also the archdeacon of the Eastern archdeaconry in the Diocese in Europe, which includes the Balkans, Greece, Turkey and Russia to name a few. He has lived, studied and worked in four different countries: England, Germany, Canada and the Austria. He is married with two adult daughters.