Luuk van Middelaar on What’s Holding Europe Together in a Changing World

The European Union has been shaken by internal conflicts since the eurozone crisis in 2009, and more recently by the unmanageable influx of migrants from Africa and refugees from the Middle East. Yet this strain from both within and outside the E.U.’s borders is also what impels member states to work together.

Dutch political theorist and historian Luuk van Middelaar was in Kyiv last May for a presentation of the Ukrainian translation of his prizewinning book “The Passage to Europe: How a Continent Became a Union.” The book looks at key events in the E.U.’s history, while also acknowledging the role of chance and improvisation in shaping the union of diverse states.

“What is so peculiar and so fascinating is that within the European Union we [have] two flags – we have the European flag and all the national flags – and that makes for permanent tensions because there’s always the risk of division among member states,” van Middelaar said.

According to the Dutch historian, the interests of America and Europe have been drifting apart since the end of the Cold War. The recent unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the Iran nuclear deal is a signal that the transatlantic alliance is weakening.

“And that makes it very important for European countries, including Ukraine, to have a stronger sense of their own autonomy – the need to organize themselves – to be able to defend their own interests and values in the world,” said van Middelaar.

The historian sees the war in eastern Ukraine as decisive for Europe’s future.

He believes that only in the past decade have Europe’s citizens begun to see themselves as E.U. citizens, and they are wary of the centralization of power they see in Russia, China, and the United States. “Perhaps they’re not always at ease with the way Brussels is run, but at the same time they know that the world is changing and that they have to adapt to that world.”

Hromadske sat down with political theorist Luuk van Middelaar to discuss the fundamental duality of the E.U., the challenges of populism and shifting alliances, and what holds Europe together despite increasing internal and external pressures.

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