“The Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to focus on what itsees as the EU’s most important result: the successful struggle for peace andreconciliation and for democracy and human rights.” With these words the Nobelcommittee is set to award the peace prize to the European Union at a ceremonyin Oslo on Monday. The European Union has helped turn age-old military enemiesin Europe into political and economic partners, making another great war inEurope unthinkable.
As a Dane and a Brit, who were in our formative years whenthe Berlin Wall fell, and the EU enlarged to take in countries of Central andEastern Europe, we believe that the peace prize is merited “ as a reminder ofhistory and a pointer to the future. European cooperation cannot become along-lost fad of the second half of the 20th century. It needs to be modernized“ not abandoned “ for the still new century.
In today’s global village, it is tempting but wrong to thinkthat neighborhood no longer matters. As shown most recently by the Pacific Alliancein Latin America (Chile, Columbia, Peru and Mexico), subregional and regionalcooperation is the obvious response when interdependence is real and globalgovernance weak. Problems do not respect national borders, and so we must adaptour politics to make it effective.
It is easy to write off Europe at the moment. It hurts thatthe eurozone and its crisis are seen as a risk for the global economy. But thestrengths of the European Union and its member states, from trade balance tostrong legal order and resilient populations, remain massive.
Our two countries are not in the eurozone. Bold leadershipto save the euro is necessary for the future of the whole European Union. Butit is not enough. We need to strengthen the effectiveness of the union of 27 nations“ soon to be 28 with the entry of Croatia. That means the institutions of thewhole Union, from the European Commission to the Council of Ministers to theParliament, standing up for the interests of the whole Union.
The primary focus needs to be to overcome the “deliverydeficit” that is a drain not just on popular support for the EU, but onopportunity and security for our populations. The transformation to a greenereconomy, extension of the single market and management of energy security requirecooperation across the divide between euro ins and euro outs. That is why weboth oppose the idea that Britain should become part of a European “outer ring”with Norway and Switzerland. If Britain chooses to leave the EU, it will end intears.
Some people are scared of European foreign policy as we knowit today. We are not. It is based on consensus, but that does not mean lowestcommon denominator. Europe has strong interests and important values. Ourneighborhoods to the east toward Russia and south into the Middle East arecrucibles of democratic struggle today. Out of interest and morality, Europeansshould be playing a role, and the EU can help.
At a time, when the European project “ and not just the euro“ is facing serious headwinds, and when the debt crisis, high unemployment andinadequate economic growth is causing millions of Europeans to ask whether theEU has a future at all, we are convinced that if the Union did not exist thenEuropeans would have to invent it.
They would do so because the current crisis has made itabundantly clear that there is a need for European solutions to underpin thecrisis management and structural reform undertaken at the national level. Theywould do so because they would realize that no single European state has thesize, the economy or the defense budget to go it alone on the big global issueslike climate change, trade liberalization and conflict prevention. They woulddo so because geography, as well as history, has not been ended by the collapseof the Berlin Wall.
When Balkan countries strive to become EU members, and whencountries outside Europe look toward the EU for inspiration, it is because thisunique cooperation has played a key role in advancing peace and security formore than 50 years. In this our forbears, who really deserve to be collectingthe prize, were ahead of their time. We must not waste their legacy.
David Miliband is a member of the British Parliament andformer foreign secretary, 2007-2010. Nicolai Wammenis the Danish minister forEuropean affairs
