In the aftermath of the historic British vote to leave the EU, openDemocracy is asking for our readers' thoughts on Brexit and what needs to happen next in 350 words. We've had an extraordinary response and you can read them all here.
Recent events reveal quite blatantly that Europe is struggling with a deep identity crisis, of which Brexit constitutes, according to me, just a symptom. The « democratic deficit - talk » is a less convincing argument, since many member states, including Britain itself (just recall the unelected House of Lords !), are in many regards less democratic than the European Union’s institutions. I therefore believe that we are dealing with an identity crisis.
If such is the case, it is not helpful to simply continue to treat only the symptoms, while perfectly ignoring their common cause. One never heals from cancer just by treating a single metastasis. Yet, the problem that Europe is facing with regard to its identity is that they have never been able to agree on the content of it. Focusing too heavily on the « national identity » model has hindered European leaders from finding alternative ways for constructing a sense of community that has respect for Europe’s growing diversity. Instead we have desperately tried to forge a « Schmittian holy grail » through symbols like the European flag and the European anthem … but Europe had now to learn the hard way, that there was no European Bastille Day that unconditionally federates all societies.
