The more ‘respectable’ members of the public sought to justify their antipathy for the EU by arguing for a Hobbesian notion of sovereignty, which coincides with government rather than wider democratic structures. In the globalised and interconnected world of the twenty first century, the EU is a democratic attempt at dealing with international challenges, such as environmental protection, people and capital mobility, and multinationals dodging taxes and cutting workers’ rights by pitting one state against the other.
The EU is only as good as the efforts made by its members and elected representatives in making it work. A more democratic EU requires national leaders to relinquish some power to ensure that the representatives of European citizens have more influence. Instead of building consensus, the UK demanded a special status.
The independence celebrated by Brexiteers is nothing but a futile search for dominance over others, rather than cooperating with others and sharing responsibility for this shared world. The belief that a country, any country, is independent and can have a mere transactional relationship with others with few or no obligations is fanciful at best.
