IT IS not unusual, at times of economic crisis, that nations retreat inwards. They see others as rivals – sources of strife and aggression. They jealously guard their own patch, while the instinct of citizens and politicians is to batten down the hatches and become more inward looking, seeing solutions to all problems as being internal rather than external.
The trend towards narrow nationalism in Europe is worrying. Irish people speaking ill of the Germans, Germans speaking ill of the Greeks and so on. This vicious cycle needs to be tackled.
Narrow-minded nationalism has always been a dangerous tendency. We don’t need a history lesson to see how it manifested on the continent of Europe in the two world wars. It is even more dangerous in today’s globalised world. Not only does it risk cultivating a rise in racism and hatred, it also has potentially devastating economic costs as today’s nations cannot exist in splendid isolation.
That was a luxury for a different time.
The modern world has developed a complex web of regional alliances. Every geographical area, from Africa to South America, is awakening to the economic and social benefits of political alliances. For countries and people to prosper, they need to be enormous in terms of size and population, or else they need limitless access to consumer and labour markets. Nations all over see their future as part of such new emerging regional blocs. The European Union for all its faults is seen as an enviable model for these emerging alliances.
So before we throw out the European model, as many commentators seem to suggest, perhaps we should look at what is happening in the wider world. It is becoming more competitive and more dynamic. New economic groupings will happily challenge Europe for the trade and investment we claim as a rite of passage.
So we have two options. We can see this as a challenge to meet by redoubling our efforts to generate growth and job creation in the European Union. Alternatively, we can lie down and accept that Europe will no longer be a major economic player and resign ourselves to becoming an open-air museum, with nice historical sites to visit but no economic firepower to provide jobs and living standards for the generations to come.
I strongly believe that this Republic’s best interest is served by being part of a re-energised European Union. The EU must continue to pursue, as its core objective, the construction of a dynamic European economy to provide the quality of life that we want. We can only benefit from this. Nationalistic isolation was tried in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. It failed. It cannot succeed in today’s globalised world. So we must work with our European partners to shape the Europe we want, and indeed, the Europe we badly need.
Recent anti-German rhetoric in this State has reached a worrying degree. We need to understand Germany a little better, and Germany needs to understand us. It is dangerous to pitch members of the EU against each other. We are not enemies; we are not on opposite sides of the fence, we have a mutual interest in achieving a solution to the crisis that surrounds our currency and our continent. We might disagree on solutions, but it is in our absolute interest to find agreement.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny visited Germany recently to explain our views on the steps needed to rescue our common currency. We favour swift and decisive intervention by the European Central Bank to protect vulnerable economies such as the Republic from contagion in the euro zone.
It is understandable that the German government casts a careful eye on such proposals. It is the biggest contributor to the current EU bailout packages. German citizens question whether this money will ever be repaid. They have a natural reluctance to support measures that may add to inflation in the euro zone. This is a scepticism that derives from negative historical experiences.
Germans have a natural affinity with rules and regulations and are nervous that some beneficiaries of German funds (not including this State!) do not have the same respect for such rules. All of these considerations make the German response to the crisis a cautious one. This is understandable, but time is running out and Germany needs to act.
It is clear that the Republic, Germany and indeed all the other members of the euro zone can and should work together. It is not a peripheral problem, but one that strikes at the core of our shared interest. Rather than standing on the sidelines shouting about past mistakes, or accusing each other of power grabs within the union, we must start to trust each other again.
By rebuilding trust and agreeing common solutions, we can save our currency and create conditions for economic growth long into the future. As Irish people, we should not see Germany as an imposing aggressor. Rather we should see its economic strength and political leverage as an indispensable part of the solution to the crisis which has engulfed our currency and economy.
The Republic’s economic and social interests lie in seeing this crisis end once and for all. And Germany has a crucial role to play in achieving this.
Lucinda Creighton is Minister of State for European Affairs