EU-bashing is the hula-hooping of geopolitics, as fun to do as
it is easy. Or, at least, so it seemed, in the gilt-edged days
before the NO vote gave the European Union a final, self-inflicted
bash to the head.
The hodgepodge of contrariness that found unified expression in
that crowning blow was in no small part thematized by a certain
nationalistic insularity — the sort of thing which coming from
America would be cursed by Europeans and Europhiles as
isolationism. In fact, it smacked of outright xenophobia. The
desire to be left alone was expressed most directly to the nation
of Turkey, where millions of poor Muslim workers managed, simply by
the act of breathing, to threaten everything the Continental system
of socialist self-entitlement could offer its wards of leisure. And
though many Americans understand how a freely-flowing horde of
propertyless, cash-starved vagabonds can rankle the decency of
daily life, it was American policy to support Turkish entry into
the European Union, and when the EU tripped over itself in such
irredeemable fashion a bigger idea than Eurocentralization stumbled
with it.
Little did EU friends and foes alike predict that the ghouls of
summer would fade by Halloween, replaced by the fresh faces of
Croatian and Turkish hopefuls at the accession-talk table.
BASH NOT, HOWEVER, this startling development. The negotiations
toward membership now agreed to for Croatia and Turkey are as
firmly within European and American interests as they are within
the interests of Zagreb and Ankara themselves. Negotiations not
only may but will take years to add the two countries to
the European Union. Although some, like Arnaud de Borchgrave, may not be so sure,
accession talks in fact add a stout tentpole to American grand
strategy in Europe: maintaining the gravitational pull of frontier
nations toward the rule of law and ordered liberty that undergirds
the West on both sides of the Atlantic.
Ukraine — a country young enough to know, with a name that
means literally “border-land” — grasps this truth. The
Financial Times has reported in Kiev a swelling of EU-based hopes,
directly caused by the success Turkey has had in securing a place
at the table. “The most important thing for us,” says Prime
Minister Yuri Yekhanurov, “is that the enlargement process has not
stopped.” For those in need of a second translation, it is vital to
the Westernization of Ukraine that EU enlargement maintains
momentum, and publicly so.
When EU officials confess more privately that “the likelihood of
Ukraine entering the EU has plummeted” after the NO debacle,
American and European leaders in private and public sectors alike
stand much to gain from orienting eager Ukraine as firmly toward
the Western lodestar as possible. Best of all, this can be done
without worrying about entrenching the centralized power of the
European Union for a generation. In a virtuous circle, the
benefits to accrue to Europe’s most unsettled regions translate
into fewer crisis points for Washington as well. Bringing Kiev, as
well as Zagreb and Ankara, into the Western orbit will not only
push the frontiers of the rule of law into or beyond three vital
regions (the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East) that are
key to the peace and order of Europe. The Black Sea, moreover, will
be encompassed within a voluntarily Western sphere of economic and,
by extension, cultural influence, probably to a greater extent than
has been seen since the height of the Roman empire. As if that were
not good enough news, nations like Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia
— located at the explosive nexus of Christianity, Islam, and oil
— will learn firsthand from
inspired neighbors not only the value of the rule of law, but
how high are the stakes in rejecting it.
ALL THREE ASPIRANTS BRING ADVANTAGE to the West. Croatia is the
most important, best-developed, and most traditionally European of
any of the non-integrated European nations. Historical links with
Austria and unparalleled beauty along the singular Dalmatian coast
(with its unique investment possibilities) make Croatia not only a
natural candidate but an enviable one. Turkey, which can affect the
Middle East in a way no other regional player can, is a long-time
NATO member uniquely capable of projecting power as a secular
Islamic state. And Ukraine can naturally apply the pressure of
allure to Moscow which now so frightens Minsk. When the appeal of
the West is genuine and full of promise, Russia leans its way. The
autocratic reflexes of Putinism are still mild compared to those of
the Chinese government. Buttressing Russia with economic and
political freedom, while strengthening ties with India on China’s
southern flank, is a twin tactic invaluable to America’s long-term
Asia strategy.
Streamlining the transparency, dependability, orderliness, and
Western orientation of the three key regimes is crucial to the
success of America’s European and Middle Eastern policy, as well,
where the forward defense of the rule of law sits at its heart.
Terrorists and criminals deprived access to Croatia, Ukraine, and
Turkey lose their most promising havens and entry points into the
European heartland. Bringing all three nations into a closer
relationship with organizations like NATO, as well as into tighter
adherence to Western norms, customs, and informal rules, is an
objective best attained not by speedy and heady EU accession but by
a prolonged, diligent, comprehensive process. With European
attitudes about the EU itself shying away from the monolith, a
disaggregate community of nations in Greater Europe, linked more
intimately by shared processes, cultures, and interests, is a
better outcome than one vast quasi-nation held together by an
encyclopedia-length Constitution. And this is true as far as both
sides of the Atlantic ought to be concerned.
The future of Europe includes Croatia, Ukraine, and Turkey. It
is a future of decentralized power and common interests — not the
centralized-power and divergent-interests model that inspired the
NO vote. The journey taken by the EU’s latest aspirants is of
paramount importance to expanding and consolidating Western peace
and security. The monolithic European Union that looked so
unattractive in the spring is now beneath deep snow. What remains
is far better: Europe as a process, with the West as the outcome.
In those terms, the journey toward EU membership is more important
than the destination. Let no one block that road to our three
worthy travelers.
James G. Poulos is a writer and attorney living in
Washington, D.C. His commentaries are found at Postmodern
Conservative.
