More European Union: yes, but how?

There seems to be a broad consensus in societies like ours, which has always been pro-European, and in neighbouring societies, that it is necessary to strengthen and reform the European Union so that it can survive in better health than it is now. This same newspaper has published a group of opinion articles – and mine – in that regard. All of us who are part of the EU, as citizens of member states, are aware of the immense difference that being part of the EU or not makes. We now look at the experiment of the United Kingdom, which decided to leave the EU and which now yearns to join. Having overcome the sense of satisfaction of national pride derived from the identity-based assertion that was Brexit and adopting a more rational and practical point of view, the gains of being part of the EU are outweighing the costs even for skeptical Britons.

However, the internal obstacles to functioning in the EU are gigantic. The growing political fragmentation in the European Parliament and, more complicated, in the Council of Europe, where the real current holders of sovereignty, who are the representatives of the member states, are to be found, makes agreements on "essential" matters difficult, if not impossible. And the longer it takes to tackle and resolve them, the worse it will be. The Achilles heel of the EU is, on the one hand, everything that represents a surrender of sovereignty, and, on the other, the fact that the different political formations are increasingly distant and opposed on issues such as immigration, the market, defence or foreign policy. Parliament is becoming an institution in which the weight of Eurosceptic or simply anti-European parties is increasing. The urgency of action is faced with the dangers of reaction to any initiative seeking greater integration.

Certainly, Trump's presidency has become a danger, as well as a revulsion, so great for the survival of the Union that we can expect Eurosceptics to moderate their doubts and prefer to bet on the security of maintaining a fairly homogeneous political, social, economic and cultural project.

Seen from Catalonia, the situation is paradoxical. The EU was very cold in relation to the Process. It has been seen in decisions of the European Parliament and the European courts of justice that have not brought the results that were expected because the PP and other forces, such as Ciutadans and Vox, have put up all the barriers they could, supported by their parliamentary groups, against protagonists of the Process. What is now happening with Catalan is paradigmatic: the opposition is made by countries with less spoken languages, which should sympathize with Catalan sensitivity, but which are governed by parties friendly to the PP, Ciudadanos or Vox, who ask them for favors, which may be returns of previous favors or promises of future favors.

Any Catalan support for further European integration must be based on the awareness that there are political risks that could affect the protection that the European institutions – imagined as truly independent – could offer to the expression of Catalan identity, whether linguistic, national, institutional or simply economic. State control of an autonomous community's access to the European Commission and the Union is complete, and now more than ever.

In other words: there are national risks in relation to further European integration. The problem is that not moving in this direction faces Catalans with even greater and more obvious risks. It will not be easy to move towards a relationship like the one President Pujol had achieved, with great respect for himself and for the institution he represented, or the sensitivity that the previous President of the European Parliament had towards the pro-independence deputies elected to the European Parliament. Not to mention the loss of influence that is visible in any area of community action, especially through the filter of the Spanish governments, as has been the clamorous case of the blatant modification of the layout of the Mediterranean axis, carried out consciously and to the perplexity of the European authorities who saw how their policies could be distorted to the point of...

What can be done? I believe that there is no other solution than to work with determination, persistence and generosity, which are the basis for building trust, but always being aware of the dangers that exist, which are carried out by more powerful forces but which also have their weaknesses, as has been seen recently with the frustration of the PP. We must take advantage of every opportunity and return to prioritising European policy from all possible sources.