Europe - Four points that need to be named again
23 May 2019Hello dear DWARSers,
This time a little different from what you are used to. The PACT editors also have exams and exams, but in the context of the European elections, we wanted to stir up some discussion. Therefore, this will not be an extensive article, but rather a combination between an opinion piece and a newsletter. We will name four points that strike us in discussions about Europe and recommend appropriate articles to go with them.
- The EU is for all of Europe
The first problem our editors ran into is the following: PACT writes about local politics. So are European elections any of our business? The discussion then quickly deteriorates to what the EU means for you and your local area, and therefore why you should vote. But this bothered us. Surely national elections are not about what the Netherlands can do for Amsterdam either? As far as we are concerned, the debate should primarily be about the importance of the EU for the whole of Europe, not just for the Netherlands.
- Europe is what it is not.
Opponents of Europe like to cite that Europe costs a lot of money while giving us nothing. Proponents claim that Europe does give us a lot, but the evidence for this does not always appear to be clearly demonstrable. In this article (fairly old, but still relevant), Rob Wijnberg describes how Europe is mostly what it is not. A recent example: All goods shipped into the EU from the UK will from now on have to be approved because they no longer meet EU requirements by default.
- Europe is necessary to solve world problems.
‘Europe decides how crooked your bananas can be!’ A familiar phrase used to denounce Europe's trivial meddling. But what if small things that seem like trivial meddling at first glance can have a big impact on world problems? In this article, Jesse Frederik describes how a seemingly trivial interference has had a major impact on reducing CO2 emissions.
- Screamers dominate the debate.
After the Brexit, the term Nexit soon followed. But does the average Dutchman want to leave the EU? Researcher Claes de Vreese refutes that. In this NOS article, he explains how the Netherlands is relatively pro-European. What people mostly desire is a better-functioning EU.
Political Amsterdam Commission Team,
Rosa Tibosch
