Where are our Europe's limits?

Monday we celebrated Europe Day. For the European Union, this is the time to celebrate its unity; for European Parliament Member Sander Loones it is the moment to ask a few questions. Who do we want to be? Do we dare to set a limit on the number of newcomers? What do we do with those who are hostile to our values and our population?

The asylum crisis is far from being solved, or even absorbed. The utopia of open borders has been done away with, but more slowly than necessary. At one point, each day, 2,000 asylum seekers were walking into Europe, and this number has only decreased significantly since a few months. However, the threat that Erdogan will open the gate completely again remains. Meanwhile, we are confronted with fundamental questions: how do we build our communities further with those who did reach Europe? And most importantly, what remains of our Europe?

The 20th century was determined by ideology, but the 21st century will be one of identity. Who are we? This question wasn’t even asked during the past few decades. After the Cold War, Francis Fukuyama announced the end of history. Innovations such as the internet would cause any thinking along national or religious lines to evaporate. If only we could keep denying the existence of identity enough, we would all become enlightened citizens of the world. Moreover, the only remaining difference among us would be the result of arbitrary circumstances.

Looking at things that way, it is not strange that borders were considered superfluous - they only served to slow down the progress of globalisation. European integration, the ultimate merger of nations, would bring peace and efficiency. Newcomers would adopt our universal values almost automatically, or otherwise we would just adopt their values.

Individualism and alienation

And then there is reality, which is a rough wake-up call for everyone and destroys this progressive wishful thinking in one go. The Islamic world, the Chinese and the Russians are not moving towards our western world view, and instead seem to be loosening ties. European integration is vulnerable, and nations want to reclaim their sovereignty to allow them to once again intervene more quickly and decisively. The Civic integration Flanders has a policy for civic integration. This is a guided and targeted form of social integration for people of foreign origin. The intention is that the newcomers are provided with a valuable place in society by including them instead of excluding them. Civic integration, which includes language lessons and civic integration courses, was brought about by the participation of the N-VA in the Flemish Government since 2004 and the appointment of a Minister for Civic Integration. civic integration of large groups of immigrants has failed, and someone walking through certain neighbourhoods in Paris, London or Brussels will think he is in some faraway country rather than ‘at home’.

Some think they can ignore this reality, but the demographic and cultural repercussions of their denial are extremely clear. The mentality of self-hatred will eventually leave us empty-handed. Especially in our cities, the social fabric is changing rapidly, and life as a community is being replaced by extreme individualism and alienation; left behind in a Europe that has left its own borders behind. This is a Europe that does not know where it begins and where it ends. It is a place where the elite has a bigger problem with references to our Christian history than with Turkey joining the EU. It is a place where it is believed that only European regulations will bring salvation, and where it is not understood that responsible member states had better also have a say.

Support above so-called compassion

We need to allow space for the questions that are being asked widely across all strata of the population, but that are not yet being discussed fundamentally in the public sphere. Who are we and who do we want to be? Do we dare to radically opt for support from society instead of for so-called compassion, setting a limit on the number of newcomers that can be allowed in? What do we do with the mainly Muslim newcomers that are hostile to our values, our society and our population? How do we anchor absolute prevalence of the rule of law over any divine ‘law’ when demography is working against us? And what is the importance of the family and our education system in all of this? In short, where are our borders, both literally and figuratively? These are questions that we can no longer avoid.

Opinion piece by European Member of Parliament Sander Loones, published on 9 May in De Standaard. The original  Dutch version can be read here (subscribers only).