Blog Post 4 for March 9 Class

One particular statement that stuck with me from this week’s readings was from Stephen Wall’s book: “Britain’s biggest mistake was to join [the European Union] late.” Over the past two months that I have lived in Europe, I have learned more than I ever thought possible about Great Britain and its relationship with the EU, and I find that this sentence makes perfect sense. The British were never truly sold on the idea in the first place, leading them to stay out of the EU’s original predecessor—the European Coal and Steel Community—and not even attempting to enter the European Economic Community until 1961. The British people have wavered in their commitment to Europe ever since, constantly struggling between their strong national pride and memories of the powerful British Empire on one hand and their reduced position and forced reliance on more powerful allies on the other.

The most direct contact I have ever had with a Brit is currently taking place this semester; my one English class in Lyon is a USAC elective entitled “Politics and Economics in the European Union,” and the professor is an Englishman from Liverpool in his late fifties or early sixties. Having lived in France longer than England, he naturally was a strong supporter on the “Remain” side of the Brexit vote, as I imagine most British expatriates were. He likes to remind our class on a regular basis that “Brexit was the most stupid decision Great Britain could ever have made,” making his feelings on the matter abundantly clear. I believe he has a distinct advantage over many other Brits, however; semi-retired now, he spent the majority of his career working as a consul for the British government, placing him in a prime position to truly understand all the benefits the EU brought to Britain’s doorstep and to see firsthand the need for European institutions to have some amount of supranational power. I am inclined to agree with Stephen Wall when he claims that, “Had a consistent and persistent campaign of information been undertaken, it is possible that public opinion, knowing the reasons for the existence and powers of the European institutions, might have been more ready to recognise their role in defending important freedoms as well as to accept their inevitable imperfections.” With a better education on the role of the EU, Britain might well have overwhelmingly voted to Remain. Or, maybe the hot-button issue of immigration would still have been enough to give victory to the Leave campaign. Either way, what’s done is done and the events of the next few years will prove quite interesting.