Nobody in their right mind ever expected that the European Union, or the United States of Europe, as Churchill put it, would be an easy experiment, a walk in the (Hyde) park.
The mere fact that about a dozen former World Empires have taken it upon themselves to mold their centuries old feuds, nationalisms, patriotisms, arrogances, conflicts and grievances into a single, political and economic entity, spelled a nightmare of historical proportions, perhaps far worse than it has yet revealed itself to be.
Britain used to have an Empire where the sun never set and the Channel fog sufficed to keep a whole continent isolated from. France had Versailles, Napoleon and, of course, his legendary soldier Chauvin. Germany found itself engaged in warfare with more than 50 nations on all five continents at once, before finally realizing it had a gone a little bit too far. Italy had the mightiest Empire of Rome, where all roads led to. Greeks built “Parthenon when the rest of the people were still hanging from trees”. The Spanish were the greatest “conquistadores” ever and the Portuguese discovered and ruled the whole world before everybody else had a clue.
The list could go on, but the general idea is manifested.
So, what is the whole point of the European Union?
What are the three good reasons that HM Queen Elizabeth II, reportedly asked for the UK to remain in the EU?
Maybe, World Wars I, II (already fought) and III (to be avoided preferably).
Certainly stronger than any rationale for preserving any monarch for eons, even as a powerless figure head.
Or, even better, the self-evident truth most of us struggle with daily, that our families, homes and worlds may not be always good but are worth fighting for, to paraphrase Ernest Hemingway.
A great figure with suicidal tendencies and ending, a cruel fate the Old Continent will hopefully be spared from.
