How Ukraine crisis can revive EU ideals
As the most war-ravaged continent in modern history, Europe began an idealistic experiment in 1951 to create a mutual dependency that would make conflict among its nations obsolete. Last week, that project was severely challenged. For the first time since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia committed an act of aggression in Eastern Europe by moving troops into Ukraine.
On Thursday, leaders of the European Union will meet to decide whether to impose 鈥渢argeted measures鈥� on Russia. The fact that the EU鈥檚 28 member states are working in unity is a testament to its success. But even more revealing will be whether Russian President Vladimir Putin now recognizes that his country鈥檚 own economic dependence on Europe is reason enough to back off his violation of Ukraine鈥檚 sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The EU vision of shared prosperity as a peace enhancer has led it to steadily expand its membership. It now includes 11 states of the former Soviet empire. That vision also led EU members to trust Moscow leaders enough to allow their economies to become closely intertwined with Russia鈥檚.
Russia has become the EU鈥檚 third largest trading partner, while the EU is Russia鈥檚 largest export market. Nearly a third of natural gas used in Europe comes from Russia.
Perhaps as the EU鈥檚 experiment began to work, it believed it could offer Ukraine the opportunity to join its prosperity club. Ukraine shares borders with four recent EU members: Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. That EU offer, however, proved too threatening to Mr. Putin last November, precipitating the crisis that has led to a standoff in Crimea.
After years of facing internal financial turmoil over the eurozone鈥檚 debt crisis, the EU is once again returning to the original reason for creating a sphere of peaceful and mutual prosperity. Poland, for example, is now rethinking its stalled decision to join the 17-nation monetary union. 鈥淭his [Ukraine] crisis shows that it鈥檚 worth making an additional investment in the European Union. It鈥檚 perhaps worth looking at the issue of our membership in the eurozone,鈥� said Marek Belka, governor of Poland鈥檚 central bank, on Monday.
The EU is an experiment in countries giving up some sovereignty for the greater good of a peaceful continent. This is a type of 鈥渟oft power,鈥� or an attempt to influence events through nonmilitary means, such as recognizing common values, culture, and ideals. Russia鈥檚 aggression in Ukraine is a throwback to hard power, or the use of force by one nation to gain territorial advantage out of a notion of zero-sum thinking.
At least eight nations still seek to join the EU. In fact, it is European ideals that inspired last November鈥檚 protests in Ukraine, where people believe in those ideals more than many Europeans do. This crisis can help the EU get back to basics.
