In the years that I have known @hanskundnani, I have often admired how he seems to think about #Europe differently than most, providing ample food for thought in the process. His latest is great example of that. https://www.newstatesman.com/world/2021/02/what-does-it-mean-be-pro-european-today

I am not sure I agree with @hanskundnani that Europe risks becoming a (white) civilisational defense project. He is right that European integration has become more protective, and more inward-looking, more cultural. /2

Most of the #sovereignty debate, for example, is indeed about protecting Europe’s ‘Way of Life’, whereas one key goal should be to enhance the sovereignty of non-European countries, too. /3

We should be careful, however, to judge #Europe by higher standards than others. The increasing realism of Europe’s integration and policies reflects a tougher world in which the EU, too, needs to assert itself. /4

The benign view: we are taking a ‘political detour’ via defensive measures to #protect Europe because we have to, and we need the cultural argument to secure the necessary domestic support. /5

And maybe our political strength will be exhausted by protecting Europe, so there is little left for the #cosmopolitan idea of Europe (which I would argue does exist). Or could we gain strength through pursuing a more cosmopolitan Europe? /6

I don’t know. But this is exactly the food for thought the European debate, in Germany and elsewhere, needs. So thanks, @hanskundnani, for raising these points. /end