In a situation of crisis

To promote internationalist and progressive democratic possibilities, it is essential that the campaign to stay in the EU becomes European not solely British. If Europe is our project then it is time to make it a transnational one, that confronts issues of bigotry, human rights and the impact of austerity and corporate greed across the 28 and beyond. The excesses of private wealth hurts every European society. The case for Europe as a “zone of peace”, given both Putin’s adventurism and the unpredictable chauvinisms of Trump’s America, is stronger than ever. The EU and its negotiators have behaved in a civilised and dignified way in the so-called Brexit process. It is time to make this dialogue a European issue as it concerns all: to argue across borders, promoting the merits of the Union, but also to present agendas for reform. This may be the other way to transcend the narrow agendas of previous ‘national’ debates, and to reach out to our counterparts in other communities in one common campaign.