Nordic values and European (dis)integration

The rejection of a shared EU constitution by French and Dutch voters is not a surprise. At last, public discontent evokes some suspended self-reflection on what kind of identity Europe should build and further develop. The public mood injects some fresh blood in the blue veins of an anemic bureaucracy. The French people are known in many's perception to act emotionally. And their intuition guide them to express the critique in a way that they feel would protect their interests as far or narrow as they see them. The scope needs to broaden. Or the problem will spread to the Nordic countries where barely a majority would support the idea if asked.

The Swedish government has decided not to ask its people. How can this be explained. Is the system of policy-making no longer a real democracy in its original sense of the word? Or, one could reveal the truth about the ambiguousness of Scandinavian mentality - that it is both egalitarian ("folkligt") and at the same time very hierarchic. This is partly due to our Nordic historical heritage. Hierarchy has often been the glue that holds elitism so firmly together. Good or bad?

The radicalness of political movements in Sweden is always somehow held back by a very deep sense of historical anchorage. After all the Scandinavian countries are all (except Finland) old kingdoms. How can this fact play a role in modern society? There are always many alternatives and we need to select carefully the system of governance and its value criteria for our emergin Europe - as longa as we want it to keep together. And the alternative to that proved catastrophic!

The focus of EU has been very much on the enlargement of the Union to comprise the whole European continent and more. But this proved a dangerous play. Meanwhile, emotions are aired that work against integration because the political leaders have not seen the need for local anchorage in tradition. Even worse, the lack of a deeply felt European identity is a core problem.

There is a great cultural tradition which has formed European identity. But this tradition is not addressed by modern policy-makers. It is an imbalance. But there is a remedy. It will take a lot of time to forge that mentality and make the cohesive forces to dominate over disruption.

It is not an easy equation at a point when Europe is lagging behind in economic growth and challenged by the tiger economies in China and Asia including India.

I need to add some specific items to illustrate my general idea of the special Nordic contribution to the European ideals. What are these? Where do they, the ideals come from? What prompted their evolution, how can they be developed further? How can new connections of old phenomena create new paths? What complicates/facilitates cohesion and empathy? Imperialism and colonialism are failed projects of the past. In the interest of a new Europe, what view of the human being might be drawn up?

But there are solutions. For those who see them. Or hear and listen to them, should it be a matter of social cognition where music helps you attain the insights needed to arrive at and reach a better conclusion. This is not just oldfashioned idealism which imparted its ideas onto a resistant reality. This is a way to listen to hear the vibration we share from inside to outside and sense the symphony our lives create as we go along in the world.

I invite you to come back to that issue.