THIS week we celebrated Europe Day. On May 9, 1950, the first move was made towards the creation of what is now known as the European Union.
Now, 56 years later, how far do we feel European? How secure is the future of Europe? On the one hand, we can witness Europe becoming more and more divided by ideologies and religious division, as the Danish cartoons case so clearly showed. On the other hand, we remain the largest trading bloc in the world, our standards of living continuing to rise, and countries queuing to join the club.
However, problems in Europe remain a huge challenge, not least the ‘no’ votes against the constitution. Over the past year we have seen increased civil unrest in France, increased prostitution throughout the member states and a rise in illegal immigration. With Germany hosting the World Cup in a few weeks, it was surprising to learn, in this traditionally conservative society, that the legalised brothels intend to import 40,000 extra prostitutes to cater for visitors’ needs.
This one issue is a good example of the dilemma that, I think, faces Europe. Is it just about economic enlargement and success or should there be a consensus on human rights and values? Have Germany’s actions on prostitution more to do with making money and the benefits of taxable earnings from the sex trade than thought out moral principles? Is it that simple and cynical?
The great justification for the EU is that it has delivered on peace and prosperity. I like being European. I like sitting in old piazzas in Italy drinking chilled Pinot Grigio or wandering around the mediaeval backstreets of Barcelona. I realise that my emotional attachment to Europe probably has little to do with the power, politics and bureaucracy in Brussels and much more to do with culture. It is to do with the sense that Europe, with its traditions of intellectualism and liberalism, is a good counterfoil to the rampant capitalism of the US and the Pacific Rim. In reality, of course, each of the member states has its own agenda and its own set of values. Finding a common identity is not, perhaps, the remit of the EU. Being successful trading partners is.
This will be the ultimate challenge to the EU, melding economic growth with a common cultural identity. For without defining core values on such things as secular education, the rights and wrongs of prostitution, the age of consent, the legalisation of drugs, the conflict between individual freedom and the power of religion (in such things as arranged marriages), how will it be able to go forward into the 21st century with a cohesive agenda? Foreign policy and economic growth cannot be separated from ethical principles.
Unless, we as Europeans engage in debate about the moral issues facing our societies, we will never find unity. Our direction will be dominated by economic forces, whether it be the securing of oil resources, arms sales or the search for cheap labour markets. The agenda for our future will be set by business needs not by the rational and open discussion that makes a civilised and sensible society.
Personally, I think the German decision to give licences to more brothels for the World Cup is purely market led and has nothing to do with any moral debate. They already have 400,000 people working in the sex trade since it was legalised there in 2002. It highlights exactly the problem that we face in Europe in finding a unifying common code of behaviour.
How can it be a good idea to encourage young men away from home to use whores? Many will be fueled by alcohol, will be leaving loved ones behind and will put themselves and their families at risk from sexually transmitted diseases. By making brothels more readily available they make them more acceptable. The argument that legalisation brings regulation and therefore protects women is flawed. It protects the client from prosecution, encourages safer practices, but women are still being forced into the job by poverty. Brothels encourage the trade in trafficking, and perpetuate the myth that women are commodities to be bought.
A real “value” as defined in law by the European parliament is equal respect for both sexes. What a joke! The German action makes a mockery of this. As Europeans we should be tackling prostitution not condoning it. We need to abandon the myth that men need and enjoy sex more than women. We need to acknowledge that prostitution is unpleasant and exploitative and does very little to create healthy and happy people. Women do not enjoy being whores, they are seduced by the apparently easy money, fooling themselves they’ll get out of it. People who use prostitutes are either being duped by fantasy or allowing themselves to be attracted by sex without emotion and responsibility. It’s usually secretive and seedy, it’s linked to drug abuse and few prostitutes escape physical and mental damage.
Until Europe engages in honest and open discourse about such ethical issues, it will remain a group of countries linked only by economic self-interest and no real heart, which, in my view, will inevitably lead to its demise.
