Why Germany and France Need to Become Rivals Again












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            * Why Germany and France Need to Become Rivals Again
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            Two perspectives on Brexit, the European Union and Fear


            Recently I attended two lectures where guest speakers, Tomáš Klvaňa and Dennis Smith, gave
            their perspective on Brexit and the European Union. And though both topics have already be

            discussed, its relevance remains. 
            Dr. Tomáš Klvaňa who teaches here at Charles University gave a guest lecture at New York U
            in which he highlighted Machiavelli's ideas on fear. These suggested that institutions – s

            EU – need to maintain the original fear from which they were born to retain their power. E
            Czechoslovakian President T. G. Masaryk reminded Czechoslovakia and ist parliament that “S

            themselves by the ideas from which they were born” in 1935 before resigning. 
            What were these fears in the case of the European Union? The end of the Second World War a
            threats, such as the takeover in Czechoslovakia in February of 1948; the beginning of a ne

            nuclear age we were entering in 1945; and of course, the historically famous rivalry betwe
            Germany. So, when in 1951 the European Coal and Steel Community was founded, the six found
            weren’t thinking about Erasmus programmes and creating a European identity but giving end 

            wars and rivalry with democracy and diplomacy. 
            However, it must be noted that United Kingdom wasn’t part of the founding countries and ir
            even want to enter the EU in the beginning. Guest lecturer Dennis Smith from Loughborough 

            the UK, emphasized in his talk at the Faculty of Humanities of CU that Brexit can only be 
            understanding British Empire. He believes that the British were profoundly traumatized by 
            an empire, describes the feelings of displacement within the EU, the feeling of disgust wi

            world empire to a small union – the feeling of setback among the British suddenly seem und
            When former Prime Minister of the UK, Mr. David Cameron, called for a referendum, many Bri
            only saw this as their chance to get back the sovereignty they believe to have been taken 

            also, as a chance of revenge to the elites. With the “leave” vote the British middle and l
            expressed their anger towards the posh upper class, the financial powers and the rich Lond
            distant and different from them.

            In a way, Dennis joked, the leave vote was a win for democracy. Ironic, isn’t it?
            Both speakers emphasized that the EU is a club and Dennis even pointed out that this is so
            were never explained. Many even feel, he expressed further, that once enemies, France and 

            become close club presidents. Decision are being made in the new Versailles, Brussel, and 
            Europe feel overlooked and excluded, Dennis disclosed. 
            So, what can be done to prevent more countries from leaving the EU, changing its bad reput

            issues within it? Well, as Machiavelli suggests, we could go back to the founding fears of
            Union – cold rivalry, bloody wars and dark threats. 
            Or, as both guest lectures suggested, we could work on creating a more democratic and tran

            Union; we could pay more attention to those expressing their concerns and fears; we could 
            focusing on dealing with issues such as corruption within the European Union, commissions 
            pathing the way on how the EU should move forward – and we could ensure to not make the sa

            Scotland or even Catalin that were made during the referendum campaign in the UK and in ot
            across Europe. We could work on creating a united Europe again, a real Union as the name s
            be.

            Dennis went even further and argued that politicians shouldn’t even ask and call for a vot
            To prevent further damage, both Dennis and Klvaňa stressed, Brexit has to be made as hard 
            the British – to not only scare the British off but also other European countries. Maybe M

            that wrong after all.