The EU is a great idea that has gone awry

As we watch Britain going through the paroxysms relating to Brexit, it is easy to view its decision to leave the European Union as an act of foolishness, a self-inflicted wound that will impoverish Britons for years to come. Europe is Britain’s largest market, taking in almost half of the country’s exports. Losing special access to it is a high price to pay for some symbolic gains in sovereignty.

But the Brexit debacle also shines a light on Europe itself, and what one sees is a continent and a political project that has stopped working — at least for many of the people at its Western European core. I say this as an ardent supporter of the European Union. The United States and the EU have been the two main engines behind a world based on open markets, democratic politics, liberty and law, human rights and global welfare. These values will likely be eroded worldwide if the strength and purpose of either of these centers wanes further.

For the last three decades, the European project has been wandering off course. What began as a community of nations cooperating to create larger markets, greater efficiency and political stability became obsessed with two massive issues that have undermined its central achievements.

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