The main reason why these, and many other, forms of historic revisionism are kept under a tight lid has to do with the achievements of the European project, and that includes things like free passportless travel and a high standard of rights for minorities. Take the EU away, and a whole host of previously unthinkable events become possible — from wars to “frozen” conflicts of the sort that Russia and Serbia maintain in places such Transnistria or Kosovo.
No doubt, in such an event, the bigger players would have their say too — like an already emboldened Russia that’s being egged on by the Trump administration in Ukraine and is rather keen to demonstrate the hollowness of NATO’s Article 5; or even a Germany under the possible leadership of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which Trump ally Elon Musk urged to move beyond the country’s historic guilt.
What could go wrong, really?
The suggestion that the EU represents a dead end in Europe’s civilization betrays a profound ignorance of the continent’s history.
Since the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe has always been balancing cultural and political unity and diversity, and its succession of unwieldy quasi-federal institutions are a part of that. Far from being an aberration, the EU continues in the tradition of the Holy Roman Empire, the Hanseatic League or the Polish-Lithuanian Republic.
Of course, one may argue that what happens in Europe should be Europe’s problem, not America’s. But that’s, at most, an argument for disengagement, including a withdrawal of the U.S. security umbrella from Europe — not for the current efforts by Musk and Washington to put their finger on the scales of European politics.
