He bemoans the loss for classical liberalism though he and his ilk are classic examples of politicians who systematically reject it (The Enlightenment = individual liberty, freedom, sovereignty, protection of property rights etc.).
Stubb urges EU-US “new deal,”
In Finland’s newspaper on Thursday, we learn what the former Finance Minister Alexander Stubb thinks Europe should do in response to both the election of Donald Trump and the Brexit vote.
Daily national tabloid Ilta-Sanomat reports that Finland’s former Finance Minister and current MP Alexander Stubb says that Europe and the United States need to forge a new deal in light of the UK’s decision to leave the EU and Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections. He made the comments in a column published Wednesday in the London-based business paper the Financial Times.
“2016 will be remembered as the year when liberal democracy turned its back on liberal internationalism,” Stubb writes. “And unless something is done, it will also be remembered as the year of severance between Europe and the United States, including the demise of the West.”
Citing the UK referendum last summer which set the country on a path to leave the EU and the election of the divisive Donald Trump as US president, Stubb writes that the time for Europe to plan ahead is now.
“Will we opt for policies of disengagement or co-operation? I propose we do the latter. We should forge a New Deal between Europe and the US and it should be based on three pillars.”
“First, security. Europe needs to listen to what Donald Trump has to say on the cost of Nato. This means that European countries need to beef up their military expenditure whilst at the same time continue to develop the EU’s security and defence capabilities in close co-operation with Nato.
Stubb writes that the EU and United States should find a way to engage Russia in a principled way, and given the recent history of the country’s conflicts in Georgia, Ukraine and Syria – all of which he characterised as violations of international law – he concedes “it will not be easy.”
Stubb also says that a transatlantic trade agreement is essential to keeping Europe above water economically.
“No matter how unpopular a transatlantic trade agreement might be in the eyes of the populist left and right, there is overwhelming evidence that it provides growth and jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. If a deal is not struck, the economic situation will deteriorate, populist movements will grow and someone else will set the standards of world trade,” Stubb writes.
Access to the Financial Times requires a subscription, but Stubb posted a version of the column on his own website.
