A real danger for Europe as a whole

Commenting on the result of yesterday’s referendum in the United Kingdom, the President of the Humanist Association of Germany (HVD), Frieder Otto Wolf, said on Friday in Berlin: “I deeply regret the outcome of the vote. A narrow but ultimately clearly recognizable majority of the British people have expressed that they no longer want to participate in the European Union, which was also conceived as a great project for peace and civilization. The result of the referendum is a turning point in the history of our continent, which all enlightened Europeans should regard as an urgent wake-up call,” said Wolf. Earlier, the final result of the count of all 382 constituencies showed that 51.9 percent of British citizens voted against the United Kingdom remaining in the European Union (EU), while 48.1 percent voted in favor. Many younger voters in particular voted to remain, while a clear majority of voters over the age of 65 voted against. Frieder Otto Wolf continued on the Brexit vote: “The forces that led to this referendum result pose a threat not only to the European Union, but to Europe as a whole. It must be clear to all informed observers that this result is by no means based solely on the well-known democratic and transparency deficits in the EU institutions, which even declared supporters of our community of states criticize and whose dismantling is unavoidable. And as humanist-minded European citizens, we naturally see our view reaffirmed that transparency in the EU and the democratic participation of the people who form it must improve considerably if this serious loss of trust is not to continue and spread.” Humanists, who see the European Union primarily as a project for peace and civilization, should also see the referendum as a clear call to take an even more determined stance against right-wing populist and nationalist movements that want to weaken or destroy these ideas that are essential for Europe, Wolf continued. “It is crucial that we succeed in significantly strengthening not only democracy and transparency, but also a sense of community within the European framework. This cannot be left to ‘big politics’ or institutions. All people who share the desire that the European Union can continue to act as a force for peace, balance and justice in the future can and must participate independently,” said the President of the Humanist Association. In the debates of the coming months and years, it must also always be borne in mind that the large movements of refugees within and to Europe are among the main causes of this “Brexit” vote. “It is therefore crucial to deal intensively with the causes of the crises underlying these movements and to expose them. This cannot be dispensed with if reflection on the real dangers for the whole of Europe, which have manifested themselves in this result of the ‘Brexit’ referendum, is not to get stuck halfway,” emphasized Frieder Otto Wolf.