In an op-ed for German media outlet “Frankfurter Allgemeine zeitung”, the lead singer for Irish rock band U2 makes no secrets about where he stands on the pro and anti-Europe debate that has intensified across the continent. In fact, he is so pro Europe that he plans to wave a huge EU flag on stage during his tour which will start in Berlin.

I’m told a rock band is at its best when it’s a little transgressive: when it pushes the bounds of so-called good taste, when it shocks, when it surprises. Well, U2 is kicking off its tour in Berlin this week, and we’ve just had one of our more provocative ideas: during the show we’re going to wave a big, bright, blue EU flag.

>Related articles

Kyriakos Pierrakakis in Dublin for Eurogroup and ECOFIN – Meeting agenda and key contacts

At Arctic summit, twelve countries call on the EU to strengthen its presence there in the face of the Russian threat

NATO fortifies itself against Russia: Germany prepares to forcibly deploy 1,000 soldiers to Lithuania

I’m guessing that even to a rock audience, waving an EU flag these days is either an annoyance, a bore, a kitsch reference to the Eurovision Song Contest but to some of us it has become a radical act. Europe, which for a long time triggered a yawn, today sparks a kitchen-table screaming match. Europe is the theatre of powerful, emotional, clashing forces that will shape our future. I say our future, because there is no way to deny that we are all in this boat together, in seas churned up by extreme weather and extremist politics.

Europe is a hard sell in Europe these days. This is true even though there has never been a better place to be born than in Europe during the last 50 years. Though we have to work a lot harder to spread the benefits of prosperity, Europeans are better educated, better shielded from abuses by big corporations, and leading better, longer, healthier, and flat-out happier lives than people in any other region of the world. Yes, happier. They measure these things.

read more at faz.net