The EU is an economic and political project that trumpets its values while simultaneously having the privilege of ignoring those values when they are politically inconvenient.

Until the EU accepts that past and recognizes the privileges some of its members have had as historical beneficiaries of colonialism, it will not be the moral example it claims to be.

The EU's claim to inherent “European values” in the Lisbon Treaty implies that the rights achieved through social movements never had to be fought for through tireless advocacy and often dangerous activism.