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The voice of Scotland’s vibrant voluntary sector

Published by Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations

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Something beginning with F

This opinion piece is about 5 years old
 

Annie Gunner Logan ponders what fresh hell awaits us as our relationship with Europe unravels

Whenever her doorbell rang, the writer and critic Dorothy Parker was wont to exclaim: what fresh hell is this?

A similar response is prompted, round mine, by each and every Brexit news item, although I cannot in all honesty look you in the eye and tell you that the word beginning with ‘F’ always comes out the same as Dorothy’s.

Quel bordel, as our continental cousins might put it. And in the midst of it all, here we are, trying to figure out what Brexit means for our sector.

Annie Gunner Logan

If you can show me an area of Scottish voluntary endeavour with no EU network to join, I’ll eat my beret

Annie Gunner Logan

The prospect of losing European funding is a huge worry for many. For others, long-standing relationships with our European partners are at risk.

If you can show me an area of Scottish voluntary endeavour with no EU network to join, I’ll eat my beret. Many have wheeled their cabin cases over the cobbles of Brussels and Strasbourg; they know it is entirely possible to see Brexit as a tragedy for our sector while conceding that transnational working can be, well, complicated.

The stories I could tell you. At my first Brussels meeting I arrived early, saw a wee UK flag place-marker at the table and with the confidence of youth, concluded that’s where I ought to sit.

I soon discovered that I was not, in fact, the UK Member of the European Observatory on National Family Policies: when this august personage arrived to find me in his place, he spared my blushes (with great chivalry, I thought) by suggesting that I pretend to be his aide, and take notes.

What a gent. Years later, at a conference in Cyprus – seemingly organized solely to enable a small group of enormously self-important men to deliver excruciatingly tedious presentations that were almost totally impenetrable (including to the interpreters) – I leaned towards my Italian neighbor and whispered, “can you understand any of this?”

“Si”, he thundered back at me. “I unnerstand perrrrfectly. It is RUUUUUUUBISH!”

Our conversation continued, inevitably, in the bar. I have yet to attend a European event that didn’t end in an alcoholic fug, causing me to question the ultimate objective of EU funding, so far as the commission is concerned: is it to further the principles of the three pillars (or was it four?), the second semester (or was it the third?) or whatever else it says in the official bulletin? Or is it to get the Portuguese pally with the Polish, the French with the Finns, the Spanish with the Slovenians, et ainsi de suite?

I recall, not without shame, a social evening in Germany where delegates were asked to sing a typical song from their country. The UK posse opted for Living Next Door to Alice. Yes, including that bit. Dorothy Parker would have loved it.

But the agony of Brexit, from the perspective of our sector, is that we’re the ones who insisted that dialogue with civil society should be a priority, that social affairs shouldn’t only be about (un)employment, and that citizens as well as businesses needed to feel part of Europe.

Once that was accepted, we were able to wield serious influence. Not enough, clearly; and now, the door is closing.

What fresh hell is that?

Annie Gunner Logan has been working in and around the Scottish voluntary sector for longer than she cares to remember. Currently director of CCPS (Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland) with various non-exec roles thrown in. @ccpscotland