An idea whose time has come: Over the holiday season the Guardian has been examining themes that have emerged to give shape to 2018. In today’s concluding piece we look at why the world will need the EU more than ever

It is tempting to think of the European Union as being like the Roman god Janus – a two-faced creature who either smiles or frowns, succeeds or fails. It is especially tempting, perhaps, for Britons. The next 12 months may well be this country’s last full year inside the club. But Brexit is not what does, or should, sum up Europe. The continental partners have begun to move on from that June 2016 shock, and from the broader fears of a breakdown of the 60-year-old European project ignited by the multiple crises confronting it. The far right continues to rear its head – it has just returned to government in Austria. Fragmentation continues to pose a threat to member states too – as with Spain and Catalonia, north-south tensions in Italy, and even France and Corsica. But the EU has held on, and that can only be welcome.

Talk of Europe’s demise was much exaggerated. A 500 million-strong, uniquely integrated bloc holds more cards, in a fast-changing world, than many critics care to acknowledge. Censure of the EU comes in all shapes and sizes. An organisation faulted for being weak and lacking both in efficiency and compassion when confronted with a massive movement of refugees is just as quickly lambasted as a domineering, sovereignty-crushing leviathan. A club accused of giving way to uncontrolled capitalism and multinational firms is the next moment attacked for its over-regulating bureaucracy. It doesn’t help that genuine knowledge of how the EU functions, or of how it was set up, tends to be in short supply.

But over-confidence will not help either. Europe’s travails have again led to hearty promises of renewal, in abundant speeches, with even mentions of a “United States of Europe”. But squaring boldness and realism is not easy. The European Janus needs first and most of all to draw itself closer to citizens, demonstrate it can hear grievances, solve problems and uphold values.

Reclaimed mission

Voltaire’s words about God could apply to the EU: if it didn’t exist, it would need to be invented. The EU blends democracy, individual freedoms, market economy and social justice in a combination that, although imperfect, exists in few other places. There is nothing quaint about saying that to safeguard Europe, and make the EU thrive, is simply to contribute to a better world. The European project of cooperation, wellbeing and understanding among a rich patchwork of nations and citizens is a crucial one. Brexit is an act of self-harm which, if it proceeds, will damage and diminish Britain. But the UK’s mistakes will not define the continent’s future.

To be relaunched, the EU must truly reclaim a mission of social justice. Calls for it to “protect” citizens must be made real, because those citizens genuinely feel the strains of globalisation and digitalisation. Economic prospects have slowly improved, but any hope of experiencing a European “golden decade”, after a decade of crises, requires reforms in eurozone governance – and doing so with more than the toolbox currently at hand. Balancing competition and solidarity, with a need for more of the latter, and somewhat less of the former, is long overdue after years of austerity packages.

For Europe to be renewed, citizens must feel they have a stronger voice. The EU is not undemocratic. For one thing, important decisions are taken by freely elected national governments. But popular trust cannot be taken for granted, and extremism thrives on any sense of disconnect. So these questions must be addressed, creatively and realistically. What the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas hoped would be a “European demos”, a European citizenry and public space still belongs to the realm of abstraction. Full-blown federalism is also too distant from the national and local cultural and historical identities that remain essential anchors for all but the European elite.

Reengaging the grassroots is essential. The top-down approach that has largely dominated the EU since the 1957 treaty of Rome no longer works. Citizen movements, civil society and activists must have more of a say: Europe must be their project too, not just the business of bureaucrats. There are many possibilities for progress. Transnational party alliances and Europe-wide “democratic conventions” can be made into realities with a cross-border dimension that does not infringe on the domain of nation states but could usefully complement existing mechanisms. The EU commission must become more transparent and accountable, for example when it prepares trade deals.

Broader vision

To save Europe means to look outwards, not just inwards. Its role is ever more important in a world made even more uncertain by Donald Trump, widespread instability and conflicts, and questions surrounding China’s rise. The EU has a role to play in shaping global developments where it can – not just hunkering down and enduring them. It does not get enough credit for trying to tame internet giants, fight monopolies in energy, counter tax evasion (albeit patchily), or for its efforts on climate change. The EU is also the largest donor in development aid.

Leveraging its role in trade will be key to making sure 21st century rules are not set by those who care little for environmental and social protections. One of the EU’s greatest strengths has been its encouragement of processes of engagement and dialogue. The organisation is committed to a rules-based order, rejecting the Trump administration’s simplistic and dangerous rhetoric of a global “arena” of no-holds-barred competition among states and corporations.

All of this adds up to the need to strengthen the EU as a values-oriented, socially minded endeavour. In income terms, Europe is the most equal region in the world. But renewing the social model, and the stability that can flow from it, will require more active forms of solidarity. Protecting data from manipulation and balancing freedom and privacy will be even bigger challenges than they currently are. Likewise, upholding notions of humanity and asylum are essential if Europe is to live up to its aspirations, and not be defined by barbed-wire fences and the outsourcing of migration problems to dictatorships and armed militias.

Updated ambitions

The EU can be an easy punchbag. Politicians often blame Brussels for their own failures, shunning responsibility for decisions they had themselves endorsed behind closed doors. Europe must set new ambitions for itself, but this requires political will and a more inclusive outlook. Europe will not run the world in the 21st century; nor should it want to. Yet as illiberal governments elsewhere try to reshape global rules and practice, Europe’s role is pivotal. In the past, EU member states have sacrificed their collective weight for limited individual, short-term advantage. Yet no one nation will grip today’s problems effectively if it tries to go it alone – as Britain will discover.

After two world wars Europe needed to heal its wounds and rebuild itself. The European idea and project were in part, too, a way for some nations to find a new place and vision for themselves in the wake of empire. Democracy spread, not least after the fall of the Berlin Wall. A continent began to come closer together. The EU has always evolved, often when pushed along by the short-term management of immediate crises. Yet there need be no fatalism about reactionary nationalism or the threat of splintering. Populism still exists, but so does a strong pushback against it. Europe is criss-crossed with citizens’ initiatives in which cooperation and solidarity are held high. This is the time for those energies to be tapped.