Only when it is in peril is the idea of Europe so inspiring | Fintan O’Toole

Britain's potential departure from the European Union marks yet another existential moment for the continent, but it is just at such moments of crisis that the true strengths and worth of the project come to the fore

Most ideas prove themselves by working well. The idea of Europe, on the other hand, seems to be most powerful when it's going disastrously wrong. Over the course of modern history, it appears that Europe becomes an urgent business only when it is threatened with disintegration. When things are OK, Europe bores us to tears. It is 28 shades of grey. But plunge Europe into existential crisis and it suddenly seems to matter. This is the great paradox of the idea: it grips the imagination only when it is in a dire state. The odd way in which the threat of Brexit makes the notion of Europe interesting again is actually quite familiar.

Europe has always drawn energy from the proximity of catastrophe. The first modern conception of Europe - that of a Christian commonwealth of holy kingdoms - took hold because the Turks were at the gates of Vienna and the triumph of Islam in Europe seemed a real possibility. The religious wars in which Catholic and Protestant powers tore each other apart were ended by appealing to that same idea of European Christendom.

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