EU conservatism matches Remainer conservatism?*

Another piece in the Observer today, from J Cliffe,  'the Charlemagne columnist and Brussels bureau chief at the Economist', about the underlying appeal of the EU --its cultural conservatism:

The motivations and instincts of our continental partners sometimes baffle us Brits. To un-baffle ourselves, a useful principle is that most of what the EU and its leading members say or do can be traced back to the quest for the quiet life....the European project knows no higher ideal than calm good living...Europe’s quest for the quiet life goes much further. The EU and most of its states were born or reborn from the rubble of war and the traumas of totalitarianism...The opposite of horror and cataclysm is the quiet life... the European lifestyle such as long holidays and universal healthcare...[the EU] ...generally values the stability of uniformity above the bracing fizz of difference. It is unremittingly defensive.

Cliffe argues that the Brits do not understand this (literally reactionary) quest for a quiet life, but in my view, Remainers share it. Their quiet life especially means unemployment and poverty are safely confined to areas where they do not live , where there are no quiet gardens, no long holidays and highly restricted healthcare, where there is street violence and drugs and authoritarian officials operating Universal Credit. The 'European' lifestyle has done very well for them and they want to keep it.

Of course, there is absolutely no guarantee that Brexit will deliver any alternative -- that would require a socialist government (probably not one of the Corbyn gestural tendency). If we ever get one and we are still in the EU, we will see a rather nastier side of EU conservatism, I suspect.