Disoriented Europe slow to find way forward
The victory of Emmanuel Macron in the French presidential election has been considered by several European analysts as providing a life vest to the European Union. On the one hand, the bad scenario of the leader of Front National, Marine Le Pen, coming to power was averted. And on the other, it was promising that a young politician with a sincere vision for Europe took over after the poor performance of former president Francois Hollande. On several occasions, Macron spoke of his dream for Europe. But is this practically sufficient to give the European project the dynamism it is currently lacking? The answer is rather negative.
Of all the crises that hit Europe since 2009, it seems the refugees had the most important impact. Desperate refugees are looking for safe havens in European countries. Governments and societies are divided on whether this should happen. Some are positively disposed to providing hospitality and jobs, others are skeptical and prefer to close their borders as well as endorse extreme practices. Some terror attacks, perpetrated by refugees reaching Europe after passing from the Turkish coast to the Greek islands, have complicated the situation even more. Multiculturalism is considered a key solution by some experts. By others it is regarded an anathema.
The recent Paris Statement by some European intellectuals on “A Europe We can Believe In” almost fully connects the future of the EU with the dominance of Christianity. This argument was prevalent more than 10 years ago when potential Turkish EU membership was a likely scenario. Some scholars were then advocating for Islam to have no position in the EU. And now this racist, religious framing is returning to the discourse due to the arrival of numerous people from Africa and the Middle East to Europe.
Turning a blind eye to problems leads nowhere. This is the reality in today’s Europe. We saw it in the recent German federal election. A xenophobic right-wing party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), managed to enter Parliament with an impressive 12.6 percent of the vote. For some years, Germany was more immune to far-right parties than most other European countries. But this is no longer the case. Subsequently, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) are toughening their stance on the refugee crisis. They recently decided to limit the number of refugees seeking asylum to the country. Their agreement was opposed by Liberals and the Greens, the two parties that will possibly participate in a new coalition government with the CDU and CSU.
An ironic element in the discussion about Western values is apparent here. Political participation in elections is often below expectations. Citizens are encouraged by the authorities to go the polls instead of abstaining. As a result, more citizens voted recently in Germany. Nonetheless, the increased participation partly led to the rise of the AfD. So now people are told they made the wrong choice. Political education will certainly be the antidote to far-right preferences, but the process needs time. And Europe does not have much of that.
The younger generation of Europeans has nothing against the refugees. Also it remains pro-EU, although disenchanted with the current modus operandi. Young people are expecting Europe to act quickly in order to create better perspectives for the future and mostly it is Berlin that has the key to drastic reforms.
The first signs are not optimistic. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has not particularly warmed to Macron’s proposals. She also remains allergic to plans for debt mutualization and some new stim- ulus packages to boost growth. Difficult negotiations ahead of the formation of the new German government have postponed all discussions to 2018 in the best-case scenario. The initial hope for a breakthrough at the EU level by the end of the year was not well-grounded.
Germany wants to alter the EU political and public agenda by pushing toward a more constructive dimension. This cannot only happen at the communication level. Action is required and the younger generation should be the core of all efforts. As long as this is not happening, more extreme
views will continue to rise.