The EU’s federal empire is on verge of a total collapse
THE turmoil at Westminster has fuelled a mood of smugness among pro-EU fanatics. In their narrative, Brexit is portrayed as an inherently foolish project that was always certain to create a political mess. According to them, the only solution is to abandon withdrawal and submit once more to rule by Brussels.
But this analysis could not be more wrong. The real answer is for the Government to show more vigour and less hesitancy over Brexit. To allow the EU to reinforce its grip would be a disaster.
Such a move would not only subvert the outcome of the 2016 referendum, it would also shackle us to a failing institution that is dismally run, ideologically fixated, profoundly undemocratic and increasingly unpopular. The Brexit difficulties of the British Government pale beside the colossal, selfinflicted problems of the Brussels federal empire.
On Tuesday, as the Prime Minister toured the continent in her bid to salvage her deal, she was presented with a united, grinning front from Europe’s leaders and the Commission President JeanClaude Juncker. But that image of serene harmony was an illusion. In reality, the EU is in deep trouble, broken by major splits and economic paralysis.
Nothing reflects that grim truth more graphically than the nightmare engulfing President Macron in France. When he was elected last year, he was hailed as a charismatic new leader who would revitalise his nation’s economy, as well as the grand European project of federal integration, long the dream of the Brussels zealots.
HOW hollow those bold claims now sound. His quasi-imperial grandeur on the European stage has been exposed as nothing more than vainglorious posturing, as nationwide discontent grows against him. For weeks, there have been angry protests against his proposed fuel tax rises, introduced in the name of fighting climate change, while demonstrations and strikes have also been mounted against other reforms.
So weakened is Macron’s position that he has been forced to retreat, announcing a desperate package of economic measures, worth around £12billion, to assuage public anger. But this attempt at appeasement has only further undermined his authority.
Today he may be confronted in the French parliament by a motion of no confidence in his presidency, put forward by opposition parties. At the same time, his popularity continues to plummet. One recent poll gave him a satisfaction rating of just 23 per cent, the same level as that in 2013 for his socialist predecessor François Hollande, widely viewed as the most despised head of state in modern French history.
Macron was meant to be the youthful saviour of the federal cause. Instead, his spectacular failure is another blow to the European project, which is already embattled in several other arenas. The EU is locked in a titanic struggle against the Italian government that wants to introduce an expansion budget in defiance of Brussels’ fiscal regulations. The fact that EU bureaucrats think they have the right to veto a national budget shows how far sovereignty has been destroyed by federalist dogma.
It was revulsion at that kind of EU arrogance that brought a combination of the radical right League party and maverick Five Star Movement to power in Italy on a wave of populist fury.
Italian Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini called the single currency “a crime against humanity”, adding: “People like Juncker have ruined Europe and our country.”
The pattern of political meltdown is repeated throughout the EU. The Spanish government is battling against an insurgent independence movement in Catalonia, which has sparked protests and road blockades. Last week the ruling coalition in Belgium collapsed, when the nationalist New Flemish Alliance withdrew support because of its hostility to pro-immigration policies.
Further conflict can be found in Eastern Europe, where the democratically-elected governments of Poland and Hungary are indignant at perceived attempts by the unaccountable EU to erode their constitutional rights.
All this uproar shows that Brexit is not an isolated case. It is part of a trend of public outrage at the EU’s ruling elite. A recent study revealed that, across Europe, one in four voters has backed a populist party in the last year. This mood is fed by accelerating disillusion at the chronic failure of Brussels whose gross economic mismanagement has been matched by contempt for democracy and the nation state.
E‘People like Juncker have ruined Europe’
VERYTHING is sacrificed on the altar of the integrationist doctrine, as shown by the single currency. The euro was always primarily a political tool to achieve unification, which is why the EU has been so determined to prop it up, no matter what the cost to living standards, debt and employment.
The same is true of the obsession with freedom of movement, which has been used as a weapon to smash traditional national identities and create a new concept of European citizenship. But many citizens feel they have paid a heavy price for this ideological worship of open borders, through the loss of solidarity, the strain on public services and the import of violent crime, including terrorism.
The EU is an engine of ruination. It can only be sustained by bullying and oppression. That is why Britain must escape and embrace Brexit.