Brussels, 13/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - Central Africa, South Sudan, Mali, Libya, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan -as the year 2014 gets into its stride, the list of conflicts and deadly attacks just a few thousand kilometres from our coasts is impressive. Closer to home, in Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of men and women are seeking to change the course of history. There is latent conflict and tension in the Balkans, the Caucasus, and also within Turkey, albeit a candidate for EU membership. In such a world as this, and despite the deep economic, social and political crisis, Europe remains an area of peace and freedom, a magnet for those dreaming of a better world.
Although, as Hegel puts it, history is “the progress of the consciousness of freedom”, it is striking to see how little store we Europeans make of the state of peace and freedom that we have reached after a century and a half of bloody revolutions, fratricidal wars and genocide, etc. How can one not reflect on this in a year that marks not only the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War but also the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's first abdication?
And yet, these manifest benefits gained from European integration are increasingly ignored by so many of our fellow citizens, to such an extent that political communicators are desperately seeking what would be called a new “narrative”, to use Brussels jargon, to promote the European idea more effectively. Therefore, with all due respect to the younger generations, for whom the war is a subject in history books or televised images from exotic lands, peace and freedom are never permanently acquired. Preserving them depends on politics and diplomacy on a daily basis and, in the future, may depend on the ability to deploy an effective instrument of defence. Our very top priority, therefore, should be to continue with European integration and to provide the European Union with the means to ensure the collective defence of our interests, our freedoms and our peace, allowing us to exercise those rights and to reactivate our economy.
Unfortunately, politics is not always governed by reason. One might cite Gustave Le Bon, who said: “It is easier to dominate a people by exciting their passions than by looking after their interests”. And periods of crisis - the magnitude of the current crisis is comparable to that of the thirties - are particularly propitious for an outburst of passion and self-interest. Like José Manuel Barroso, I should like to believe that the extremist, populist and eurosceptic parties will not win the day and that the traditional political forces will prevail with “rational arguments”. But can one be sure of this? Will the Europhobic groups, as Viviane Reding has said, simply make “a lot of noise”? My fear is that they may end up doing much more. Even if one can still reasonably hope that the two major political groups (EPP and S&D) maintain the majority, together or with the support of the ALDE, the results notched up by the extremists and populists could be considerable and could in future even jeopardise the good functioning of the European Parliament.
Although, throughout Europe, elected representatives of the major parties have enriched the soil of euroscepticism with their recurrent discourse accusing “Brussels” of every kind of ill, the United Kingdom is the first victim of this pernicious disorder. The criticism and the demands for reform made by David Cameron and other members of his government against the European Union, the promise of a referendum on Britain's participation in or exit from the EU, the referendum on Scotland's independence, and the perfectly contradictory comments seeking to justify rejection of this independence by the fact that it is necessary to remain within the United Kingdom in order to safeguard the advantages gained from participation in the European Union - all that denotes an advanced state of schizophrenia. It would seem there are no limits to political one-upmanship even within the Conservative Party where some one hundred MPs have called for a right of veto by the House of Commons on European legislation. A boon for UKIP, which could not be more pleased. In France, the crisis, the political management of the team in power, the tax pressure and ill-lived societal reforms open up not a road but a boulevard for the extremist parties in an election that traditionally serves as a collective ranting of frustrations. In Germany, the anti-euro party Afd, recently joined by the former boss of the federation of industry, Hans-Olaf Henkel, could gain seats: it approached the 5% needed to enter the Bundestag but the threshold for entering the European Parliament is only 3%. In Austria, the far right consolidated its results during the legislative elections last autumn and could make further headway during the European elections. In the Netherlands, a citizens' initiative supported by the populist party led by Geert Wilders and tending to introduce the possibility for a referendum on transferring powers, if not on certain European laws, has gained over 60,000 signatures. And, as for the countries most severely hit by the crisis, mainly in southern Europe, the extremist parties have made spectacular headway. These few examples show how urgent it is for all democrats and all those who are aware of the outstanding value of European unity to rally together to make the elections of 22-25 May a real opportunity for a brighter future.
Olivier Jehin, Reporter and Editor of the twice-weekly Europe Diplomacy & Defence