Brussels, 26/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - Europe was not really a key subject during the presidential election campaign in Poland or the council and regional elections in Spain. The results of these elections, however, have upset the national political scene in both countries in a rather unexpected way. Federica Mogherini, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said that these results were a call for change in the way Europe's common future is managed.
Sunday 24 May was an election day that marked a political turning point in both countries in more than one respect. In August, Poland will finally have its new president, the Conservative, Andrzej Duda, who has until now been a Member of the European Parliament in the European Conservative and Reformists group (ECR). Spain has been a theatre in which new political forces have broken through, with the emergence of the Ciudadanos Party (Citizens) at the centre of the political chessboard and at its far left, the rise of Podemos (We Can).
The common thread in these two situations, however, apart from the fact that people have been shocked, is the lack of confidence (through the results of the election results) in the political parties that have worked on the European response to the financial, economic and social crisis that has existed since 2008. If we add the recent victory of the party calling for a referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the EU and the continued developments in the Greek saga, then it is indeed a feeling critical of Europe's political direction that appears to be spreading throughout the European continent. This trend, partly characterised by Euro-scepticism, was picked up by the President of the ECR group, Syed Kamall (United Kingdom), who congratulated his Polish colleague with his victory and said: “This result tops off a great month for the ECR family with parties in Finland and the UK forming new governments, and now the Presidency of Poland”.
The haze with which the national stakes at play were enveloped in these two elections did not prevent Mogherini from interpreting them as a message being sent to Europe. In Rome on Monday 25 May, when she was awarding the 2015 Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) prize, she did not miss her chance to introduce a rather terse warning: “The presidential election results in Poland and the council elections in Spain, even if they are very different, combined with the news from the United Kingdom and Greece over the past few days, indicate that there is a need to renew our way of being European, if we still want to be working on the European project of our founding fathers”.
If the project is under threat, as suggested by the high representative, it is not, however, being questioned in the same way in Spain or Poland. In Spain the new political forces contest the political choices that have been made and want the vessels that is Europe to veer to the left. The political vision of the Polish president-elect is particularly characterised by the lack of consideration for the European interest, which has been completely overwhelmed by exclusively national considerations. How are the European leaders going to respond to challenges that appear so different?
When they congratulated Duda on his victory, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz both called on him to make a contribution to the deepening of European integration. This is what Mogherini suggested, too, in her speech when she mentioned the need to build common visions. The attempt to “safeguard the European project of our founding fathers” will therefore now consist of attempting to bring “the feeling of being on a journey together” among Europeans alive. This journey together will take place in the troubled waters of the world, stated Mogherini and for Junker and Schulz it will have to take the shape of increasingly closer political integration. (Jan Kordys)