The Rapt of Europe

Europe is sitting on a time-bomb. Imagine a more democratic European Parliament, hostage to anti-democratic, anti-EU forces. Far-fetched scenario ? No, unfortunately realistic, even a probable one, due to a head collision of opposing factors in the making.

First of all, Europe has accumulated an ever-growing frustration and discontent, due to the lack of a real democratic functioning. The populations of the Union have the impression that the European institutions do not listen to them, nor do they reflect their daily problems. The attempt of a badly prepared project of a European Constitution failed after popular rejection in France and the Netherlands. The Lisbon Treaty, forced through bypassing a direct vote, further enraged the European citizens. To try and compensate, some progress was made in it, by giving more power to the European Parliament, with a bigger say in decisions and even a participation in the election of a President of the European Commission. A historical breakthrough, considering the democratic deficit and opaque decision-making process, that has largely contributed to the absence of an European feeling, passion and engagement on the part of the rank-and-file citizens of the 28 countries. 

The European democracy is however particularly vulnerable during such difficult growth pains. They are accompanied by serious pressures and tensions in the national democracies, through a harsh period of different crisis break-points. Various nationalist, souverainist, extreme-right and other isolationist movements thrive on fears and uncertainty, prosper on proposing destructive tactics and dead-end strategies through mirage “solutions”. As they often have hard time passing through majoritarian barriers on country level, the entirely proportional system for European elections offers a perfect field of expression, with the double advantage of getting them ever-so-close to the “enemy” they vow to crush. In the current composition of the EP, one of their groups bears nothing less than the pompous title of “Europe of Freedom and Democracy” - a nice show of Orwellian double-talk, that may remind one of the Democratic Popular Republics of past and present. To the point that when one enters “Europe, freedom, democracy” in the search engine, the party comes in first.

According to a series of recent opinion polls on the next European elections, those far-right, independence and other eurosceptic movements may win between one fourth and one third of the seats. If we look at four of the most populated countries on the continent, in opinion polls this spring :

• The nationalists of UKIP, the Independence party in the United Kingdom soared to 27% coming first, 4% over Labour and beating the Tories into third place. The party forms the backbone of “Europe of Freedom and Democracy” and their leader Nigel Farage, has sworn to take out the country from the EU.

• In France, the far right National Front chief Marine Le Pen has done the same. Deputy in the current European Parliament (though without immunity, prior to a court trial), she is sitting among the “non-inscrits” (“independents” in political affiliation), together with the extreme right parties of Austria, Hungary or Bulgaria. In a French poll this spring the National Front came out in an even prediction with the governing socialists and the right-wing opposition.

• Poland's PiS (“Law and Justice”) of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, staunchly conservative and eurosceptic, is leading a May poll as well, with 26%. This may swell their quota in the next EP, in the group of “Conservatives and Reformists” (“reforms” meaning tuning down further integration).

• Undermining that integration will also be the task of the followers of former comic Beppe Grillo in Italy, who are certainly to send an important contingent in Strasbourg, to accompany the efforts of the far-right Northern League.

In the European Parliament, representatives of only those four big countries could contribute to a bloc with a heavy negative say in the continent's immediate future. They may be dispersed between two-three political groups and the “non-inscrits”, far from the majority, but together with the rest of the far-right, eurosceptic deputies, their number could be sufficient to build a serious Trojan Horse and sabotage the whole idea of a more united and coherent Europe.

On top of this, these forces may be joined in an anti-”this”-Europe vote by some of the representatives of the other end of the political spectrum, at the far-left. Unhappy with the current state of the EU, with the idea to “blow it up”, or re-found it, but not anti-”all”-Europe as the extreme-right, they do not aim to destroy the European ideal and close-in national frontiers. On the contrary, while fighting for much more solidarity, interaction, these forces prone opening up and even internationalisation instead of europeanisation.

An uncanny paradox lies in the collision of the two sets of factors. For the first time in its history, after painful efforts, the European institutions edge up to a true direct democratic representation with real power and responsibility, the fragile process could be nipped in the bud by enemies from the inside. A possibility of a deeper democratic attention and unified continental solutions on many common issues could be kidnapped, seriously jeopardised in a destructive instead of a constructive togetherness. Many Europeans are just too fed up and tired to care anymore. No “classical” political forces seem to represent their protest vote on the real causes of the so called crisis, excruciating on the poor, pauperising the middle class, and yet so beneficial for the happy few – who are happier and happier. If no “normal” politicians show sufficient will and resolve to tackle the hardships, well, they'll go it alone. Fear does not foster generosity. Come in, through a door wide open, the representatives hostile to any solution through more solidarity, through more or better Europe. And the irony is, this time they will have much more power and leverage. The age when it seemed it did not matter much who was sitting in the European parliament is over.

The situation is strangely fermenting in a way, not so far removed from the recent Arab revolutions. Democratic advancement, the pent up hope during the uprisings and the popular protests was confiscated by forces profoundly hostile to the idea of a true democracy. Islamic fundamentalists rode on the changes to come to power in a legal manner. Another example of usurping the spirit of democracy, closer to home but further back in time, were the first elections in Eastern Europe after 1989, often stolen by the communist parties after decades of crushing any free expression.