My Dear Friend of Democracy,
What are the consequences of yesterday's European Parliament elections?
The answer lies in looking at the challenges Europe faces.
In my opinion, these are the most outstanding:
1) Europe must learn to protect itself. For a long time, Europe spent a relatively small amount on military security. A low threat and the strong protection partner, USA, made this possible. Now, the danger has increased, and the USA is no longer reliably on Europe's side.
2) Europe needs more (environmentally friendly) growth. Europe requires a strong economy, among other things, to invest in its security. However, the dynamics are weak, and in relation to the global economy, especially with regard to China and the USA, the European economic share is becoming increasingly smaller.
3) Europe needs climate protection. Europe is on the right track regarding climate policy, especially compared to the rest of the world. Emissions have been falling significantly. But so far, it has mainly been those emissions that were relatively easy to reduce that have been reduced. Now, it starts to hurt.
4) Europe is ageing and shrinking. In 2022, 3.9 million people were born in Europe, 5.2 million died.
5) The European Union wants to grow. Nine states are waiting to join the EU. If this does not happen in the foreseeable future, these states will turn away from the European Union.
The challenges determine what needs to be done:
The development of a European defence with significantly higher military spending,
a further development of the European internal market with common rules for more economic growth,
a consistent continuation of European climate protection
more immigration, especially of young people, to combat an ageing European society,
the end of the unanimity principle for many European decisions would allow a larger EU to remain capable of acting and shrink the blackmail potential of authoritarian EU governments.
In the European Parliament elections, right-wing to extreme right-wing and Eurosceptic parties, in particular, won. These parties want to strengthen the nation-states rather than the European level. They are worried about too much immigration. They are stirring up sentiment against the rising costs of climate protection. They are sceptical about expanding the European Union, and they cling to the principle of unanimity.
So, to answer the question from the beginning: When growing together and standing together in Europe is more important than ever, those political forces that do not want this have become stronger. Therefore, none of the challenges facing the EU will be easier to solve in the next legislative session of the European Parliament.
It can hardly be put any other way: Yesterday was a bad day for my continent.
See you in Europe,
Johannes
PS: Hopefully, optimism will return tomorrow.
We need to find the antidote to the temptation of "Kirchturmpolitik"!
(For non German speakers: The only things that matter are the ones I can see from the top window of my church tower. And I can fix these best myself)
Here the federalisation of rhe EU and the subsidiarity principle come into play. Because a lot of things rhat matter to people can be done better at the l
ocal or regional level.
But finding the right balance between centralisation and decentralisation is a process never to be completed. These terms have to be continuously renegotiated.
Yes, it was a bad day. It's a good opportunity to examine why this has happened and why the message of the far right resonates with the younger generation.