Nationalism

A shadow looms over Europe. Everywhere, new borders are sprouting up overnight like mushrooms.

The idea of Europe becomes much more than simply an idea when people, overcoming the uncertainty – if not outright hostility – of states, act according to borderless solidarity.

The political Left in Europe appears to have given up on trying to put forward a positive picture of migration.

Thirty years on from its transition to democracy after Franco, Spain faces a new transition to another system of government, which has yet to be defined.

After the end of the Cold War and the renaissance of nationalism and of the concomitant abuses of human rights of the worst kind, the pacifism that had been one of the German Greens’ founding principles came into increasing conflict with its active defence of human rights.

The Yes campaign in Scotland – which includes Greens and progressives of all parties and none – has inspired a vast swathe of the country that has been ignored by the neoliberal parties. If this demographic turns out to vote on the 18th of September, it could determine the result…

Do we really want more Europe, integration and solidarity? Or should we perhaps first ask exactly what ‘more Europe, integration and solidarity’ should look like? The results of the European elections in Poland show that ‘old federalism’ is retreating.

The Fifth Republic in France has become characterised by an increasingly narrow political class, while the political engagement of citizens has plummeted. The EU has not succeeded in improving these weaknesses in democracy, which can only be surmounted through a successful campaign for deep reform: a transition to the Sixth Republic.

The economic crisis and the democracy crisis share some of the same causes: redefining the ideal of democracy, the impotence of current regulatory methods in the face of collective decision-making, and a crisis within political programmes.

From the European elections of last month, a number of overarching trends can be identified among voters’ choices and behaviour. Although voting patterns varied between countries, a number of broad conclusions can be drawn which give some indication of the form the next Parliament is likely to take, and some of the key challenges it will face.