Short panoramic views of the member states on the eve of the 25th of May European elections
by Emanuele Bonini
Europe is at a turning point. The 25th of May elections will show what the European Union is about: a combination of states having in nationalism the only thing in common. The future of the EU is at stake, and the idea of Europe is close to the dissolution. Just having a look to the so called "founder fathers" is sufficient to understand what the consideration of European integration is. In France far-right wing nationalist party Front National (FN) will be in all probability the first political force at the election day of the end of May. Eurosceptic and anti-immigration, FN shows how far France from times when Robert Schuman, Jacques Delors, François-Xavier Ortoli and Jacques Delors were in forefront for building the EU up. Italy experienced huge changes as well. In the year of the turning presidency the prime minister decided to suppress the ministry for European Affairs. That alone is enough to understand how Italy deal with Europe. As well as for France, Italy forgot his past and his role in the European project. Italians are not aware of Europe, they don't know anything about and simply don't care, and the 25 of May are going to vote for Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement, populist and Eurosceptic party. What a shame for a country made credible and trustworthy by people such as Alcide De Gasperi, Altiero Spinelli, Franco Maria Malfatti, Gaetano Martino and Enrico Colombo.
The Netherlands stopped to be European since the beginning, in the 80's. Last time the majority of the population went to vote for the European elections was in 1984 (50,9%), and since then the first national party is that of the abstention. Considering those of the 25th of May will be the eight European elections in the history of the EU - the first elections were held in 1979 - in the Netherlands people stop to participate at the second round. Dutch simply don't care, they prefer to preserve their own tradition and their own identity and consider the European Union something useless and even harmful. When finally they came back to vote in mass for European affairs the Dutch referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe gave negative answer to the request of the adoption. It was the first national referendum for over two hundred years, and EU ideas were rejected. In Belgium abstention will be no a problem. First of all because voting is compulsory (law foresees fines in case of non-voting), secondly because Belgians will vote both for local and for federal elections. The problem is austerity measures imposed at EU level will bring a lot of voters to refuse this kind of Europe. Nationalist and Eurosceptic parties are expected to grow, with Vlaams Belang (VB) and New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) expected obtaining seats. But the real problem in Belgium is not Europe: the debate is mainly focused on Flemish independence and Walloon separation. Once again, the interest for EU affairs is strong. In Luxembourg the European Union brought the end of bank secrecy era. It's still too early to can say what will be consequence, but in the Grand duchy many people are not happy for that. Nevertheless Luxembourg will have one of most committed popular participation. Former prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker runs for the presidency of the European Commission. In case of victory he could become the third Luxembourgish at the head of the EU institution: no other countries have had more than two presidents. Germany is the country from the European Union learnt more than all the others, in fact today the country is the most powerful among the member states. Although Germany is today the most European between the six EU founder nations, anti-Europeans grow. AfD- Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany) is the biggest political surprise in Germany. Founded on February 2013, at the German federal election held in September - seven months its creation - the party got 4.7% of the vote failed to overcome the 5% threshold to enter the Bundestag. AfD will bring MEPs to Brussels for sure, marking the turning point of Germany. (1. to be continued)
Europe is at a turning point. The 25th of May elections will show what the European Union is about: a combination of states having in nationalism the only thing in common. The future of the EU is at stake, and the idea of Europe is close to the dissolution. Just having a look to the so called "founder fathers" is sufficient to understand what the consideration of European integration is. In France far-right wing nationalist party Front National (FN) will be in all probability the first political force at the election day of the end of May. Eurosceptic and anti-immigration, FN shows how far France from times when Robert Schuman, Jacques Delors, François-Xavier Ortoli and Jacques Delors were in forefront for building the EU up. Italy experienced huge changes as well. In the year of the turning presidency the prime minister decided to suppress the ministry for European Affairs. That alone is enough to understand how Italy deal with Europe. As well as for France, Italy forgot his past and his role in the European project. Italians are not aware of Europe, they don't know anything about and simply don't care, and the 25 of May are going to vote for Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement, populist and Eurosceptic party. What a shame for a country made credible and trustworthy by people such as Alcide De Gasperi, Altiero Spinelli, Franco Maria Malfatti, Gaetano Martino and Enrico Colombo.
The Netherlands stopped to be European since the beginning, in the 80's. Last time the majority of the population went to vote for the European elections was in 1984 (50,9%), and since then the first national party is that of the abstention. Considering those of the 25th of May will be the eight European elections in the history of the EU - the first elections were held in 1979 - in the Netherlands people stop to participate at the second round. Dutch simply don't care, they prefer to preserve their own tradition and their own identity and consider the European Union something useless and even harmful. When finally they came back to vote in mass for European affairs the Dutch referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe gave negative answer to the request of the adoption. It was the first national referendum for over two hundred years, and EU ideas were rejected. In Belgium abstention will be no a problem. First of all because voting is compulsory (law foresees fines in case of non-voting), secondly because Belgians will vote both for local and for federal elections. The problem is austerity measures imposed at EU level will bring a lot of voters to refuse this kind of Europe. Nationalist and Eurosceptic parties are expected to grow, with Vlaams Belang (VB) and New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) expected obtaining seats. But the real problem in Belgium is not Europe: the debate is mainly focused on Flemish independence and Walloon separation. Once again, the interest for EU affairs is strong. In Luxembourg the European Union brought the end of bank secrecy era. It's still too early to can say what will be consequence, but in the Grand duchy many people are not happy for that. Nevertheless Luxembourg will have one of most committed popular participation. Former prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker runs for the presidency of the European Commission. In case of victory he could become the third Luxembourgish at the head of the EU institution: no other countries have had more than two presidents. Germany is the country from the European Union learnt more than all the others, in fact today the country is the most powerful among the member states. Although Germany is today the most European between the six EU founder nations, anti-Europeans grow. AfD- Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany) is the biggest political surprise in Germany. Founded on February 2013, at the German federal election held in September - seven months its creation - the party got 4.7% of the vote failed to overcome the 5% threshold to enter the Bundestag. AfD will bring MEPs to Brussels for sure, marking the turning point of Germany. (1. to be continued)
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