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THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
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as a resurgence of state powers unparalleled in the fluctuating but never
monotonous, history of the European Union – a journey forward together
since the end of the Second World War that has supposed greater coop-
eration and convergence (a reduction of the per-capita income gap within
Europe through economic growth), the implementation of common poli-
cies (on monetary issues, trade and the freedom of movement of persons)
and solidarity (cohesion and development assistance).
The economic crisis and its legacy (the deterioration of the welfare state,
growing inequality, the fiscal crisis and the expanding hegemony of
American financial and high-tech companies) have interrupted this forward
momentum. Just when it seemed the laborious recovery from the recession
and reductions in unemployment and deficits would bring an end to a
misguided austerity policy and pave the way for what we envisioned in our
2017 report as “the relaunching of Europe”, the Union finds itself belea-
guered by political and ideological threats jeopardising its integrationist
culture that bear the unmistakeable stamp of old European statism.
These have arisen at the very worst moment possible given that 2018
is a decisive year in which reforms essential to Europe’s future must be
charted out and integrated into 2021-2027 budget proposals and debates
leading up to the upcoming European Parliamentary elections in 2019.
These elections represent a crucial opportunity to give these reforms the
democratic legitimacy required to bring them to fruition.
What are these threats unequivocally linked to anti-Europeanism of the
most reactionary type?
The first is populist nationalism, a perennial thorn in Europe’s side that
has made a lamentable comeback. Phenomena as diverse as the recent
electoral successes of far-right parties in Poland, Hungary, Austria and the
Czech Republic, the independence movements in Catalonia and Northern
Italy and Brexit share an exclusionary, identitarian vision diametrically op-
posed to Europeanism and its supranational objectives.
It is coherent, if paradoxical, that the current crop of nationalist con-
servatives openly sympathizes with leaders not particularly known for their
defence of liberal democracy such as Trump and Putin, both of whom in-
stinctively advocate the centralisation of power.
Inseparably linked is the menace of rekindled authoritarianism in the
heart of continental Europe that cannot be dismissed as a figment of the
imagination or an illusion. The European Commission has invoked Article
7 of the Treaty of European Union against Poland in response to that coun-
try’s violation of fundamental constitutional principles such as the separa-
tion of powers and judicial independence.