Election season in Europe rarely sets pulses racing. In five I have guaranteed since 1999, Brussels will be bustling with chatter. But the citizens, the people tasked with electing members of Parliament, don’t seem to care. For them, the election is a curiosity, at least an inconvenience to be avoided.
Not this time. This year’s elections, which took place from Thursday to Sunday in all 27 member states, have drawn the attention of Europeans across the continent. I have seen his interest firsthand. In the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and many other places in the past few months, I have spoken to groups of students, specialists and investors – but most often to ordinary citizens.
They listened attentively, barely fiddling with the phone. When it came time for questions, many hands went up. Everyone is interested in the bigger story: whether Ukraine will join the European Union, what can be done about the resurgence of illiberalism and how continental security can be achieved. Above all, he wanted to see what Europe was and where it was going.
What is going on here? Why has politics in Brussels, which has always seemed boring and technocratic, suddenly become almost sexy? The answer is as irresistible as it is surprising. As citizens are drawn more into continental politics, the democratic deficit in Europe slowly begins to evaporate. Amidst the gloom about the right’s progress, another story unfolds, barely visible. Europe will live.
Importantly, support for EU membership among citizens is on the rise. In a recent poll of member states, 74 percent of respondents said they felt like citizens of the European Union – the highest level in more than two decades. Two years ago, 72 percent said their country benefited from EU membership, up from just 52 percent in 2005. This doesn’t mean Europeans are suddenly overjoyed. trade unions and how they work. But he was clearly happier The European Union is outside.
Turnout seems to be going up, too. After the first European elections in 1979, where almost 62 percent of citizens voted, the number of voters dropped continuously, falling to just over 42 percent in 2014. However, in 2019, it rose for the first time to almost 51 percent. This year, it looks set to rise again – suggesting that the rise in 2019 is not an anomaly but the start of a trend. One poll put the intended turnout at 68 percent, nine points higher than last time.
This does not happen in a vacuum. This is a reaction to the fact that Europe – to borrow from former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt – is no longer surrounded by “rings of friends” but “rings of fire”. The world around Europe has been in turmoil in recent years, threatening its borders, peace and an open economy. Brexit, Donald Trump’s presidency in the United States and especially Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine have shaken Europeans to their core.
Feeling weak and exposed, they sought protection from their leaders. National leaders, who make all important decisions in Brussels, have responded. Now they know that they can stop Mr. Putin, manage the pandemic and fight economic competition from China and America only if they act together. To do this, they have started working on European defense, health, energy and other issues that will always remain national.
As always, member states have different opinions on how to handle it. But Europeans find debates about arms for Ukraine or pandemic funding more interesting than those over, say, the new EU telecoms package or child-friendly lighters. No wonder talk shows, podcasts and columns in Europe have proliferated in recent years. Citizens use it to get information and form opinions.
This has changed the public perception of European politics. For decades, citizens have identified Brussels with jargon-filled technical negotiations over chemical quotas or directives. Of course, this is exactly what European integration is supposed to do: depoliticize issues between member states so they don’t escalate and lead to war. The Brussels battle over the fish-or-breakfast directive is a sign of the EU’s success.
But as early as the 1960s, the French historian Fernand Braudel warned that a cold, technocratic Europe could lead to discontent. “It would be a mistake for mankind to serve nothing but a clever number,” he said. “They seem very pale next to the spirit, though not necessarily mindless, which has enlivened Europe in the past.” Now Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and Vladimir Putin have stepped down, jolting European leaders to finally be serious about voters care about: common arms procurement, digital strategy and the rule of law.
These external shocks have other important effects. He persuaded the far-right to reject plans to leave the European Union. Leaders like Marine Le Pen in France and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands realize they will lose a lot outside the union and have instead chosen to emulate Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, who uses EU membership as leverage in European power games. He also saw that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy, after taking over the post-fascist party, has become one of the kings of Europe.
Instead of fighting Brussels from home, far-right leaders are now entering the European stage, hoping to change the institution from within. To paraphrase economist Albert Hirschman, they are substituting the “out” option for the “in” option. This may be bad news, as Europe’s centrist parties seem less equipped to deal with far-right challenges at the European level than at the national level.
There is a real silver lining to this development, however, that some are talking about: The populists inject some drama into European politics. He came to Brussels with insults, oversimplifications and fake news. Already, right-wing candidates’ participation in right-wing debates and arguments has garnered a lot of attention. No wonder. It is loud, mean and vulgar – exactly the kind of theater that has always been present in continental politics at the national level but never at the European level.
Some may object to the spectacle. But this is what democracy is all about: a contest about political views, played out in front of participating citizens. There is no guarantee that the coming disputes and potential upheavals will be to our liking. But, at the very least, it will draw citizens closer to the action and make the continent more democratic. I hope Europe makes the best of it.
