Politics

اوروبا ومعاداة اوروبا

May 30, 2015 Joschka Fischer

برلين- لقد واجه الاتحاد الاوروبيمنذ سنة 2008 عندما اندلعت الازمة المالية العالمية سلسلة من الازمات :الازمة اليونانية المتصاعدة والهيمنة الثأرية الروسية في اوكرانيا وازمة اللاجئين في البحر الابيض المتوسط

(والمرتبطة بشكل وثيق بالازمة الاقليمية في الشرق الاوسط والحروب المختلفة في افريقيا). ان هذه الازمات قد شكلت ضغطا كبيرا على قوى الاتحاد الاوروبي ومؤسساته بشكل يفوق امكانياتها ولهذا السبب كان الرد الاوروبي ضعيف الى حد كبير.

ان انعدام فعالية المؤسسات والهياكل الحالية في وجة التهديدات اليومية يهدد الان شرعية الاتحاد الاوروبي لأن مواطني اوروبا يدعون لحلول من الواضح ان الاتحاد الاوروبي غير قادر والى حد ما غير راغب بتوفيرها. ان احد هذه العواقب هو تآكل الدعم للاتحاد الاوروبي بين الناخبين في الدول الاعضاء فيه .

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0 Comments on this paragraph, 15 Comments on this article

Pepy Sakellariou Jun 4, 2015

EU - EZ It took ages to build it and just a Grexit to dissolve it.
That's the result of choosing enlargement instead of convergence at that critical point, at the past, where leaders took that decision.
Let's hope that leaders today can foresee that there is only one way for Europe and that's not spending their time in "blackmails" or insisting on punishments reminiscent of religious obsessions.
This crisis must be solved now or markets will start to think EZ is nothing more than the next bubble to burst. If EZ can't afford to solve Grcrisis then it's not strong enough to face anything.
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Taavo Savik Jun 1, 2015

Joschka is good in describing feeling what has gradually made way into european mind. Especially when he openly confessing possibilty EU as we know it now will soon over.To became this or similar conclusion are many reasons. But not those he use here as arguments. Greece has stayed in EZ since 2008 financial crisis. Does there anything change since then? Why we think it will much different in future?
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Matthew McCarthy Jun 1, 2015

The crisis in the EU started before the financial crisis, when the European Union leadership chose to ignore the rejection of the EU Constitution and continue integrating more powers in Brussels than were democratically supported. The EU has a fundamental problem with lack of democratic support which is based on ignoring their limited mandate. Over-reach by Brussels has weakened the ability to respond to other issues. In particular, if the EU were to address their issues with democratic legitimacy it would defang the anti-EU movements being supported by Russia. The Greek situation in some sense is also a problem of overreach in the sense that markets might not have allowed the level of Greek borrowing without the implicit understanding of EU bailout inherent in Brussel's overreach.
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Ioannis Glinavos Jun 1, 2015

For a solution to be found, popular support is vital. The Greek and the German government have been both complaining about a propaganda war that is obstructing the truth and makes the successful conclusion of negotiations difficult. Talking to a German friend recently, I realised that what is considered obvious on the one side, is far from clear to the other. I thought therefore of laying out my personal take on Greece's recent history, in the hope that this will give the German public a different narrative from the often hostile rhetoric of Greek media and (many) politicians. See here: https://iglinavos.wordpress.com/2015/05/28/i-would-like-to-thank-the-german-people-a-letter-to-germany/
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j. von Hettlingen May 31, 2015

Joschka Fischer says this "Europe and Anti-Europe" debate in recent years reflects the inability of EU leaders to deal with "a succession of crises: the escalating Greek crisis; Russian revanchism in Ukraine; and the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean." They have indeed caught Europe on the wrong foot, as its "powers and institutions" had been stretched "beyond their limits." It explains why EU leaders have been slow to respond. Yet they have no time to waste, as their citizens have become impatient. To resolve the crises requires reforms, something that the "EU is unable and partly unwilling to provide," prompting an "erosion" of popular support for the Union.
The coming months will be decisive for the future of the EU. It remains to be seen, whether Greece will leave the Eurozone and Britain the Union. Moreover all eyes will be on the general election in Spain later this year. There's fear that many Spanish voters might ride a wave of anti-austerity sentiments and follow in Greece's footsteps.
In case of a worse-case scenario, when "Euroskeptic and nationalist forces" have the upper hand, the "nearly 60 years of European integration – the entire European project" could go up in smoke. This would pose "the greatest danger that Europe has faced since the Cold War’s end." Fischer maintains EU leaders currently fail "to acknowledge and rise to the challenges they confront." Indeed it's time for them to get their act together. But can they? Given the 60 years of stability many Europeans had become self-satisfied, unware of possible dangers.
Although both Greece and its creditors have no desire for a "Grexit," there may be no tears shed for Greece's leaving the Eurozone. Yet David Cameron's threat of taking Britain out of the Union worries EU leaders more, and his demand for reform might find a sympathetic ear. Even if the Brits and - especially - the Scotts would opt for a yes, their in/out referendum on Britain's EU membership should serve as a wake-up call to the Eurocrats in Brussels to act.
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E Walker May 31, 2015

Nationalism is used by political elites and the wealthy to distract the public from the economic problems they face. Those financial problems are caused by the filthy rich in their drive to squeeze out all the money and keep it for themselves. Then when the public is financially ruined, we get a war.
Economists and other people ignorant of history will let this happen again.
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hari naidu May 31, 2015

Error: May be...
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hari naidu May 31, 2015

May this Frankfurt *rebel* is getting older, cynical or even senile - Grexit or UK & Ukraine fate will not define future history of Rome Treaty (1958).
What will inevitably define EU is its cumbersome institutions and inability to formalize closer (fiscal) union - repeatedly demanded by ECB/Draghi. Macroeconomic symmetry demands not only a coherent infrastructure but, above all,
inclusive political governance.
EU doesn't have it yet - in spite of Lisbon Treaty. Berlin/Paris are playing Russian roulette with future of EU governance - ie. too preoccupied with internal domestic demands and political intransigence....
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doug barlow May 31, 2015

What you're suggesting is to allow blackmail to succeed.
Should Europe give in to Greece and the UK, who next.
- Jean Pierre de Lutz Jun 1, 2015
  
  Greece is the EU's basket case, they should never have been allowed to join the euro, but we all know who cooked the books to provide the illusion... the same financial interests that brought about the 2008 crisis. Failing this Greece might have been able to reform.
  The UK is a different picture, their main achilles' tendon is the City. Yes Cameron dug the hole he must climb out of or wait for the TTIP and the new economic paradigm in which business rules. I fear for Europe's societal model it will impact for the worse.
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jagjeet sinha May 31, 2015

Irredentism has caused more bloodshed in European history - the peace that followed from 1945 was built upon acceptance of boundaries.
When Superpowers collide, the best guarantee for peace is respect for each other's Spheres - and each works within its own to strengthen.
However since the collapse of USSR, the European Union seems to have rekindled irredentism - beginning with Russian desire for a common home.
First the East Germans rejoined, then East Europe, now Ukraine.
Then the spectacle of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Albania followed when Yugoslavia broke up.
Then existing boundaries are threatened - Scotland, Catalonia, Flanders, Bavaria, Lombardy...who knows what else is next.
The Union has unleashed irredentism in a repeat of history - whereas the narrative that politics must script is for a Future of Hope n Harmony.
While those at the heart of the Union - not threatened by their faultlines yet - perhaps rejoicing at the revenge from their rancorous past.
When the same Europeans migrated to America Australia and Canada, irredentism was buried - all joined them together to script One Future.
One Language perhaps above all ensured Free Migration and Full Mobility.
That is evidently not possible in Europe - but the alternative is certainly not One Religion.
For European history is smeared with the forces unleashed by sectarianism.
Perhaps the most critical is the Economics - not Politics - that spreads growth like never before.
That creates the need not to incessantly migrate outwards but generate magnetic growth that needs inward migration.
So that the Regions do not threaten to tear apart into Nations.
The common currency must guarantee the creation of 'New Brussels' across the Union - in Greece, in Catalonia, in Bavaria, in Lombardy.
Like The Anglosphere created Tens of New Londons across their Sphere.
Because if history is to remember The Union, it must be one that solved problems rather than created them.
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John Brian Shannon May 31, 2015

HI Joschka,

While I'm an admirer of yours, I can't find much to agree with in this particular post.

Since Europe's beginnings the sky has been falling. There is no new news there.

And like the bumblebee that (apparently) defies the laws of physics, it flies on anyway.

Every single year since 1945, the European experiment should have failed. But it didn't. And it won't.

Because at the end of every day, there is more benefit to staying together, than to break apart.

And while that means plenty of frustrations until more commonality exists, it also means that rational people will work in their own best interests to keep the various European projects alive, such as the EU, the EZ, the ECB, NATO, and other organizations that benefit much more than they 'cost'.

"Since 2008, when the global financial crisis erupted, the European Union has been confronted by a succession of crises: the escalating Greek crisis; Russian revanchism in Ukraine; and the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean (which is inextricably linked to the regional crisis in the Middle East and Africa’s various wars). These crises have stretched the EU’s powers and institutions up to – and beyond – their limits, which is why Europe’s response has been so mortifyingly weak." -- Joschka Fischer

Well. That is only true if you believe it to be true.

Perception is reality, after all. Therefore, it *must* be true, or is it?

"The problem is not the problem, the problem is your attitude about the problem." -- Captain Jack Sparrow

If you think the Greek situation is a 'crisis' -- well then, that is your perception telling you that.

If you think 'Russian revanchism' is a 'crisis' -- well, again, that is your perception.

If you think that refugees dying to get into Europe is a problem, then it is a problem.

If you think "the EU's powers have been stretched to - and beyond - their limits" by your examples, what will Europe do if it ever encounters a 'real problem' -- such as a full military attack by Russia, or re-0ccupation of eastern Europe by Russia to the Cold War borders?

And what do we know about problems? They are questions which haven't been accompanied by satisfactory solutions. Yet.

We can worry about the present state of things, or we can rise above our problems and (after careful research) solve them. Just as humanity has been doing for thousands of years.

And I would like to add, so has Europe been doing for hundreds of years. I fully expect that the present crop of EU leaders are fully capable and will solve the present 'crises' -- which in the grand scheme of things are Lilliputian problems created by humans who have the ability to solve those problems.

Political darwinism will reward the 'fittest' politicians and their various projects, whilst those not up to the task will find other, more suitable employment.

The EU will survive and solve the problems it faces, just as it has been doing, and as it will continue to do.

I just don't see Europeans 'shooting themselves in the head' over internecine squabbles. There is too much to lose.

I very much appreciate your concerns Joschka and I'm glad that you draw attention to these things, but I respectfully disagree with your perceptions and thereby, your conclusions.

As always, very best regards, JBS
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Petey Bee May 30, 2015

Good article, but last paragraph implies that Russia is an existential threat
to the EU ?!

Put down the crack pipe, good sir! You still have important work to do...
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Paul A. Myers May 30, 2015

It is possible that a Greek exit might leave the Eurozone stronger, more cohesive, and more integrated. The EZ is the future core of the EU. Allowing peripheral states like the UK more leeway in the greater EU does not weaken the EZ. In fact, the EZ might be stronger if the EU periphery has less sway over its integration processes.

But the EZ does have to deliver to its citizens. Challenges must be met more strongly and in a concerted way for EZ citizens to have greater confidence in the EZ.
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Bruno Berewono May 30, 2015

An article from the rebel realist discussing in his view the major challenges confronting Europe and ways of addressing that. Whist Yuliya Tymoshenko believes the future of Europe will be determined by the happenings in Ukraine, Mr Joschka believes it's rather Greece that shapes the future of Europe.. Well events will prove to everyone sooner than later. On the whole i'm completely disappointed in his refusal to discuss the immigration crisis facing Europe. How many more migrants will die before European leaders wake up to the realisation that concrete actions needs to be taken to end this dilemma? Just thinking aloud....
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