The fact that the European Union is in crisis right now is so obvious that the purpose of this piece is not to provide a primary diagnosis based on the existing and visible symptoms, but rather to sketch the overall clinical picture, the pathology of the disease.
Just as the heart is the central organ of the human body, the European Parliament is the key organ of the European Union, where the slightest anomaly or malfunction either leads to immediate death or causes pathological changes in the body that can damage other organs, thus paralysing the ability to act. It must be said clearly and openly that Europe has been bedridden by a number of chronic illnesses, for quite some time.
The diagnosis is shocking: the EP has turned into a ’payment point’, which activities and recent history have been marked by scandals and phenomena such as the Socialist’s Qatargate scandal, the massive increase in the influence of authoritarian regimes and other foreign governments, the espionage games of Russia and China, and many others. As strange as it may sound, this is not the biggest problem with the EP, as all these are only surface symptoms, but none of them are the root cause.
There are two key aspects worth paying attention to when looking for root causes – one of them is internal and value-based perspective, while the other one is external and driven by geopolitical interests.
In order to have a better understanding of the situation, it’s worth comparing the Europe of the 1970s and the first European Parliament with that of our days.
The 1970s cannnot be assessed as an easy time for Europe, but in 1973, in the midst of the oil crisis, three more member states (Denmark, Ireland and the UK) joined the six members of the European Community (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, France, Italy), and in the next two years (1974-75) new democracies were born in Portugal, Greece and Spain to replace the authoritarian regimes which later also joined the Community. After all this, the 1970s were crowned by a historic achievement: in June 1979, the first direct elections to the European Parliament were held.
In the 1970s, European politicians made great efforts to bring the European states and their citizens closer together. What an ambitious and noble initiative! At that time, the European Parliament played the role of the ’heart of Europe’ and this heart was beeting at a good pace thanks to the abundance of creative energy and wonderful ideas coming from ambitious member states – the group which was then called a ’Community’.
By contrast, what’s going on in Europe and in the European Parliament these days?
For pressing the YES / NO / ABSTENTION buttons, MEPs earn huge amounts of money and, are not accountable either for their votes, or for their working hours, which by now have been reduced to an average of three days a week. Ukraine, which is not ready for EU membership is welcomed, while the Western Balkans are left behind. Strangely enough, it seems that MEPs often can’t afford not only proper and descent outfits and a dentist, not to mention that brilliant ideas are also not very frequent among this group of people. The fact that Euroscepticism is on the rise in Europe, along with other significant political motives, may also be attributed to these phenomena.
The fact that everyone has the right to express his or her opinion in the EP is not enough to call it democracy. Democracy also means that everyone is equally subject to the law, everyone must respect it, i.e. the law is obligatory for the law-makers as well.
How many laws, amendments, reports, conclusions, agreements, plans etc. have been adopted by the EP last year? I’ll help: too much. And no one could tell what these documents were about. How many European citizens can name at least one single EP initiative that is constructive for the EU as a whole, non-exclusionary and beneficial to citizens? Well, it’s not that easy to find one.
To cite just one good example, the Conference on the Future of Europe, a joint proposal of the European Commission and the European Parliament in 2019, which involved in a debate on Europe not only European institutions but citizens and NGOs, had the potential to find answers to the most burning questions and give a boost to Europe. In the end, just like many other similar initiatives, it turned out to be a balloon – the Conference on the Future of Europe was closed in 2022 as if it never existed. All its results were immediately dropped. End of story.
In terms of the external impacts and influences faced by the EU, the activities of global networks are certainly deserve to be mentioned. The apparent exit of the Soros empire from Europe and the relocation of its offices to Africa and Asia is a clear sign of the shift of focus in the world. It’s both ridiculous and bizarre that the Soros network is ahead of Europe even in this regard…! However, given George Soros’ the several meetings in Brussels EU leaders in recent years, it’s not surprising that Soros’ global network promoting migration and open societies is aware not only of Europe’s intentions and plans, but also of the details changes in world politics.
The answer to the question whether there are external actors interested in marginalising Europe both economically, politically and in moral sense, can only be a big YES – this is obvious, and, sadly, among the players that can be identified, in addition to global networks, the outlines of the United States, Europe’s long-time ally can also be seen. It shouldn’t be forgotten that it was the the Biden administration that, indirectly, dragged Europe into the Russian-Ukrainian war by forcing on Europe the absolute necessity of arms supplies to Kyiv. It was also in the interest of the U.S. to cut Europe off from Russian gas and other raw materials, which, according to their proposal, can be easily substituted by more expensive American resources.
The American influence on the European Commission has become tangible over the past few years, not to mention the European Parliament where the loudest voting puppets serve American interests on a daily basis.
So, Europe’s chronic illnesses result from the combination of internal problems and external influences, but especially from the fact that Europe has a sick heart. Whether the detected harmful tendencies are curable or irreversible and fatal will soon become clear. The next periodical internal control will take place between 6-9 June 2024, when Europe will be called to the polls. Let’s all wish our beloved patient a full recovery! Europe deserves to get well. To achieve this, the decision on the future of Europe must remain in the hands of Europeans.
