The other view … of EU politics
Following the recent discussions at
the European Parliament and the European Council on the election of the new President
of the European Commission and later on the same week the discussion in the EU
Parliament on Youth Employment, one could certainly gain a lot; not so much
regarding feasible proposals on how to tackle hot issues like youth
(un)employment, but surely a lot on how politics function today.
When referring to politics, many
make the distinction between European and national politics; I, personally,
have not experienced such distinction. The time that EU politicians were
considered as second class politicians to the national ones is over, for good
or for bad reasons. Nowadays, the national politics feed the European agenda and
vice versa. Even in the occasion of UK, and despite the fact that many have
rushed to rule out the Brits as the losers of the European “Job sorting”, these
will be proved wrong. Soon the big players will be dragging their fit to
persuade UK to stay on board; not sure they will succeed. In the case of
extreme right politicians who search for ways to differentiate themselves as self-proclaimed
euro sceptics, the emphasis is on how to use the European platform for domestic
gains and vice versa.
Though many have prematurely
predicted that the presence of the strengthened extreme right in the European
Parliament would bring a change to the way politics will function in the
European bodies, the reality seems to be different from the very beginning.
The rhetoric of Marie Le Pen
inside and outside France is perhaps a good example to demonstrate what is
really on stake. What is hidden in her rhetoric is the racist and often fascist
nature of her political proposals. What is clearly visible in her rhetoric is
her claim for the highest political post in France. Some years ago these agendas were the other
way round. Therefore, it is worth asking the question from where Ms Le Pen
draws her political strength, nerve and ambition.
Let’s think of big European portfolios.
If we take the most agricultural regions of France as an example, where Ms Le Pen
scored highly in the last elections, one could also see that these are areas
which have actually benefitted highly from European funds through the Common
Agricultural Policy (CAP). Why then, agriculture employees who benefited from
EU, vote in favour of a proclaimed “Eurosceptic”?
Whatever it is the answer to this
question, what is really true is the fact that Ms Le Pen has introduced early
enough European politics in her national agenda, only to cash in later in the
elections using the argument that European politics have actually failed! How can
this “clever” and very dangerous approach to politics poison social policies at
national and European level? Similar picture we have in the UK. This time is
not coming from the UKIP but from the Government itself; under the pressure of
the UKIP. Reading through the Review of the Balance of Competences recently
published for different portfolios, you can see the flow of influencing agendas
in UK. “Need for sufficient recognition of local and regional circumstances on
the basis that one size does not fit all but also emphasized the desirability
of maintaining a level playing field” This is written by the British
authorities knowing very well that a domestic scheme for agriculture
(equivalent to CAP) would not produce the same sort of gains for the UK sector.
Back to Le Pen now. With the
momentum Le Pen has, she exerts a lot of pressure on every other political
power in France and in Europe. This leads to coalitions, which in other times
would be considered as unthinkable! The elections of Mr. Juncker and Mr.
Schultz, as President of the European Commission and President of the European
Parliament respectively, are a simple proof of such coalitions. Is this the
end? No, of course not. We are doomed to see similar coalitions at different
levels, both nationally and at European level.
Though forming a coalition is not
necessarily a bad approach, the fear that these coalitions will not have the
clear political stigma that citizens have asked for during the last European
elections, that is, a better Europe for all its citizens, is more than evident!
This strange chemistry will only bring strange politics, which will not be able
to address the real problems of our societies. The new way of performing
(a)politics, which naively many have rushed to welcome, will show that it’s
only a matter of time that people like Le Pen will soon lead the way. And they
will do that by bringing more misery and hate!
July 2014
