European idea faces debacle at the European election

On May 25, the citizens of the European Union have to elect a new parliament. But while the different parties start their campaign, my concern is growing that the election will end in a debacle for the European idea.

The attention to the European elections was low in the past and additionally now there is a growing refusal of the European Union in the public. It is imaginable that a quarter of the next European Parliament consists of members from more or less radical left and right parties.
But even if these forces only reached between 15 and 20 % of seats, it would be a setback for the European Idea too.

But I suppose that my concern is reasonable. For example in Austria there is the FPÖ, in France the Front National, in the Netherlands we have Geert Wilders, in Hungary Jobbik, and in Greece the Golden Dawn. Beside these parties from the right corner, in some countries there are more or less strong communists too. Both, the left and the right Anti-European forces, have a significant strength in Europe.

And to this strength of these Anti-European parties there is coming the weakness of the Pro-Europeans. Especially the economical and financial crisis in Europe or how it was managed has caused a loss of trust in the established parties. For example the Front National in France profits by Hollandes disability to solve the crisis in France.
In Spain we have the same. The centre-left PSOE was replaced in 2011 by the centre-right PP, but the situation in Spain did not really change. Now the Spanish communists are expected to take advantage of this situation.

But also in Germany without mass unemployment and recession the chances of the Anti-European parties are not bad. Even if we only look on the right sector, the NPD and the AfD are expected to come in the European Parliament with together 5 – 10% of the German seats.
If we add the left “Linke”, which is not really Europhile, the Anti-European forces could reach up to 20 % of the seats.

All in all I suppose that the mixture of the lack of interest in the public, the economical problems in different countries and the strength of Anti-European parties is quite dangerous.

Polls for each EU country on www.electio2014.eu

Deutsche Variante: Europäische Idee steht bei der Europawahl vor Debakel (www.mister-ede.de – 01.04.2014)