The Collapse of the West
Written by Alfonso Elizondo
At present there are serious political problems in Europe: The Prime Minister of Austria was overthrown by a vote of confidence. In Germany, Green Party members chased members of the Social Democratic Party for second place on the podium. In Romania the leader of the governing party was convicted of corruption and sent to prison. In France the party of Chirac and Sarkosy has only 8% of the voters. In the United Kingdom only the Queen is still standing and the parties in the government represent less than 25% of the total votes. In Italy, the extreme right beat all other parties and in Greece, the Prime Minister had to call early elections. All this happened between May 25 and 27 of this year.
Across Europe, politicians are suffering a lot. Some crashed, others made a comeback and others are going along aimlessly. European Union voters were united as never before, and they voted along nationalist lines sending a message of distrust to the traditional parties and showing a desire for renewal.
The Europeans have formed a parliament in Brussels that reflects the political landscape of their respective countries which are fragmented, pluralistic, have higher voter participation and are in the middle of political change.
Geopolitics today has returned to a world that has nothing to do with the Cold War but is more anarchic, with Russia and China fighting to break US influence and seeking a multipolar distribution of power. In other words, the European Union has to fight in earnest for its geopolitical interests or it will become irrelevant.
It is precisely now that these movements are taking place that Europe must be firmer as it is getting stuck in its internal problems. The same thing is happening with ‘Brexit’ and with the problems caused by the confrontation between the authorities in Brussels and the governments of Poland, Hungary and Italy.
All these problems stem from the new global configuration, increased nationalism, the Russia threat to Poland and the fact that China has found in Italy an appropriate partner for its investments. Today Europe is subject to the ups and downs of global geopolitical tensions, most notably mass migration from Africa and Syria.
The biggest internal division in Europe comes not only from the bad negotiations between London and Brussels, but also from relations with China and Russia, as well as the banning of Huawei on 5G platforms. However, the step taken by Italy to join the Silk Road is disrupting the unity within the European Union.
This is in addition to Germany’s decision to guarantee access to Russian gas through the two Nord Stream pipelines at a time when European Union policy is to reduce the energy dependence on Moscow. All this is making it impossible for Europe to come together again.
The outcome of the May 26 elections will determine whether Europe is moving towards unity or fragmentation.
Addendum: According to the information about the electoral process available so far, there will almost certainly to be an unprecedented breakup of Europe, aggravated by the political crisis in Israel and the Arab countries.