Abstract
In this chapter, we examine the crisis to the EU, Eurozone and liberal democracy in Europe as a whole. We look at how both EU institutions and national government are perceived as failing “the people”, due to everything from the debt crisis, austerity programme and migration crisis, together with the impact of social media in fuelling popular dissent on both left and right. Consequently, we make clear the urgent need for reform—in particular, on tackling the perceived anti-democratic regime of Brussels, fears about a European “superstate”. The EU Strategic Agenda for 2019–2024 and the results of the May 2019 EU Parliamentary elections are reviewed highlighting what measures will address immigration concerns and long-term economic growth and well-being.
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Notes
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Vox (Latin for “voice”) founded by former members of the Peoples’ Party (PP).
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Europe day on 9th May marked the anniversary of the 1950 Schuman Declaration when European governments concluded that pooling coal and steel production would make war between historic rivals “not merely unthinkable but materially impossible”.
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Britain joined the EEC the forerunner of the EU in January 1973 with Denmark and Ireland, and in a referendum in 1975, the UK electorate voted “yes” by 67.2–32.8% to stay in the EEC under renegotiated terms of entry.
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The UK became a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949.
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The CAP is the agricultural policy of the European Union introduced in 1962 providing agricultural subsidies—originally weighted in favour of France and German farmers—costing 71% of the EU budget in 1984. Its proportion of the EU budget has fallen to 39% in 2013. But Eurostat figures show that agriculture still represents less than 2% of EU GDP.
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Article 2 TEU 2009.
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To be discussed in Chapter 6 “Europe’s Illiberal democracies”.
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Allegations that featured prominently in the 2016 UK Brexit campaign.
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The Liberals (the centrist ALDE group) and the Greens (The European Free Alliance) could—with support for their agenda—be potential allies having gained the largest increase in support.
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Under the terms agreed with EU leaders in Brussels, the UK was given a Brexit extension until 31 October 2019.
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http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2017/583117/IPOL_IDA%282017%29583117_EN.pdf cf.page 9 of the report.
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EUROPEAN COUNCIL DECISION (EU) 2018/ 937 - of 28 June 2018 …
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Offices in London Madrid, Paris Warsaw Rome and Sofia.
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Emigration and declining birth rates is discussed in Chapter 5.
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The EU’s co-operation with a post-Brexit Britain would be a vital component of this policy.
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https://www.ft.com/simon-kuper, 23/24 March 2019.
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The unemployment in Spain stood at 14.7% in first quarter of 2009 and with the seasonally adjusted rate in Greece down to 18.5% in February 2019.
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A German term for lead candidate referring to a European political party’s lead candidate for EU Commission President.
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Interview with Jill Evans MEP 5/9/2019.
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Ten issues to watch in 2019—europarl.europa.eu. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2019/630352/EPRS_IDA(2019)630352_EN.pdf.
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Migration Chapter 4.
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European Parliamentary briefing 22 March 2019.
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Election of Jair Bolsonaro a populist right-wing Brazilian politician 1 January 2019.
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Recognition of the democratic legitimacy of the EU Parliament although no right in the treaties to initiate legislation.
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See Populism Chapter 5.
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Theodore, J. (2019). A Hierarchy of Threats. In: Survival of the European (Dis) Union. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31214-5_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31214-5_1
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