Originally appeared at A-specto, translated by Borislav exclusively for SouthFront
The deep division and the “EU on two-speeds”
Recently, European Commission President Juncker supported his idea of a “two-speed Europe”. This action underlines the stubbornness of the European elite, who refuses to reform. “Two-speed Europe” aims to consolidate the rich core of the EU, which apparently wants to continue the current course of management. The biggest opponent of this idea would be the Visegrad Four and the countries around it. A country like Hungary, for example, would never venture to wipe out its national sovereignty and submit to Juncker’s plans. The policy of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is at complete odds with the ideas of the Brussels administration and is a cause for its hysterical attacks.
Brexit was a big blow to Juncker and his absurd ideas about the future of the EU. The British showed that they are pragmatists. The unchanging Euro-elite failed to fool them. The Englishman wants concrete benefits and policies, not crumbs in the form of EU funds for parks, highways and refugee camps. He does not want ethnic replacement and foolish investments in disastrous migration future. Britain leaving woke an unprecedented fury in Brussels. Juncker faced a frontal collision with the train of reality. But did the European elite take lessons? Apparently not, if its attempting a revenge on Britain with threats to kick it out of the trade free zone and the free movement of people.
Disputes in the EU will increasingly sharpen in view of the forthcoming elections in the Netherlands, France, Germany, and why not in Bulgaria. All elections in 2017 are important. Questions about the future of the union, its reform and the harm of Merkel’s refugee policy must stand central to any debate.
The current European “elite” in the face of Juncker and the entourage around him, has for years created the illusion that “Europe is too big to be reformed.” Europe should not change, even if it leads a suicidal policy. The system was clear – the European Commission passed down solutions that states were obliged to comply with. If however someone who opposes the policy of open doors appears, a politician like Orban for example, against him is triggered the whole arsenal of political correctness. The same is observed in Bulgaria – if anyone is against the “too big to reform Europe” – he is immediately stigmatized to be racist, xenophobic and anti-European.
We also observe another interesting phenomenon – the howling of the European status quo against the “rising populism”. Many “analysts” try to convince us that people are intoxicated by the effect of “Trump”. They’re trying to plant the opinion that imbecilic and simple people have chosen Donald Trump and those dazed by his success are willing to do the same in Europe. This proves one thing – the Brussels tactics of spreading fear works. This tactic was implemented through the language of political correctness which claims that any alternative to the current EU will be detrimental. But is that so?
One of the landmark economists of our time, Joseph Stiglitz, released his new book. It is titled “The euro. How a common currency threatens the future of Europe.” Other economists, such as Germany’s Martin Wolf unite around the idea that Germany is the biggest problem of the Eurozone because it is the largest creditor in it. If you go beyond economic discussion and get back to the refugee problem, we will see that in the EU there’s a crusade against the status quo. The rise of Marine Le Pen in France and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands are not at all accidental. They are the result of extremely inefficient and obviously wrong policy. However, European leaders continue to explain to us that everything is roses. They want to make us believe that the problems of migration, turmoil in the Eurozone and the growing inequality are simply a slight drizzle in the European garden. Rain, which is gently spraying and will go away by itself. But the truth is that we face a thunderstorm. To borrow a metaphor, the situation in Europe can be compared to hurricanes in America, and if we do not take action, Europe will be swept away like storms swept away entire neighborhoods.
A look at Bulgaria
The country has important elections. The mantra of EU defenders is that Bulgaria has only one path – that of obedience. We must closely follow Juncker’s instructions, no matter how suicidal they are. In this plan of a “two-speed Europe”, Bulgaria will surely be placed in the peripheral countries? Not that its different now, but obviously this is not a problem for liberals – they want it to remain so. Liberal politicians in our country refuse to adapt to new realities, demonstrating foolish obstinacy and inadequacy. Anyone who dares to state the real problems facing the EU is automatically stigmatized as an enemy of democracy and freedom.
The debate must be connected primarily with the benefits of our EU membership. Bulgaria must firmly oppose policies that penalize our economy. Obedience dooms us to a slow and painful death. It is high time to stop the propaganda of EU funds. Bulgaria should be required to seek economic self-initiative within the union. If we want to be strong we need to defend our national interests and openly oppose harmful ideas, even when they come from the highest level.
Stubbornness by the American model
The same obstinacy was observed within the American bankers before the crisis of 2008 – they refused to admit their own failure and the looming crisis. Politicians in the face of President Bush and the Fed manager spoke about a “tiny crisis” that poses no danger. We all saw what happened. Currently Europe behaves just like the American elites before the crisis – they refused to recognize their own mistakes. Worse than that is that the European elite refuses to reform, despite daily evidence that its policies in any field do not have a fair result. On the contrary, they reinforce inequality and create even greater social tension. A barricade is formed in the EU – on one side the Euro-elite are defending their absurd ideas, while the other side are nations that can not continue like this. One thing is certain – Europe can not continue to smolder in the current absurdity.