Fragmentation in Europe

European voters showed their anger, discontent and frustration during the ninth European parliament elections across the 28 countries of European Union.

They channelled their anger and discontent through different political forces in each country. In some countries like Italy, France, Hungry, Poland and Britain, populist nationalist, anti-immigration, and Euro-sceptic rightwing parties have made gains, increasing their share of seats from 20 percent to 25 percent.

In Germany, Ireland, Finland, Netherlands and Belgium, the Greens emerged strongly. The Greens also made gains in France and Britain. Both the Social Democratic parties and rightwing capitalist parties suffered losses. Both centre-right and centre-left parties lost their overwhelming majority and domination in the European parliament for the very first time since 1979. They lost at least 70 seats and will now need the support of both the Greens and the Liberals to pass legislation and make policy decisions in parliament.

If the Greens routed the once mighty Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Germany than the Brexit Party in Britain trounced the Tories. The German Social-Democratic Party (SPD) suffered its worst percentage vote, 15.8 percent, since the 1887 election when it was not a legal party.

In Britain, the grand old Conservative Party received the embarrassing worst result of its two hundred years of history. It came fifth with less than 10 percent (9.1 percent) vote. These European elections have far-reaching consequences for national governments in many countries. There seems to be some kind of political upheaval and turmoil in Europe. These results are just the reflection of the instability and turmoil that has existed in Europe since 2008.

The turnout was 51 percent, as 257 million out of total 512 million voters went to the polling stations. This is the highest turnout in a European election in two decades. The reason behind the high turnout seems to be the increased polarisation between pro-EU and Euro-sceptic forces.

The opposition to the EU is coming from two forces. The populist, far right and nationalist parties and groups are opposing the EU because they want more powers for the national governments. For them, European integration is going too far and eroding national sovereignty and independence.

The working masses, on the other hand, are opposing the EU – looking at it as an institution of the capitalist class imposing austerity, cuts on social programmes and the welfare state and promoting neoliberal free market policies. They blame the EU for their falling living standards and stagnant wages. They want to get rid of cuts, austerity and the neoliberal onslaught on their wages, housing benefits, working conditions, social security protection, jobs and welfare. There are real concerns about jobs; immigration, health, education and falling incomes. The populist rightwing nationalist forces are trying to exploit these concerns and issues of the working masses.

The failure of social democracy to address these issues and to come up with solutions to these problems made them unpopular in the sections of the working class and the poor population. Social democracy failed to protect the interests of the working masses and paid the ultimate price. Social democracy moved to the right in the 1980s-90s and embraced the free-market economy and neoliberalism as their economic programme and ideology.

The irony of the situation is that the different political forces that emerged to fill the vacuum that was created by the crisis in social democracy have also failed to come up with alternate programmes and policies. The rise and fall of Syriza in Greece is a clear example of this process. Syriza emerged as an anti-establishment, anti-austerity and pro-people political entity but capitulated to the neoliberal policies of the EU. Its support has dropped to the lowest levels. The same can be said about Podemos in Spain.

Populist forces both on the left and right have emerged in different European countries since the ‘great recession’ of 2007-8. These forces represent the discontent of different sections of the ruling class, middle class and working masses. They pose themselves as the alternate to both social democracy as well as rightwing capitalist parties. Once in power, they proved their inability and incompetence to address and solve not only the issues and problems faced by the middle class and working people but also capitalism as an economic and social system.

Young voters seem discontented with the grand old parties of the centre left and right. A good number of young urban voters went for the left-leaning Greens in many countries. There are serious concerns among young people regarding climate change and global warming. The Greens made inroads into the anti-establishment and pro-EU layers of young people.

According to media reports in Germany, an estimated 30 percent of young voters supported the Greens, making it the country’s second-biggest party in the European election. The disillusioned young voters choose the Greens to bring change in the EU. Many middle-class and young voters saw the Greens as an alternate political force. The majority of urban educated young people support the European integration but wants a different sort of policies and direction for the EU. The Greens are pro-EU, pro-immigration and support renewable energy.

The surge in the support for Greens stops the march of Far-Right forces in some countries. In Germany, the Far-Right Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Alexander Gauland declared that the party now represented “our main enemy.”

Europe stands at a crossroads. The old grand parties are on the decline and new forces are emerging. Different strands of right and left are emerging in an unstable and vulnerable situation. There is danger of a further rise of the Far-Right in the coming period in the absence of a proper left alternate.

The writer is a freelance journalist.