While the center sleeps
The election triumph of far-right politician Geert Wilders in the Netherlands – irrespective of whether this is enough for him to become prime minister – is yet another warning that however many serious challenges the European Union faces from outside, the greatest danger lies within its walls.
It is not only that extremist forces are on the rise, forces that do not care for the principles and collective strength of the EU, but, more importantly, they are not facing rivals who seem capable of stopping them.
It is not yet widely understood that this clash is not between parties expressing different nuances of a single tradition.
Today, the conflict is between liberal democracy (where parties alternate in power and state institutions serve all citizens) and forces which rely on one or two current issues to gain power and, once there, which undermine institutions and procedures, investing in division and bigotry, so as to strengthen their position. This entails a breaking of the bonds with partners who do not share their autocratic methods. In this way, ever more political forces (and governments) see the unification of Europe not as the only way for their nations to weather the storms of our era, but as an obstacle to their national (i.e. personal) glory. Stirring up passions for political gain, targeting some groups (immigrants, minorities, members of the “elite,” former comrades etc) always brings political gain. But this does not solve real problems, which demand solidarity, patience and joint strategy.
The emerging tragedy of our time is that even though the EU achieved the union of forces which until then were always at war with each other, today the continent is surrendering to a strange weariness, an inexplicable lack of vigor. Very few politicians, intellectuals and other public personalities show an appetite to fight for the vision of Union.
As the centrifugal forces gain strength (often with outside encouragement), the solution is not so much to deal with them on the battlefields that they establish (immigration, law and order etc). What is needed is unity among all politicians and citizens who understand that the loss of European accomplishments (in their own land, in Europe as a whole) is not just another election defeat but part of the decline of a civilization.
