International

These days, the leading players in Brussels are inclined to see themselves as victims. The world beyond Europe is hostile, or at least complicated. Within the EU member states, the public doesn’t understand, however much Brussels does its best to look after them. Merkel’s facial expression at this week’s European Council summit spoke volumes: don’t you see how much I’m battling for Europe? In my view we can turn this on its head: people throughout Europe are heartily sick of government leaders and europhiles who are determined to keep their own project on its feet whatever the cost, and who refuse to really listen. If they’d only do that, the crises would quickly be brought under control.

A great deal of attention has been paid this week to the Brexit debate. British Prime Minister David Cameron has received a number of promises and has returned to being a supporter of British membership of the EU. Many commentators have already made it clear that these promises, sold by Cameron as major steps, actually don’t propose very much at all. The British voter will now have the chance in June to express his or her views, at which point it will be shown whether or not Cameron has been listening properly. The fact is that most agreements on European cooperation, for the United Kingdom as well, will stay in place. So I won’t be surprised if the British vote for a Brexit, simply because they don’t feel that what they’ve been saying has been heard.

High unemployment in the EU and the lack of economic growth has everything to do with the anger which an austerity imposed on the member states by Brussels has whipped up. The European Central Bank (ECB) may now attempt with enormous financial injections to kick-start the economic motor, but this will fall well short of getting rid of poverty and unemployment. The most distressing example is perhaps indeed that of Greece, where public services have been devastated, and there is no longer any kind of social safety net. Greece remains at the same time a powder keg, yet the European institutions carry on forcing through further spending cuts.

Most of the public in Europe want to help the refugees, but they also want regulation which makes it clear who needs protection and who does not. What they don’t want is to see scenes of chaos. Even the European Commission hasn’t had the courage to really address this and come up with an all-embracing plan with European asylum centres and an active policy on returns for those who cannot remain here. Instead, Brussels is pinning all its hopes on Turkey, where President Erdoğan never ceases to hit out at the Kurds and place ever greater restrictions on human rights.

If Brussels would listen to the public, it would become clear that a radical change of direction is needed. The ‘advice’ of multinationals would no longer be followed, and we would have instead a transparent EU which put human dignity, equality and solidarity to the fore; an EU which, as in the case of the refugees, presses ahead where necessary, and at the same time takes a back seat when it comes to the member states social and economic policies. Even Dijsselbloem is now moderating the demands placed on the maximum extent of national debt. Let this then mark an end to budgetary fetishism and let national parliaments and governments once again have the freedom to develop policies directed towards investment and raising people’s purchasing power, linked to really combating poverty.

I sometimes ask myself how many crises Brussels needs before it realises that listening to the public means questioning the policies you’ve been pursuing to date. As long as European government leaders and the European institutions are determined to preserve these policies as far as possible, the discontent within the EU will persist. In that case there will be every reason to be pessimistic about the continued existence of that same EU.