TIROLER TAGESZEITUNG, editorial: “Striker for Europe”, Florian Weißmann

2023-12-06 21:00:34

Issue from Thursday, December 7th, 2023

Innsbruck (OTS) – A common Europe is a strategic necessity, especially as a response to the many crises. But the political climate favors right-wing populists who want to reverse it.

Six months before the EU elections, alarm bells are ringing among convinced Europeans. Right-wing populists are on the rise in several EU countries, most recently in the parliamentary elections in the Netherlands. They challenge the liberal values on which Europe is built. And they want to downgrade the common Europe to a better free trade zone.

Austria is not an island of the blessed, but rather a focal point of this development. According to Eurobarometer, EU skepticism is more pronounced here than anywhere else in Europe. The FPÖ, which channels this attitude politically, is aiming for success in the European elections and the National Council elections.

Austria, of all places. Hardly any EU member has benefited more from European integration than the small country in the heart of the continent. But domestic political debates are often dominated by a defensive attitude towards Europe, for which the FPÖ is by no means solely responsible. An example of this is the net payer debate, which the ÖVP chancellor’s party likes to pull out of the mothballs when it comes to the EU budget. As if the added value of a common Europe for our economy, our security and our international scope could be expressed in a contribution balance.

It is not only in Austria that there is a wide gap between strategic necessity and public perception. Less than six percent of the world’s population lives in the EU, and the number is falling. If Europe wants to help shape the future world order, if it wants to defend its interests and its model of life, it must pool resources more efficiently than before. Not to mention that the major challenges of our time – from conflicts to social inequality and migration to climate change – do not stop at national borders anyway.

But the abstract international connections are difficult to convey in political communication. For most crisis-stricken EU citizens, it is more about concrete solutions for their everyday lives. The familiar national frame of reference is closer to them than the complex structures of the EU. This plays into the hands of populists of all colors, and many centrist politicians get involved in their game with fear of loss instead of showing passion for new paths.

EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn recently compared European politics to a football team that only consists of defenders. The alarm bells that are now ringing among convinced Europeans should urgently get strikers out of the dressing room.