Is the European Union (EU) unraveling? I lived in Germany for over 3 years and visited several European countries including Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, England and Italy. I got to know the people and they were often very nationalistic and often very prejudiced. After WWII there was a shortage of labor they instituted a guest worker program. I lived in Munich, a city that had over a 10% Turkish minority. They largely did the jobs the Germans were unwilling to do. They were at best looked down upon by the native German/Bavarian population. They all lived in their own part of the city segregated from the rest of the population. Well the nationalists, nativists and populists seem to be making a comeback in Europe.
Populists’ Rise in Europe Vote Shakes Leaders
BRUSSELS — An angry eruption of populist insurgency in the elections for the European Parliament rippled across the Continent on Monday, unnerving the political establishment and calling into question the very institutions and assumptions at the heart of Europe’s post-World War II order.
Four days of balloting across 28 countries elected scores of rebellious outsiders, including a clutch of xenophobes, racists and even neo-Nazis. In Britain, Denmark, France and Greece, insurgent forces from the far right and, in Greece’s case, also from the radical left stunned the established political parties.
Now much of this is the result of the financial crisis and a growing hostility toward the financial industry but we shouldn’t underestimate the influence of the always present nationalistic nativist undercurrent always present in Europe. I always thought that the European Union was a good idea but that the common fiat currency, the Euro, was a bad one. Economies of the various countries in the European Union are very different and having a common fiat currency was a recipe for disaster. Recent events make me look very prescient. Will the European Union fall? Too early to tell. Will the fiat currency of the Euro fall? Probably.