Most European voters “rallied to parties that hold the [European Union] in contempt” in the recent European Parliament elections, admits the The New York Times. However, opinion contributor Christopher Caldwell argues that the EU is not to blame. “Analysts have leaped to the conclusion that the European Union must have done something wrong. It didn’t,” he insists.
Caldwell attributes Marine Le Pen’s populist National Rally’s victory over Emmanuel Macron’s globalist Renaissance party to national grievances around immigration. Similarly, he claims the anti-mass migration Alternative for Germany (AfD) outpolled Germany’s governing coalition parties due to national grievances over energy policy.
However, the EU drives much of national immigration and energy policy. The bloc is punishing Viktor Orban’s Hungary for enforcing strong border controls, and EU climate targets drive the anti-farmer policies fueling populism in countries like the Netherlands.
UNITED STATES OF EUROPE.
Caldwell does lightly criticize the EU, noting that it exaggerates its role in bringing peace to Europe. He says its real guarantors have been “American occupation, NATO vigilance, and Russian caution.”
Caldwell also highlights the EU’s “love-hate” relationship with the United States, describing it as partly “emulative” and partly “rivalrous.” He admits, “It meant to consolidate the continent’s nations into a military-economic bloc of almost half a billion people, partly so Europeans would no longer need to dance to the tune of the American empire… by usurping the prerogatives of the continent’s existing nation-states.”
Caldwell argues that this usurpation of member nations’ elected governments fuels much of the current hostility towards the bloc and motivated Brexit. He also claims the EU has been unsuccessful on its own terms, with members still reliant on the U.S. for security.
Former president Donald Trump frequently warns that EU members in NATO are not paying their fair share in defense and take advantage of the U.S. economically through unfair tariffs.
