Germany: AfD leader Frauke Petry stuns Germany by quitting hours after being elected - by Emma Beswick

Just one day after her party’s success in the German federal elections yesterday (September 24), Frauke Petry, co-chair of far-right party Alternative for Germany, said she would not be part of the parliamentary group.

Read more: AfD leader Frauke Petry stuns Germany by quitting hours after being elected | Euronews

EU: The future of Europe is in unity, not uniformity- by Gunnar Hoekmark

Unity not Uniformity

Brexit, Le Pen and Geert Wilders. These are only three expressions of the new European discontent that trembles though the corridors of Brussels.

Amidst confusion and panic, and various attempts to display force, decisiveness and action are considered to be a remedy. Almost invariably the response is “More Europe”. And more Europe tends to be defined as more Brussels.

That is the wrong way to go.

The discussion about new institutions and new ways to balance power leads to centralism, which will not make Europe stronger. Nor will it make difficult political decisions easier. Rather to the contrary, it will create the illusion that the EU is responsible for all of the shortcomings in our societies.

The belief that reforms of EU institutions can solve political problems is an illusion that will only provide an excuse for not showing political leadership in reforming Europe today.

Centralisation at the cost of subsidiarity will only make the EU more exposed to criticism and more vulnerable when people realise that average solutions do not fit.

We are a political union as well as an economic one, but above all we are a union of European member states and citizens based upon the rule of law.

I have lived in Europe my entire life and I am a Member of European Parliament, elected by Swedish voters to represent them on a pro-European platform. But I am getting more and more convinced that we need to change our perspectives.

The solution to the crisis is not changes to the European institutions, but changes in what is not working in Europe.

In Brussels, institutional competition is sometimes understood as rivalry between EU bodies, such as the parliament and the executive, the EU commission. But in the social sciences, this concept means that diversity in policies creates competition between various political alternatives, displaying how some policies work better than others.

The internal market has greatly enhanced this process, showing how and why some economies create more wealth and jobs than others and that those who are lagging behind should learn from those who are more successful.

This aspect of the internal market and the road to competitiveness, cohesion and convergence should be strengthened, not weakened.

Rather than more Brussels in Europe, we need more Europe in Brussels, in the sense that plurality provides more strength and better dynamics than average decisions and uniformity. We don’t need new mechanisms or methods of decision tomorrow, we need decisions and political courage today.

We need to do what we have set out to do: to fulfil the promise of the free flow of goods, services, capital and people across borders, a real energy union and a common foreign and security policy worth its name.

Brussels should be a catalyst of national reform, not its inhibitor.

Reform is needed in Europe, not in the EU institutions.

While the EU boasts five of the ten most competitive countries in the world, the World Economic Forum shows that some member states are facing huge challenges in becoming modern and globally competitive.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach for such a variety of countries and situations. A Europe that focuses on the median will be stuck in mediocrity. That is not good enough.

The threats and the challenges we face today are of the same kind as the ones that once made us turn the vision of Europe into a legal framework of open borders, cooperation and solidarity.

We need to make all of this function better by being more courageous and decisive in order to make the union stronger with its policies, not by never-ending discussions on new institutions.

The 28 (or 27) social pillars, adapted to our differences, provides for more stability and social security than one pillar neglecting them all.

The openness over borders and between different models fosters something better than uniformity - unity. That’s the way to stay together in difficult times, standing strong as a unit and allowing for all of us to contribute in the best way possible.

There is a saying often credited the old roman Petronius Arbiter: “We trained hard—but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we were reorganised. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising, and what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while actually producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralisation.”

This line of thinking is prevalent in the Commission White Paper and in the first scenario Jean-Claude Juncker presents as “Carrying on”. It is described as “unwieldy” and that such a path would “only deliver incremental progress”.

But what we need today is to develop what we have and what we are.

That is not simply to carry on, but to make full use of the proud achievements we have so far accomplished.

We should define a way forward that is characterised by unity, not by uniformity, and common goals rather than common societies.

Decisiveness on policies is needed today, instead of discussions on institutional make-overs tomorrow.

Gunnar Hoekmark is leader of the Swedish EPP delegation in the European Parliament and Member of the Committee on Economic Affairs.

Read more: The future of Europe is in unity, not uniformity

Are narcissists taking over politics ? - Trump in the White House, with Geert Wilders, Marie Le Pen and Frauke Petry waiting in the EU wings

Xenophobia is growing in Europe

Xenophobia is growing in Europe, with France, the United Kingdom, Austria, Greece, Denmark and Sweden all electing far-right nationalist candidates.

Like Trump did, they unite voters with a platform of blocking migrants from the Middle East and Africa. More blatant demonstrations of anti-Semitism flared up in Greece, with its Golden Dawn party donning Nazi-like uniforms and symbolism.

Cas Mudde, a political scientist at the University of Georgia, commented on the parallels between European and American politics. “I see the phenomena as very similar. Trump is the functional equivalent of the far right in Europe; he performs the same functions in the political system, and attracts the same kind of support… white, nativist, lower-educated and those very unhappy with the establishment.”

Looking at Europe we see that also there a narcissists group of populist political personalities have benefited from the great disparity between the "have and have's not" and distrust by  the people of political parties who are not serving the people, but rather corporate interest.

Following focus is on three countries which will be  holding national elections this year where ultra-right narcissist  politicians have made major inroads. 

In the Netherlands: Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician who founded the right-wing Freedom Party, also endorsed Trump, tweeting, “Make the Netherlands Great Again.”

Wilders, who also bears a weird physical resemblance to Donald Trump, applies similar nationalistic rhetoric with confusing undocumented statements, sprinkled with vague plans.

France: French Jews who also hold Israeli citizenship will have to give up one of their nationalities if Marine Le Pen, the far-Right French Presidential candidate, wins the presidential election this spring.

The leader of the anti-immigration Front National said she would bar the French from holding the citizenship of countries outside the European Union, except for Russia, which she described as part of “the Europe of nations.”

Germany: You can tell well in advance when Frauke Petry, the leader of Alternative für Deutschland, a burgeoning new right-wing party, is going to give a speech. AfD members put up posters all over a town’s main streets declaring, “Frauke Petry Is Coming.” As the appointed hour approaches, police assemble, and usually demonstrators, too, protesting against a woman known to her enemies as “Adolfina” and “die Führerin.”

More than a century ago, philosopher George Santayana reminded us that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

His words ring true today.  The growing rise of Nationalism on virtually every continent should give cause for great concern.

Following World War II, the global goal was to create political and economic structures and forge alliances like the UN, EU, IMF, WTO, NAFTA and the recently signed Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership to bring peace and prosperity to the world.

In many ways, these efforts succeeded. More people than ever now have the means to travel outside their native countries.  Global investments have given rise to vastly improved living conditions in poorer countries.  Political structures like the EU have led to the creation of powerful new markets for global commerce.  Modern communications now transcend borders in Nano-seconds, bringing the world ever closer together.

But, achievements like these have come with a price: The re-emergence of Nationalism throughout the world was also caused by the disruptions brought about by globalization.

Global Trade must become Fair Trade again, not one controlled by large corporations who get unfair tax breaks and special favors from the local governments where they operate.

Nationalism is a powerful force and can at times work positively. It can be the glue that holds people together especially in challenging times.  It celebrates a country’s culture, history and religion.  It instills national pride and a sense of strength, but also, unfortunately, at times, creating scapegoats, real or imagined. The latter is happening today

Don't be fooled by the "nationalistic talk" of Wilders, Le Pen, Petry, and many other so-called nationalists - they definitely are not true nationalists and will sink all of us in Europe into a deep hole if they ever are elected and allowed to rule by you the voter. Worse of all, if you do elect them, you might never again get the power to vote them out of office.  Just look at Turkey today and see what  has happened there. 

Or see how Donald Trump has performed the first weeks of his Presidency. Scary stuff.

For example, the common US belief today exposed by Donald Trump that China has claimed the bulk of jobs lost in America since 2000 is not true. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, roughly 700,000 of the six million US manufacturing jobs lost in the first decade of this century went to China. The rest disappeared because of decreased consumer demand after the 2008 global financial crisis and technological advances that made many jobs obsolete.

Job losses aside, perhaps the biggest impact of the 2008 global financial crisis is that it intensified a worldwide backlash against globalization and the ever increasing disparity between poor and rich that had been festering for decades, further bolstering the steady global tilt toward Nationalism.

But not all is lost - if you get involved. Staying at home and complaining will not work. Go to local government, city and town meetings, ask questions, protest if you don't like what you hear.

Don't vote for politicians and parties who have not delivered what they promised.

Support parties which focus on your needs: more jobs, better education, health care, a clean environment, alternative energy  and cutting military spending' 

For it to succeed, real European integration—of which much more will be needed if Europeans want to retain stability and current levels of economic well-being—needs to learn a crucial trick from the nation. In much the same way that the power of the nation made people look beyond the blood bonds of family and tribe and elevate solidarity to a higher level, so European integration needs to surpass citizens’ attachment to the nation and raise it by one level. 

The trick is not to dismiss the lower-level identity and try to make it superfluous. The way to go is to leave the nation undamaged by adding another layer that can become politically and emotionally meaningful.

This rising nationalism in Europe also demands that leaders on the left look beyond austerity to a more robust economic policy built on investments in infrastructure, jobs, and education.

EU-Digest

EU: Nationalism Raising Its Ugly Head in Europe at Populists TRUMP Disciples Meeting in Germany, praising Fuhrer Trump - by Simon Shuster

European Nationalist TRUMP Disciples  Wilders, Petry, and LePen

Across the European Union, politicians on the right-wing fringe have been invigorated by Trump’s victory, which has given them a chance to attract new supporters, build coalitions and argue that, despite the often glaring differences between them, they are all part of a (very dangerous) movement with seemingly unstoppable momentum.diciples

The most striking proof yet of that movement came on Saturday in the cross-section of far-right populists who met for the first time, at the AfD's invitation, at a convention in the German city of Koblenz. A day after Trump’s inauguration, the stars of the European right drew a direct line between Trump’s success at the ballot box and their own looming electoral battles.

“In 2016, the Anglo-Saxon world woke up,” said Marine Le Pen, the National Front leader currently favorite to become France's next President, referring to Trump’s victory and the British vote to leave the European Union in June. “In 2017, I am sure that it will be the year of the Continental peoples rising up,” she said to raucous applause.

The speech was the first Le Pen has ever delivered to an audience in Germany, whose right-wing leaders had previously avoided associating themselves with her more radical and xenophobic positions. But on Saturday she shared a stage with AfD leader Frauke Petry, signaling to the world they are now on the same team.

Taking the podium by turns, leading political upstarts from France, Germany, Italy, Austria and other European nations stuck to a strikingly similar message for their audience of roughly a thousand delegates. They raged against the globalist elites, the European Union, the media and, in particular, the millions of Arab and African immigrants whom they accuse of threatening European culture.

After a few weeks of reading online about Donald Trump’s transition to the presidency, Marco Kopping, a 36-year-old apprentice at a car-parts supplier near Frankfurt, decided to get involved in German politics. He had never sympathized with a political party before, let alone joined one. But in December he received his glossy membership card from Alternative for Germany (AfD), one of the far-right movements now riding the updraft from Trump’s ascent. What drove him, Kopping says, “was the feeling of a revolution.” He didn’t want to be left behind.

Across the European Union, politicians on the right-wing fringe have been invigorated by Trump’s victory, which has given them a chance to attract new supporters, build coalitions and argue that, despite the often glaring differences between them, they are all part of a movement with seemingly unstoppable momentum.

The most striking proof yet of that movement came on Saturday in the cross-section of far-right populists who met for the first time, at the AfD's invitation, at a convention in the German city of Koblenz. A day after Trump’s inauguration, the stars of the European right drew a direct line between Trump’s success at the ballot box and their own looming electoral battles.“In 2016, the Anglo-Saxon world woke up,” said Marine Le Pen, the National Front leader currently favorite to become France's next President, referring to Trump’s victory and the British vote to leave the European Union in June. “In 2017, I am sure that it will be the year of the Continental peoples rising up,” she said to raucous applause.

The speech was the first Le Pen has ever delivered to an audience in Germany, whose right-wing leaders had previously avoided associating themselves with her more radical and xenophobic positions. But on Saturday she shared a stage with AfD leader Frauke Petry, signaling to the world they are now on the same team.

Taking the podium by turns, leading political upstarts from France, Germany, Italy, Austria and other European nations stuck to a strikingly similar message for their audience of roughly a thousand delegates. They raged against the globalist elites, the European Union, the media and, in particular, the millions of Arab and African immigrants whom they accuse of threatening European culture.

Just a few years ago, such rhetoric would have confined these voices to the margins of European politics, especially in Germany, whose history with fascism has long provided a level of resistance to the allure of nationalism and identity politics. But today, buoyed by Trumpism, their message has entered the mainstream.

Two of the party leaders at Saturday’s event — Le Pen of the National Front and Geert Wilders of the Dutch Party for Freedom — are leading in the polls ahead of elections scheduled for this spring. The Austrian Freedom Party, whose two top leaders skipped the event in Koblenz in order to attend Trump’s Inauguration, narrowly lost a presidential race last month, even though the party’s founders in the 1950s were former officers of the Nazi SS.

“We all stand for the same things,” the party’s representative at the event, Harald Vilimsky, said from the stage on Saturday. “And if Trump is the winner, we are also winners.”

The new U.S. President has gone out of his way to encourage his admirers in Europe. The first foreign politician he met with after winning the election in November was Nigel Farage, the populist leader of the U.K. Independence Party, which drove the British vote to leave the European Union. In an interview last week with two European newspapers, Trump echoed the attacks that European nationalists have leveled against their favorite bugbear, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, calling her immigration policy "catastrophic." He also predicted that other E.U. members would follow Britain's lead in breaking away from the bloc.

“They’ve managed to create a public discourse that I thought was impossible here,” says Sylke Tempel, the editor of the Berlin Policy Journal, referring to the AfD. “You feel it in the little things, the use of language, the way people have started to talk.”One case in point took place about 10 minutes into the summit on Saturday, when the crowd turned on the attending journalists and began chanting "Lügenpresse!" — “lying press” — a term first popularized by the Nazis and, in the past couple of years, revived by European nationalists as a means of vilifying the media. Some of Trump’s supporters also adopted the term during his campaign rallies.

What matters to them now is maintaining a sense of unity behind the idea that their time has come, and Trump’s victory has made that a lot easier. “Yesterday you got a new America,” said Kopping, the AfD member, at Saturday’s event. "Now we want a new Europe."

Note EU-Digest: Given the track record of the new US President Donald Trump so far, European voters should at least be forewarned that Trump's European disciples of the far right Nationalist Camp are not the answer to a better, stable and economically strong Europe.

   

Read more: Europe's Populists Meet at Koblenz, Germany, in Awe of Trump | Time.com

Right wing resurgence in the EU: "Take the German AfD seriously – or you'll end up like us in France": by Christophe Bourdoiseau

Marie le Pen of the FN party in France

For a long time France ignored the Front National – now it's the nation's strongest party. Germany should not repeat this mistake in its dealings with Nationalist  AfD party.

Frauke Petry, the ambitious leader of the nationalist Alternative for Germany Party (AfD), is already snapping at Angela Merkel’s heels.

When it comes to presidential elections in France, I haven't voted for a political progran 30 years. The whole time I've simply been voting against the Front National (FN). It's not a democratic act, it's resistance. It doesn't have to come to that with the AfD in Germany.

Over the past 20 years, reunified Germany has become a model for democracy and integration in Europe. The nation has changed in incredibly positive ways. The Germans are confident and popular again in the world. Their behaviour during the refugee crisis has been exemplary.

Now, the rise of this far-right party has become a threat to Germany's inner peace. The AfD may be compared with the FN in France: against the system, against Europe, against Islam.

Both offer formulas that question our democratic values and that will divide civil society. The AfD is not yet as strong as the FN in France.

That′s why, when it comes to dealing with right-wing extremists, German politicians should learn from French errors.

Firstly, the danger must be taken seriously. The first mistake France made was to ignore the FN. French politicians thought they could continue to govern without taking any notice of the FN. They thought the FN was not France.

For too long, the media also boycotted the FN – or more accurately: ignored the party without confronting its arguments with facts. For ages, people in France have been talking about the "lying media". Journalists are also coming under attack from militants who are convinced that the media are protecting mainstream parties.

The right-wing propaganda has worked. A consensus is being found in a mood that is anti-Islamic, anti-European and even anti-German. Even in the village in deepest France where I've always enjoyed talking to the friendly people in the summer holidays, 42 percent gave their vote to the FN. There are virtually no foreigners there.

The French discourse no longer revolves around "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite", but increasingly around the issue of security. The essential question is whether Islam belongs to our society; there is a serious debate going on today over whether the Muslims will replace "us" in the end. Where have we ended up?

To fight the right-wing extremists, French politicians repeatedly warned voters: help us to combat the FN – with your votes for us. Many politicians remained in power with this "anti-FN" strategy, although they were themselves the cause of the right-wing extremism. But what use is a vote "against the FN", if the same politicians are embroiled in affairs and make false promises?

The misguided approach to the FN has been making French democracy sick for 30 years. The mainstream parties are split and have lost their orientation. Most react in panic and try to copy the FN, to salvage what can still be salvaged.

Similarly, poking fun at the AfD is no solution. We tried that in France. The CDU experienced this in Saxony, claiming that the state was immune to right-wing extremism. I also heard that said in France. 20 years ago.

The CDU in Saxony is now harvesting the fruits of its blind politics, just as we are in France.

Fortunately, Germany's political system is still staffed with upstanding folk, but the tendency of some politicians towards a tougher stance on minorities shows that the failure of Saxony can be repeated elsewhere. Sections of the CSU are attempting to overtake the AfD on the right.

What a mistake! Voters don't want a copy, they'll choose the original. This is exactly what happened in France. It will be exactly the same in Germany. By pursuing such a strategy, the C-parties will be split.

German politicians must stay on course. They should provide arguments in favour of the constitutional state and democracy and show no understanding when it comes to the right wing. In France people used to say that the FN was asking good questions, but not coming up with any good solutions.

Now, the French view the FN as a genuine alternative. Over the past 20 years, I have seen the constitutional state on the gradual retreat in France.

It's almost like the old days in East Germany: expatriation as a weapon for greater security. Which politician seriously believes that this can stop the terrorists? A policy agreed by a left-wing government to entice voters away from the FN.

But in the end, the FN will win again. In the 2014 European elections, it was the strongest party in France capturing almost 25 percent of the vote. In the 2017 presidential election, it could emerge as the strongest force before the run-off ballot.

 And again, I will vote for a candidate whom I would not normally choose to put up resistance "against the FN". For how much longer?

Read more: Take the AfD seriously – or you'll end up like us