The Resurgence of
European Patriotism
How to ruin the day of bureaucrats and
politicians in Brussels.
Here is a tip if you
want to ruin the day of the bureaucrats and politicians in Brussels. Just
mention next year's European elections and they will become extremely nervous
and agitated. They will fume with anger and warn you about rising populism, a
threat to democracy.
Next May's European
elections, in which almost 400 million people in the 28 EU member states will
be allowed to cast their votes, will in all likelihood produce a landslide
against the Eurocrats. What will manifest itself, however, is not a rise of
populism, but a victory for democracy.
For decades, Brussels
has been able to do what it pleases. That period is over. People have finally
come to realize that so-called europhiles aim to destroy Europe's nations, the
homes of national democracies. And people are not going to let it happen. They
are no longer buying the lie that patriotism is dangerous, that it is a vice
and not a virtue. They are reasserting their national pride and identity.
Robert Schuman, who
was one of the EU's founding fathers 60 years ago, used to say that the aim of
European integration was "to make war not only unthinkable but materially
impossible." But the idea that Germany, France, Britain and other nations
in the past went to war because they were sovereign nations is simply
ridiculous. They went to war because they had fallen for totalitarian
ideologies. Democracies do not go to war against each other; they trade with
one another.
Schuman and his
contemporary followers, who are still trying to abolish the old European
nation-states and replace them with a federal pan-European superstate, are
politicians of the past. The EU represents the old political order. Today, a
new generation of voters and politicians has emerged. I am one of them. My hero
is not Robert Schuman, but the American visionary Ronald Reagan, who in his
farewell address advocated a resurgence of national pride, which he called the
"new patriotism." As Reagan had it, this meant "a love of
country and an appreciation of its institutions."
The euro
crisis of the past five
years has worked as a catalyst. Europe's citizens, from Finland to Portugal and
from Ireland to Greece, have noticed that Brussels has been unable to solve the
economic crisis. It imposed austerity solutions that resulted in higher taxes and
only made matters worse.
The EU did not bring
Europe peace; NATO did. The EU did not bring economic prosperity; free trade
did. Switzerland is the most competitive economy in the world and Norway is the
most prosperous country. Neither of them are in the EU. Both belong to the
European Free Trade Association, or EFTA.
The EU did not bring
Europeans more democracy and freedom, either. On the contrary: The EU is a
prison of nations. It undermines our national democracies. It resembles an
EUSSR.
In referendums in
2005, the Dutch and the French electorates rejected the European Constitution,
which aimed to turn the EU into a genuine state. But Brussels refused to take
no for an answer. It went ahead with its plans for a constitutional treaty,
notwithstanding the people's opposition. Brussels thinks it knows better than
the people. Next May, it will realize that people who have been cheated do not
forget.
This has nothing to do
with populism; it is all about democracy. Democracy on a supranational level is
simply impossible. In order to have democracy, there needs to be a nation. The European
Union cannot be compared to
the United States. America is a nation, but Europe is not. Europe is a
continent of many different nations with their own identities, traditions and
languages. Robbing them of their national democracies does not create a
European democracy—it destroys democracy in Europe.
For months my party,
the Party for Freedom, has been leading in the Dutch polls. We are a young
party. We want the Netherlands to leave the EU, join EFTA and, like
Switzerland, negotiate bilateral trade agreements with the EU and the rest of
the world. We are going to win next May's European elections.
In other countries,
too, the EU has never been as unpopular as it is today. Trust in the EU has
fallen to its lowest level ever. Six out of 10 Europeans tend not to trust the
EU, according to the EU's own polling. They are going to vote accordingly. The
old order of the complacent elite in Brussels is crumbling.
In Britain, the United
Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), wants to lead Britain out of the EU. It is
polling at almost 20%. In France, the National Front, under its new leader
Marine Le Pen, wants to return sovereignty to Paris from Brussels and has, in
turn, become the most popular party in the polls.
Europe is on the verge
of a glorious revolution—non-violent and democratic. Next May, all over Europe
voters will rebel at the ballot box. They will reject the supranational
experiment of the European
Union. They will cast their
votes for a restoration of national sovereignty.
They are not
extremists, they are democrats.
Mr. Wilders, a member
of the Dutch Parliament, is the leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV).
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