2022: Five major developments regarding Europe.
Last year was not a good year for the people of Europe because they always tried to achieve their demands with street protests and nationwide strikes. The protest against rampant inflation, alarming prices and low wages, which were the consequences of the continuation of the crisis in Ukraine, will be extended to 2023.
Among other important developments in the green continent, we can mention issues such as the French elections and Macron’s re-election in the Elysee, the continuation of the crisis in the British cabinet, as well as NATO membership in Europe, especially the Scandinavian region, which will be explained below.
1. French elections and Macron’s re-election in the Elysee.
On Sunday, April 24, 2022, Emmanuel Macron was able to win the majority of votes in the French elections and was re-elected as the president of this country. According to the first results of the counting of votes, Mr. Macron received more than 58% and his rival, Marine Le Pen from the far-right National Community Party, received about 42% of the votes.
2. Crisis of the British cabinet.
As the third female Prime Minister of England, Liz Truss, who previously portrayed herself as Margaret Thatcher, the “Iron Lady” of the Conservative Party, only remained in this position for 45 days and was replaced by Rishi Sunak. . He, who officially started his work on (September 22) after meeting with Elizabeth II, the deceased queen of this country, announced his resignation on Thursday (October 20), 6 weeks after starting his job.
3. The shadow of the Ukrainian war on Europe.
The most important development of the last year in Europe and even the world is the war in Ukraine; A war whose consequences have affected the entire globe.
On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale attack on the territory of Ukraine, so that from three fronts, Belarus in the north, the Crimean peninsula annexed to Russia in the south, and Russia’s own territory in the east. began the invasion; A war that has killed thousands, displaced millions and destroyed entire cities since then.
4. NATO membership in Europe.
Finland and Sweden submitted their request to join the NATO military alliance with the beginning of the Russian military operation in Ukraine. Although NATO has accepted these requests, all 30 members of this alliance must approve this request. So far, 28 NATO member countries have passed legal procedures and only Hungary and Turkey have not announced their agreement.
Hungary announced its agreement in early February and expressed hope that “during the spring of next year, all issues will be resolved” and Ankara will also agree, but the situation in Turkey is different and the process is not expected to proceed easily in the country.
5. Unrest and nationwide strikes on Europe in 2022.
Among other major political and economic events in Europe during 2022, which were significantly caused by the Ukraine crisis, were nationwide protests and strikes.
Since the end of the summer, a series of strikes were launched in protest against the unstable economic conditions and job insecurity, and the citizens of the Green Continent demanded an increase in their wages as the prices continued to rise. In the past weeks and months, they chose the floor of the streets of different European cities to express their protest against the ineffectiveness of governments in curbing this situation. The flood of more than 70,000 people in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, in protest against the policies of NATO and the European Union, has not been erased from people’s minds.
