The Crisis Today’s Europe Is Facing.
“John Broughton”, the former prime minister of the Republic of Ireland, analyzed the situation of the European Union and its future and asked about “how real is the danger of the collapse of the European Union?” In an article published in the International Institute of Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) in Slovenia, it is said that there are many challenges that can bring the united Europe to the verge of collapse, and the dependence of energy on outside the green continent is one of the most important of them.
European Union
The European Union is an economic-political alignment consisting of 27 European countries. The origin of the European Union goes back to the European Community, which was formed in 1957 with the Treaty of Rome between 6 European countries, and it was only an economic union. Since then, the European Union has grown larger with the addition of NATO members, and now 22 members of this union are NATO members.
After that, in 1993, the Maastricht Treaty established the current legal framework of the Union, and in 1999, the European Union introduced a common currency called the Euro, which replaced national currencies in 19 countries. According to reports, until January 1, 2022, the population of the 48 European countries after the severe corona epidemic was estimated to be around 750 million people, and the population of the EU members was estimated to be around 450 million people.
The GDP of the European Union in 2022 was estimated to be around USD 16.6 trillion (nominal), which is about one-sixth of the global economy.
Challenges that can shake the union
1- Energy crisis
Europe is heavily dependent on gas for electricity generation, transportation, and heating. In 2021, one-third (34 percent) of Europe’s energy will come from burning gas. Europe is the largest importer of natural gas in the world. In 2021, Russia, Germany, the UK, Italy, and France consumed three-quarters of the continent’s 1,0073 terawatt hours (TWh) of energy from gas.
The war in Ukraine showed Europe’s strong dependence on energy, especially gas, and the cutoff of Russian gas to Europe, which was the most important source of energy for this region, revealed the weaknesses of European countries in this field. Indeed, during the Ukraine war, it became clear that Europe is vulnerable to unexpected events, such as a technical problem at a major pipeline or LNG export terminal, extreme weather, or low levels of wind or hydropower.
To deal with this nightmare, Europe is now looking for gas supplies even at higher costs and replacing gas sources other than Russia. Several EU countries have already announced multibillion-dollar emergency measures to deal with skyrocketing energy prices following Russia’s war in Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Schultz announced a $65 billion plan to help people and businesses deal with rising gas and energy prices.
In Italy, the government recently approved a $17 billion aid package to help protect businesses and households from rising energy costs and rising consumer prices. French President Emmanuel Macron also said the European Union should increase its programs for renewable energy products and reform its electricity market. Finland and Sweden also announced plans to provide billions of dollars in liquidity guarantees to energy companies.
2- The crisis of extreme nationalists
According to the IFIMES report, public sentiments and needs are pulling the people of Europe in opposite directions. The public sentiment that has driven the EU forward for the past 60 years is waning, as the EU must take on new responsibilities to prevent Europe’s financial collapse.
This is due to a combination of general social trends and economic and political pressures. The general social trend is historical forgetting. After almost 70 years of peace, Europe has forgotten why European unity is such a priority. In some countries that are members of this bloc, nationalist sentiments are exaggerated as if they are free of consequences. The expansion and strengthening of this spirit throughout Europe is like a saw that has shown the roots of any kind of institutional convergence and unity in the continent.
There are few cities in European countries that do not witness the ambitions of “pan-Europeanism” in the form of the march of extremists and supporters of extreme nationalism. Now the spread of extremism and nationalism is clearly visible across Europe, from Germany, where the AfD has become the largest opposition party in the Bundestag, to Spain, where Vox has become the third largest force in parliament, extremism is a crystallized crisis. has been found
According to Western media reports, “nationalism” has always been one of the features of the European political spectrum, but in recent years, this trend has been more prosperous with voters’ support for right-wing and populist parties, which is definitely a threat to the European Union.
3- Local-national laws, but global issues
According to Broughton, one of the social trends is that the general public in all EU countries do not understand how much their livelihoods depend on economic decisions elsewhere, and how unrealistic the “on our own” policy is now. This failure to understand has a structural cause. Electoral politics are still local and national, while the issues they have to deal with are more global. Politicians are forced to pretend they can find national solutions to economic problems when national measures will never provide more than part of the answer. Public opinion has no proper democratic means of educating or expressing itself beyond national borders.
4- Euro and pound competition in the green continent
Two particular pressures now stressing the EU are the euro crisis and Britain’s growing desire to have a different kind of union with the bloc.
