Our World in 2017

ISSUE#1193 | January 2017
QUO VADIS EUROPA?
NEW EUROPE: OUR WORLD IN 2017
Page-09
www.neweurope.eu
by Basil A. Coronakis
The Year of Confusion
New Europe Media founder & CEO.
BELGIUM - BRUSSELS
This year, will be a bad year for the European
Union. It will be a year of generalised
confusion, contradictions, confrontations,
lies and the repetition of the same mistakes.
The problems and issues that should
be centrally addressed by the European
Union and the European Commission are
many and different in nature. All of them,
however, have a common denominator.
They must all be politically addressed.
Unfortunately, in our Europe, politics is
missing to a large extent.
In the Member States, political leaders
are few and these few are in countries with
no real power – not to say that this category
of leaders cannot be classified within the
conventional democratic spectrum, but
rather they are identified in the margins of
the extremes.
Many of our problems should be
addressed by the European Commission. In
this case, we need to consider two elements.
Problems like immigration and
unemployment involve large numbers of
people. This implies a different than usual
approach necessary for their solution. In
mathematics, there is a field dealing with
mathematics of large numbers. It is called
logic.
In immigration and unemployment, we
are not talking about the tens of thousands
of farmers who march to Brussels each year
for a peaceful demonstration that ends with
a vague promise and a party with hot dogs
and beers in rond-point Schuman. We are
talking about 25 million young unemployed
scattered throughout the Union and who
have completed excellent studies and have
brilliant minds, but are angry, hungry and
frustrated. Their only possession in their
pocket is a smartphone. All of them – the
offspring of austerity and over-regulation,
which kills every small initiative before it
can start – are potential cyber-terrorists.
Thus, if one day Europe wakes up in chaos,
with its main networks down, do not be
surprised. One out of these 25 million is
enough.
About immigration, the question is how
the European Commission can handle this
unprecedented challenge if no agreement
among Member States can be reached.
But there are other problems of pure
political nature which the European
Commission should be able to easily handle,
but does not because politicians are kept
out and issues are handled by technocrats.
Regrettably, it is not the Commissioners
who rule, but their cabinets. Just think
that even the President of the European
Commission Jean Claude Juncker – a man
of values who has a great political career in
a very politicised country – does not even
control his own correspondence.
Problems like immigration and unemployment
involve large numbers of people. This implies a
different than usual approach necessary for their
solution. In mathematics, there is a field dealing with
mathematics of large numbers. It is called logic
The European Commission invested
a lot in the British referendum and it lost
because this highly political matter was
handled by linear thinking administrators
and incompetent communicators.
Britain voted to get out of the EU.
However, it remains to be seen if, how and
when. As a matter of fact, what Europeans
initially thought would spell catastrophe
for Britain has turned out to be a great
opportunity for London to gain more
concessions in negotiating the way out.
Thus, Brexit could become a new status
of participation for the United Kingdom
in the EU, with much more benefits. The
explanation is simple. Brits are politicians.
Finally speaking about real politics. The
rise of the far right in Europe.
France is facing the most imminent
problem as François Fillon, who is likely
to be elected President of France in the
upcoming elections, may well prove more
far right than Marine Le Pen because he
must consolidate his electorate.
The far right is striving all over Europe
and in certain EU countries will be
democratically elected to power, as Adolf
Hitler was democratically elected German
Chancellor in 1933.
There is not one single solution for all
our problems. However, there is a common
starting point.
Photo credit - ALEXANDROS MICHAILIDIS
In life, everything is politics. Whatever
you do or do not do is politics. Politics is
the common starting point.
Liberate people and let them be free to
produce, create and hope.
Deregulation, the abolishment of
austerity, freezing of debt for 100 years
and 5% annual inflation will be sufficient
to revitalise the economy, give jobs to the
jobless and see people’s faith in the future
restored.
And possibly, one more courageous step
forward, is to abolish the Euro currency.
Yes, let’s do it in an orderly fashion
before the far-rightists and neo-communists
do it in a chaotic disorderly way.