The last ten years have been traumatic for the European peoples and the Union. Three major crises, the financial and economic, the refugee and now the pandemic, have challenged the well-being, the institutions and the values of the European Union, peace and solidarity. All three have developed in the background of the developing ecological and climate emergency.
The response of the elites to these crises has been inadequate, piecemeal and contingent. The lack of clear and visionary leadership has eroded the trust of Europeans and has led to the rise of the ethnopopulist, xenophobic and eurosceptic right wing threatening the future of the Union.
In the financial crisis, the South was obliged to introduce austerity policies that devastated the social state and economic rights, undermining the dignity of people and the integrity of public services. In the refugee crisis, the value of solidarity was abandoned by leaders who strive for the return of aggressive national sovereignty. In the pandemic, the borders of Fortress Europe are becoming internal borders dividing the North from the South, separating people in this hour of existential risk and undermining the values and ideas upon which Europe is founded.
