Europe – a place with gloomy future

Patrick Poppel
InfoBrics

No one can deny that Europe has been the political center of the world for centuries. The European states influenced the societies and cultures on the other continents not only politically, but also economically and culturally. The Europeans established colonies, gained access to raw materials and expanded their culture. European soldiers, businessmen and missionaries reached people in the most distant regions of the world.

England and France in particular built empires. But in recent years, we can clearly see a retreat in European expansion. Especially due to the rise of the USA from the beginning of the 20th century, the European forces lost more and more influence on the other continents. But what has happened in the last few decades is a total foreign policy defeat for Europe.

From the end of the Second World War onwards, the European states were de facto mere vassals of US politics. The USA and its allies regularly attack other countries and gain access to raw materials. However, the European states do not receive raw materials, but rather the refugees from these war zones.

Globally, the European states are increasingly losing their reputation in many areas. For example, many African states no longer trust the Europeans when it comes to security policy issues. Europe's role in the Ukraine conflict is also not viewed and discussed positively internationally. The decision of the EU to become "independent" of cheap Russian gas and instead buy expensive gas from the USA means that the decline of European industry can no longer be stopped.

Energy will also become very expensive for ordinary citizens, which will lead to further social and public problems. Due to the awakening of many African states, raw materials from Africa will also become very expensive for the European economy in the future. This situation in particular will make Europe very unattractive as a location for industry in the future. This will lead to further social tensions and societal problems.

A massive increase in crime in major European cities has been observed over the last few decades and can also be statistically proven. Culturally, Europe is also becoming more and more a two-class society. On the one hand there is the liberal European gay pride and climate protection society and on the other there is mostly traditional group of migrants, who mostly come from Muslim countries.

Europe has not only lost its cultural identity, but has also become completely dependent on the USA. The recruitment of new members for the EU continues, even though we have already lost an economically strong and well-developed member due to BREXIT.

All of these factors will have a negative impact on the European continent in the long term. So we can really speak of an economic, cultural and social decline. This can be proven with facts and all analyzes confirm these developments. But this dangerous development is not being discussed at higher political levels. So how can this decline be stopped?

The problems can perhaps only be solved at the national level. Hungary is a good example of this. Perhaps other states will follow Hungary's path to defend their independence and slow down at least some of the influences of these negative developments. Currently, more and more people are recognizing the problems Europe has, but the leading politicians do not have the courage and strength to carry out the necessary reforms.

It is a mistake to hope for the successful work of the European Union structures. It is very naive to believe that a structure can solve problems that it has created itself. Only political work at the level of the nation states can bring success.

We said this, for example, in 2015 during the migration crisis, when some Eastern European countries protected their borders. It can only be hoped that individual states will take a different course with regard to the Russia sanctions, which serves their national interests.

Europe is currently experiencing very difficult times, but the world is in a total phase of geopolitical change. Europe is dependent on strategic decisions that are no longer made in Europe. New forces are currently emerging that will become competition for Europe in the next few years. This affects both the ecological sector and security policy. No matter how the global situation develops, Europe will be the first loser in many areas. And the fact is that Europe is not yet well prepared for the coming developments. This is due to the historical arrogance of believing that we are superior to other nations.

Patrick Poppel, is an expert at the Center for Geostrategic Studies (Belgrade)

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