PRESS RELEASE

Political Earthquake Strikes Western Europe

May 28, 2014 (EIRNS) —The expected earthquake of the European elections did indeed happen. Whether this will lead to change is another story. At the level of EU institutions, it will not: Jean-Claude Juncker is expected to become the new President of the Commission, which means an acceleration of the drive towards the European government, and a continued commitment to the brutal Troika austerity policy.

The EU oligarchy is counting on the fact that the anti-EU factions in the European Parliament are heterogeneous and will not be able to form a coalition with blocking power.

On the national level, however, it will be more difficult to ignore the earthquake. In France, Britain, and Greece, the Front National, UKIP, and Syriza have become the largest parties respectively. FN called for leaving the euro, UKIP for leaving the EU. Syriza called for neither of the two, but has put debt renegotiation upfront.

In Germany, the newcomer “anti-euro” AfD got 7% of the vote, while the Italian Lega Nord, which campaigned for leaving the euro, was rewarded with 6.1%. In Austria, the euroskeptical FPÖ went up to 20%.

Even gains by pro-EU parties are mainly due to anti-EU propaganda. The German SPD gained 6.5% compared to 2009, after their leading candidate Martin Schulz campaigned against the banks. Italy’s Matteo Renzi, whose Democratic Party won a stunning 41%, got the votes of many who believe that he will “raise his voice” in Brussels. Anarchist Beppe Grillo’s party M5S, which came in second at 21%, promised a referendum on the euro. Of course, these voters will soon realize that they have been fooled.

As former French Presidential candidate Jacques Cheminade pointed out in a May 26 statement, no real alternative was presented during this campaign. He is referring to the fact that none of the parties, be they pro- or anti-euro, challenged the oligarchical system or offered a vision for the future, based on the common interests of humanity. Prohibitive requirements prevented his party, Solidarité et Progrès, from even running in France, whereas the vote for BüSo in Germany was kept at a ridiculous 0.1% through a systematic media boycott.

As for the perspectives in France, which are key for Europe, Cheminade wrote that we should “seize the occasion” of the election results to “get out of the trap, i.e. the euro and the European Union” and “give to the world not a simple change of policy but a new historical mode of mutual development, inspired by the future, not by traditions of the past or extrapolations of the present.”