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INPRIMATU
Europe in decline?
Baleren Bakaikoa Azurmendi 2024ko apirilaren 10a

The elections to renew the European Union (EU) Parliament are scheduled for next June and will last until 2029. For this legislature which is about to conclude, one of the objectives of the committee chairman, Ursula von der Leyen, was to promote green Europe, but it has been difficult for him to achieve this objective because the lobbies that have a great influence in Brussels have not made the way for him.

In fact, it has had to approve as a source of energy, among the greens, nuclear and coal energy. In this directional adaptation by Von der Leyen the French State has been very important, where nuclear power plants account for 70% of electricity production. On the contrary, the use of coal has been pressured by Germany to produce electricity, as the decrease in cheap gas coming from Russia has also meant.

On the other hand, the war in Ukraine began in the middle of this parliamentary term and the situation has worsened dramatically for the EU, being held between Russia and the USA. Germany had to lead the EU, but there are Social Democrats in power who have made themselves known as NATO supporters, and in that direction the Greens and Liberals have given themselves to taste. The Greens were pacifists in the 1980s and today in the genocide in Gaza they are aligned with Israel.

The EU’s main objective for the next legislature will be security and, on the contrary, green Europe will be avoided, even more so after turning its head on the mobilisations of industrial agriculture. In order to ensure this security, Trump wants defensive spending to reach 2% of GDP in his mandate.

The EU made misguided economic forecasts for the war in Ukraine, partly discouraged by the US, with the aim of reducing European autonomy

In the wake of the Ukrainian war, the EU made misguided economic forecasts, partly discouraged by the US, aimed at reducing the autonomy of Europeans. Because, once the war has started, Russia has been subjected to thirteen economic sanctions, and it is a paradox that the EU economy, especially Germany, has been hardest hit than Russia.

Why that paradox? First, because the direction of the oil and gas of Siberia has been towards the east, which is about to build the gas pipeline called Siberia Force 2. Therefore, the cheap and appropriate gas that could come to Germany, goes to China, while Russia gets funds to fund the war; oil goes to China and India, and in many cases is consumed in Europe.

Who also does not remember the SWIFT system for international financial payments? The Europeans believed that Russia was going to fail its economy dismissed from this system. And in addition to creating their own system, Chinese and Russian agreed to make payments of their funds and circumvent the SWIFT system. The EU now wants to use the profits of foreign Russian assets to finance the war in Ukraine and European rearmament. If this proposal were to succeed, the fundamental basis of the liberal capitalist system, sacred private property, would change radically and have immense consequences. For example, could the expropriations of the large Cuban landlords coincide with international law? Meanwhile, in Russia they have taken this information seriously and announce that they will go to international courts, starting a process that can last a long time.

Finally, the German economy has been in crisis since the year 2023, mainly due to the increase in fuel from Russia, as well as high interest rates on investment. Consequently, in 2023 GDP grew by -0.3%. From there, to address the rearmament of Germany and the EU to ensure security with Russia. We must not forget that in Germany the Nazis applied this Keynesian economic policy and ended the death of 26 million Soviets.