Europe must learn to integrate economically without regulations in areas of local control. This is a cause of tension that has preoccupied the United States since Gibbons v. Ogden in 1824.
Posted on 12/12/2025 9:17:03 PM PST by SeekAndFind
FOR THE respectable men running western Europe’s three biggest countries, misery is heaped upon misery. All are presiding over stagnant living standards and declining global influence. In Britain and France their rivals from the populist right are itching to take power (even the Alternative for Germany, or the AfD, may win a couple of state elections next year). And America, their key ally, has just accused them of hastening Europe towards what it calls “civilisational erasure”.
Those three leaders also warn of a catastrophe—if the parties of the populist right should triumph. Friedrich Merz, Germany’s chancellor, describes his government as centrism’s last chance. After his coalition lost European elections last year, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, spoke about the danger of civil war. This month Britain’s prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, told The Economist that Reform UK was a challenge to “the very essence of who we are as a nation”.
The doctrines of the populist right do indeed contain much to condemn. Yet talking about them in apocalyptic terms is doomed to fail. For their own sake, and for the good of their countries, mainstream politicians and their supporters urgently need a different approach.
For one thing, all this doom-mongering smacks of an attempt to draw attention away from their own failures.
In Britain, after 14 stagnant years under the Conservatives, Sir Keir’s Labour government is spending more on welfare and will impose record taxes even as rapid growth eludes it. In France Mr Macron’s law raising the state pension age has been ditched, as his fifth prime minister in three years inches a budget through the National Assembly. In Germany Mr Merz’s plan for an “autumn of reforms” came to almost nothing. If the fate of Europe is at stake, why aren’t its leaders getting more done?
For another thing, their threats are not credible. Some populist-right administrations are dangerous, others are not. Giorgia Meloni has run Italy much as a conventional politician would. Reform councillors in Britain have so far been fairly normal.
True, Viktor Orban’s party captured and milked Hungary’s institutions, but it may soon be booted out. That doesn’t sound like the death of democracy.
All this helps explain why the strategy of demonisation is self-defeating. Mainstream politicians say they defend tolerance and working people, but when they dismiss a large part of the electorate as bigots, they come across as intolerant and smug. And when they warn that populism will destroy their vision of what Europe should be, it encourages those voters who are desperate to shake things up.
If demonisation is failing, what is the alternative? The answer starts with that impatience for change which the populist right harnesses so successfully—and which this newspaper shares. The next step is to scrutinise how likely the populists are to jolt Europe out of its complacency. Engagement can improve bad policies if populists are willing to change them—and if they refuse, it exposes their folly.
The most promising populist project is the economy. When National Rally, Reform and the AfD speak to businesses, they focus on deregulation at both the national level and, for France and Germany, in Brussels. They say they want leaner government and lower taxes. They look to the power of technology. And they complain that the state penalises initiative and risk-taking while spending too much on welfare.
All that is welcome, but it is only half the story. For Britain, France and Germany, European economic integration is the most obvious source of growth. Yet the populists are set on a collision course with the European Union, which would lead to growth-destroying degradation of the single market. The fiasco of Elon Musk’s DOGE shows how hard it is to shrink the state well. Mr Bardella wants a wealth tax and was opposed to raising the pension age. After criticism for fantastical spending pledges, Mr Farage now promises more realistic budgeting, but details remain elusive.
On other issues, populists latch onto discontent, but propose solutions that are foolish. Many Europeans worry about immigration, fearing that it will harm public services and change national cultures. But populists, and America’s warnings, are out of date: legal immigration has peaked and, with the exception of Britain, illegal immigration into Europe is half what it was in 2023. The populists are also cruel. Talk of mass deportation or language designed to make immigrants feel despised is xenophobic.
Most Europeans do not worry about geopolitics, but they should. At a time when America is ever-less willing to lead the collective defence of Europe, populists echo Donald Trump’s dangerous belief that the continent will be safer if it is less united, and if each state pursues its national interests. They also show a blinkered weakness for the autocrats in Russia and China. Vladimir Putin must be cheering them on.
National elections are 18 months away in France, due in March 2029 in Germany and as late as August 2029 in Britain. Much can change in that time. If mainstream politicians spend it shrilly demonising populists, they will doubtless make themselves feel better, but they will not help their countries. They would be wiser to subject governments-in-waiting to the democratic scrutiny they deserve. ■
The right will be arrested and defenestrated.
I hate the Economist. Euro Socialist Weenies.
Only through preventing the people from voting for political parties interested in supporting them can European democracy be saved.
Islam is far more cruel. They come to conquer.
A tyrannical state with the force of the police and military behind them can.
Stop them? We should be encouraging them.
Europe must learn to integrate economically without regulations in areas of local control. This is a cause of tension that has preoccupied the United States since Gibbons v. Ogden in 1824.
lol... leftists... “we luv democracy” NOT LIKE THAT!
Bfl
.
Gotta love the part about how its somehow "cruel" to deport illegal aliens or to send legal aliens back from whence they came or to in any way roll back any of the power and privileges of the Brussels elite.
Oh, and of course Viktor Orban is the greatest prime minister Hungary has ever had. His only competition is the great Lajos Kossuth from the mid 19th century. Hungary today has no terrorism, relatively little crime, and Hungarian women can still go out at night with their friends and walk around hungarian cities unmolested. Why? Because Orban did exactly the opposite of what the Yurps want and refused to hand over his country to invading muslim hordes.
the Populists also very sensibly oppose war with Russia and oppose idiotic Gaia Worship which is destroying the economies of Western European countries.
The mouthpiece of the Globalist, Gaia Worshiping, Yurp elites.
Yes, its so cruel not to want to see all sorts of violent crimes committed against your people, to not want to see your women raped, to not have your cities taken over and whole areas turned into no-go zones for police, to not want to see your culture and your people erased, and to see your tax money used to bring in the 7th century savages who do all of the above. Just Cruel!
Of course what Leftists mean by "Democracy" is we the elites rule through our institutions, our judges and our bureaucrats."
“Can anyone stop Europe’s populist right?”
It’s not that hard - all the ‘mainstream’ parties have to do is TURN BACK THE CLOCK about 40 years, when:
1. Mass Migration didn’t happen*
2. Kids weren’t groomed and grannies weren’t killed.
3. People got to drive diesel cars and politicians didn’t second-guess engineers when it came to energy production.
Back then they still got enough migrants for their multi-cultural restaurants, gays were still left alone (provided they weren’t grooming), and EV’s didn’t exist. Europe was a NICE PLACE, back then.
*while this one is easy to stop, it will take massive bloodshed to reverse it.
Oh yeah, they also RESPECTED all viewpoints and didn’t go around accusing people of being Soviet agents when they had disagreements.
One other thing, don’t go promising to START A WAR that everyone knows you’ll lose - again, something Europe DID NOT do 40 years ago. At least when the US starts a war, we have a chance of winning, even if we usually don’t.
“Can anyone stop Europe’s populist right?”
I hope not.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.