Can the European Center Hold?

fonte: The New York Times
di Beppe Servergnini
MILAN — My father is 97 years old. Angelo Severgnini — Gino to his friends — was born during a world war, fought in another (first with the Germans, then against them) and witnessed the subsequent Italian civil war. He saw the coming and going of Fascism, Nazism and Communism.
And he adores the European Union. He has seen it bring former enemies together, create lasting peace across the Continent and enable his children and grandchildren to make friends abroad and move freely from Italy to Britain, the Netherlands and Poland.
Sadly, my father is in a minority these days.
Europe’s narrative is in the hands of its foes. While the friends of Europe chat busily among themselves in the narrow circles of government, business and the media, anti-Europe parties are gathering momentum across the Continent.
The list is long: Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement in Italy. Nigel Farage’s U.K. Independence Party. Alternative for Germany. The Danish People’s Party. True Finns. The Sweden Democrats. In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’s Party for Freedom. In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Front.
Although sometimes lumped together as the “European Tea Parties,” they make a somewhat motley political crew. But they share the conviction that the European Union must go.
Which would be a shame. The European Union may grind out far too many regulations, but… continua a leggere