The idea of a European union is not new. When Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish King Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day in the year 800 A.D. the act symbolized a yearning for the lost unity European peoples had once known under Roman rule. Though mocked by Voltaire- “neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire” - the legacy of Charlemagne endured through the cultural and political vicissitudes of a thousand years until the Empire was formally abolished by Napoleon in 1806.
Even then, across another two centuries, the dream lingered. But today in the aftermath of the shocking EU parliamentary election results it is impossible to travel across Europe without encountering thoughtful voices among supporters and critics alike concluding that the European Union (EU) as presently constituted has failed.
The EU would meet its Nemesis through attempting to transform a very successful economic consortium (the EEC) into a political union. Though initially defeated in several national referendums (e.g. Denmark, Holland, France) the proposed EU was finally adopted via the endlessly amended Treaty of Maastricht (1992) which created a political entity the principal hallmarks of which were common citizenship, common currency (the Euro), and the “free movement of peoples” (the Schengen Agreement)- the latter being the launching pad for the burgeoning immigration crisis that has plagued the EU ever since.
What followed has been a 30-year power struggle between the politicians and peoples of the member states who like the EU's economic benefits but dislike its political intrusions via the metastasizing bureaucracy in Brussels (the European Commission) which stubbornly clings to the failed mantra of “ever closer union.”
Though the Brussels bureaucracy and its sycophantic media are in full denial mode trying to minimize the extent of the electoral catastrophe, it is a daunting task when the EU's two most prominent national leaders - French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz - sit amidst the wreckage of their political parties’ worst-ever showing—having both been trounced by their populist opponents by 2 to 1 margins.
Macron, at least, candidly stated that “one simply cannot deny the disaster “ and then took the inevitable but highly risky step of dissolving France’s Parliament and scheduling a snap election June 30th.
If there is a saving grace for the globalist elites who dominate the EU, it is the highly unwieldy nature of the multiparty systems that prevail throughout Europe (France alone has 38 political parties). After every election, months go by while the parties negotiate a myriad of policy agreements without which no majority coalition can be formed.
In the 720-member European Parliament, that process will be even more complicated, which is why that body was purposely designed to have very limited powers, thereby defaulting real power to the unelected bureaucrats of the European Commission.
So, in truth the European Parliament has already completed its paramount mission of holding an election that provides an unconcealable outlet for the anger and frustration of the 448 million people of the 27- nation bloc, who otherwise have no voice or leverage over the machinations of the distant bureaucrats who arrogate to themselves the right to manipulate through endless and mind-numbing regulations virtually every aspect of their lives.
As the humiliation of Macron and Scholz, and similar stories in less-noticed jurisdictions illustrate, the real resonance of these elections will be in the national politics of the member nations where, in the lyrics of an old song, “they’ll be some changes made “.
What are some of the areas in which those changes are most likely to be made? Immigration, the war in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine, the war on energy, the Green New Deal and inflation - issues which have so disturbed American politics - have nearly exact counterparts within the EU, where they bite more deeply owing to more-fragile economies and more-limited natural resources.
Make no mistake, much as happened with the Brexit stunner in 2016, these shocking election results will ripple into the forthcoming American election, though in what ways we cannot be certain. History may suggest similar patterns, but it doesn't guarantee similar results.
Like other supranational organizations - the League of Nations or the United Nations - the European Union was launched in a spirit of idealism, but then foundered on the shoals of political reality. We may yet hope that a reconstituted EU might recapture its early economic success while discarding the political overreach that has brought it to grief.
Bill Moloney studied history and politics at Oxford and the University of London and received his doctorate from Harvard University. His columns have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Hill, USA Today, Washington Post, Washington Times, Philadelphia Enquirer Baltimore Sun, Denver Post and Human Events.