Pavel Havlicek: European Union will find a way forward
10.09.2023
Pavel Havlicek
Recently, we see how populists have become more active all over the world, and in particular in the EU countries. Pavel Havlicek, who is a Research Fellow at the Association for International Affairs (AMO) in Prague, has shared with the Newssky on what the nearest prospect is for the European Union and whether it will withstand the onslaught of populists.
I believe that the next course of events inside the EU will be largely determined by the elections next year as well as the ability of the EU to take action and withstand both domestic and external shocks, which are nowadays presented under the banner of resilience.
The EU has been traditionally evolving, which was largely determined by the willingness of its members to pursue a stronger domestic reform agenda («deepening»), or rather focusing on external influence and incorporating new members («widening»).
This debate, especially present and relevant in the early 2000s, is back on the table, but this time it seems that both processes will even more than before have to go hand in hand and balance each other, while being determined by the EU members, which together with their societies still hold the key to the future development of the EU.
Will the Union hold out against the onslaught of populists?
This is a highly pertinent question and something that we will only know better next year after the European Parliament elections at the beginning of June 2024.
In my opinion, however, this will not be the question, and the EU will find a way forward when dealing with its own challenges on the domestic floor, especially when faced with enormous pressure from Russia over its aggression against Ukraine and the wider West, which puts the EU members closer together and prevents further fragmentation, possibly with some minor exceptions.
Therefore, while the answer is, «We will see,» I believe that this will not be the case, and we will rather see politics of smaller steps and more decisions taken by the national governments, as this seems to be the trend around the European Union when more and more governments are kept in check by the more nationalist circles believing in the sovereign decision-making power of the EU members.
Maryna Kovalchuk, Newssky’s own correspondent (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland), head of the V5 Media project, contribute
