tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27932062.post4821077515407720330..comments2023-10-10T15:39:35.168+00:00Comments on Centre for European Reform: Is the euro crisis responsible for populism?Centre for European Reformhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06815454225955436329noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27932062.post-40650388805179029342013-04-19T18:38:16.330+00:002013-04-19T18:38:16.330+00:00This is a thoughtful insight. Katinka has a point ...This is a thoughtful insight. Katinka has a point when she claims that populism predates the euro crisis. <br /><br />I would trace the birth of alternative political ideas to the early nineties. That’s when, to quote Katinka, large swaths of the European electorate started to “advocate measures that one does not like.” Specifically, many Europeans were reluctant to see an “ever closer union” creep up behind their backs. Let’s recall the vehement opposition of most Germans to the Maastricht treaty. In 1997 the Bundestag approved Germany’s accession to the EMU with barely a few dozen ‘no’ votes when well upward of 60% of voters were against. In the late nineties solid majorities of Germans and Austrians consistently opposed accession of central European states to the EU. In the event, only one deputy in the Bundestag abstained while all others voted in favor when the issue came up for balloting in 2003 or 2003, if I recall well. Then, when voters did get a chance to decide directly, they were emphatic: the French and the Dutch did not approve in 2005 the constitutional treaty that aimed at transferring more power to Brussels. <br /><br />Those Europeans who oppose the EMU, those who are skeptical about more centralized decision making in Brussels, or those who disapprove of financial transfers across borders, they all strain to find support for their preferences within the established parties. When these parties exclude from their programs issues dear to the heart of majorities, the majorities seek representation elsewhere. Parties are only as good as the language that the voters recognize.<br />K Bledowskinoreply@blogger.com