What we are seeing in Europe today is not an outbreak of successive and unconnected crises .
It’s… self-ignition .
These are fires that break out here and there, because the European leaderships do not understand where they are stepping or where they are going .
They do not understand the implications of the policies they themselves are trying to impose.
And above all, they do not understand that they are squeezing the middle class of their societies to the point of suffocation and mortgaging the future of their next generations …
* France is on fire . On October 17 , hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets. Clashes with police, looting, arson . In Limoges , the historic town hall was severely damaged by fire . Arrests exceeded 1,800 , hundreds of police officers were injured.
The spark was the shortcomings in schools and the discontent of young people . The “fuel” , however, was much broader: accuracy, cuts, degradation of public services, a sense of abandonment .
It’s not a bolt from the blue. “Yellow Vests”, pensions, riots of 2023. French society is accumulating anger and the political system is unable to vent it . It irritates it even more…
The Left attempts to express discontent. Violent groups and riots exploit the unrest. However, not all protesters are “rioters” nor is every social protest the work of the Left .
Protest is one thing, arson is another.
The causes of anger are one thing, its political exploitation another.
And the fire is not limited to France . Mobilizations over the cost of living , wages , housing and public services are also taking place in other European countries.
There is no single uprising .
There is, however, a common undercurrent of growing dissatisfaction .
* Europe is facing an economic, social and political crisis at the same time .
Growth is slowing . Inflationary pressures persist . Germany has entered a recession . European industry is losing ground to competitors with cheaper energy .
Inflation may be slowing in Europe ( except in Greece, of course! ), but prices are not returning to where they were .
The middle class is footing the bill.
And the bill is growing .
Artificial Intelligence threatens millions of jobs . At the same time, European governments are legalizing hundreds of thousands of people who entered or remained illegally in their countries! Without sufficient possibilities for “integration”, housing and absorption by the labor market .
And this is a first contradiction : They bring in new people, illegally from outside, while they don’t know what to do with the European workers who are losing their jobs …
* And here another contradiction appears, in Spain .
Socialist Pedro Sanchez promotes the legalization of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who are already in the country illegally! And a few months later, his government mobilizes the Armed Forces in the Ceuta enclave, when around 70,000 people cross illegally from Morocco .
— On the one hand, it legalizes hundreds of thousands . On the other hand, it sends in the army to stop new entries .
— First he sends the message: “come”!
— Then he sends the army to stop those who come …
This is not immigration policy .
It’s not even crisis “management” .
It is a crisis trigger!
And the issue is not whether these people are “entitled” to humane treatment …
The issue is whether a state has the right and responsibility to control who enters its territory, who remains, and under what conditions .
If it has this right – and responsibility – it wrongly encourages those who enter illegally. And if it does not have such a right, then it simply… does not exist as a “sovereign state” and has not realized it…
And one more thing – crucial: Illegal entry is not the same as legal immigration . This distinction is first demanded by legal immigrants themselves, who followed the prescribed procedures.
If you abolish discrimination in practice, you undermine both the legitimacy and social acceptance of immigration .
If you don’t guard your borders , you have already started to lose control of your state .
And your citizens pay for this first!
And especially the less privileged .
The middle class …
The rich, the internationalized elites of Europe ,
they have their mansions in well-guarded areas ,
they have their properties in various countries ,
They have their bodyguards, they are not threatened and are not in danger .
They may also find cheap servants .
The middle class is being threatened and pressured directly!
* At the same time, Europe is losing industry and competitiveness . It is choosing a forced “green transition” , heavily taxing hydrocarbons and cutting itself off from Russian natural gas , without having secured affordable energy for industry and households .
The “green” transition has an environmental goal .
Weaning off cheap Russian gas has a geopolitical goal .
But goals don’t eliminate costs .
No matter how good a “goal” sounds, if it is unattainable it remains pure nonsense . Often dangerous nonsense .
If energy becomes more expensive , production is relocated and jobs are lost , who pays? The European middle class .
And when it is pressured by punctuality , job insecurity , housing costs and the degradation of services , its governments demand new sacrifices .
The middle class is being squeezed from everywhere!
* And with it, the social basis of democracy is compressed.
Because democracy is not just elections and “institutions” .
It needs citizens with economic autonomy, security and prospects .
It needs people who believe that their work ensures a decent life and that their children can live better than they did .
When this expectation collapses , economic discontent becomes political anger .
Traditional – systemic – parties are being weakened everywhere!
Or they are forced to move to more “extreme” locations to survive.
Trust in institutions is declining .
The Far Right presents itself as a “defender of order” , security and national sovereignty .
And systemic forces are gradually losing their influence on society: on workers and the middle classes .
History constantly reminds us of this: economic insecurity , social stagnation , and loss of trust create the soil on which populism and authoritarianism thrive.
But European elites don’t understand much about History …
* And then they blame the… “extremists” . Extremists have existed and will always exist! But when you yourselves abandon the middle class , the need to guard the borders , the need for cheap energy and competitiveness , the protection of social cohesion and public safety , you yourself create the vacuum that the extremists exploit .
When you accumulate the “fuel” yourself and scatter sparks right and left , you alone cause the “fires” that you cannot put out later .
This is not a “political elite” in Europe .
It’s about to become a hodgepodge of… “pyromaniacs”!
* And as if all this were not enough, Europe is facing yet another test: the crisis of its strategy for Ukraine .
The US and Europe disagree on ending the war , sanctions against Russia , and continued support for Zelensky .
Donald Trump suspended new sanctions against Moscow , criticized Kiev and directly called for Zelensky’s removal .
While European governments insist on continuing aid to Ukraine .
Since 2022 , European support for Ukraine has reached 227.4 billion . An additional 90 billion euros are planned for 2026–2027 ! And now that American support is being reduced , Europe is called upon to shoulder even more of the burden .
At the same time, the Commission is fighting with the Council over a few billion euros per year for Social Cohesion .
Guys, since you yourselves are undermining the “Europe” that you defend , what need do you have for the “extremists” inside and your “enemies” outside ?
* Europe has tens of billions available for external commitments , but is struggling to agree on the additional resources needed for internal convergence and cohesion .
Europe wants to take greater responsibility for its security , but it has not secured the necessary political unity .
— He wants “strategic autonomy” , but depends on Washington’s decisions .
— It asks for sacrifices from its citizens , but has difficulty explaining to them where these sacrifices lead . And it has even more difficulty ensuring their present and future …
The interventions of US Vice President JD Vance on immigration , freedom of speech and social cohesion also reflect a deeper political distance – which is close to becoming a real divide – between the two sides of the Atlantic .
NATO is now a “shadow” of its old self and Europe’s “strategic autonomy” is about to become the… shortest joke!
This is the European contradiction in all its glory : more obligations, less competitiveness, growing social insecurity and less trust in political leadership .
Europe is not only facing social explosions within itself and a war to its east . It is also facing the inability to combine its external ambitions with its internal economic and social resilience .
Democracy without a strong middle class cannot stand .
And states without control of their borders have already begun to lose their sovereignty .
Europe’s real test is not how to put out the fires in the streets.
It’s how it will stop accumulating the “fuel” that ignites them .
How will it stop… self-igniting!
THANASSIS K.
