The self-inflicted chaos engulfing the EU continues apace. It is clearly in the UK's best interest the European economies we trade with presently and will do in the future, do well, but it is almost impossible not to take some delight in the debacle. After all, the UK decided to leave the EU after the largest democratic vote for anything in our history and we wanted to leave on good terms, offering the hand of friendship and trade options as well as security and political support that would benefit our former partners even more than ourselves.
Instead of thanks and best wishes, we have endured more than a year of threats, insults and spiteful behaviour that must confirm in any fair-minded person's thoughts that we were right to wrestle back control of our laws, borders, cash and trade from these bureaucratic bullies.
Merkel's massive problems
The latest significant problem to assail the EU is Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Unionist party's present failure after months of trying to establish a workable coalition so that she can add to her 12 years leadership and run Germany for another term as Chancellor. The results of the recent election were far worse than expected for Merkel. The Democratic Unionists gained 33% of the vote (down 8.5%) and that includes her close partners the Christian Social Union party. She has been trying to develop a coalition with the pro-business Liberal Free Democrats (an improving party at plus 5.9%) and the Greens who have 10.7%. Christian Linder leader of the Free Democrats, has surprisingly pulled out, citing lack of trust as the reason, thus leaving Merkel with few options, all of them bad.
She could try to run a minority government with the Greens but this has never been tried before and would probably not work. She could try to convince previous partners the centre-left Social Democrats who have a significant although reduced 20.5% vote share to join up again, but they have already ruled that out. Both firmly and repeatedly.
The issues of asylum, tax and environmental policies are proving too difficult for all the parties she would choose to do business with. She could call new elections but not quickly (spring 2018 at the earliest) and these would almost certainly lead to new gains by the far left who have 9.2% of the vote and particularly the far right Alternative for Democracy (AfD), who were the biggest gainers at the last election with12.6% (up from 7.9%).
Any option she chooses weakens both her and the EU.
Anti EU feeling gathers across Europe
Significant problems have already engulfed Emmanuel Macron the pro-EU President of France and the other driving force of the EU project. He is finding himself increasingly isolated abroad and under sustained attack at home as he tries to curb union powers and further empower the EU. Protests on the streets of France are growing and he seems to have managed the difficult trick of uniting the powerful left-wing union lobby and the pro-Marine Le Penn far-right anti-EU anti-Islam supporters into opposing him totally in a record quick time.
Nationalist movements are growing in Holland, Austria, Sweden, Hungary, The Czech Republic and Slovakia fuelled by the arrogant handling of the growing migrant and terror threats by the extravagant five various Presidents of the absurd EU.
Juncker and Tusk, in particular, feel they can impose quotas and rules on sovereign countries and these countries are beginning to fight back. The Catalonia crisis in Spain is also proving a growing problem and the leaders in Madrid seem to be using the same heavy-handed approach that has caused the UK to leave the EU and nationalist movements to grow. Greece and Italy are having migrants illegally ferried to their resorts by charity boats in the tens of thousands. Those two countries, as well as Spain, are suffering ongoing financial ruin through being members of the Euro and trying to develop industrially at the same rate as Germany and Holland. Turkey is demanding membership in return for the bribe of not letting migrants straight into Greece despite a culture and attitude to human rights that is diametrically opposed to the EU.
It really is one Hell of a mess
So it's all going terribly well for the EU then! What will be the response? Some feel they can still draw the UK back into the spendthrift stupidity so that we can bail out the hated project. That may be why they are delaying Brexit negotiations. They are also trying to speed up bringing in a European army and political union. So their answers unsurprisingly seem to be more bullying and closer integration!
If leaders who are democratically elected and thus responsible to voters, like Merkel and Macron don't wake up and smell the coffee soon, they will be kicked out and Europe will become even more of a powder keg than it already is. They need to get rid of Presidents like Juncker and Tusk and the other three who seem to remain in power forever.
Not held to account for their stupid actions they feel free to behave evermore irresponsibly.
If elected leaders do not remove them and check the out of control EU they can be very sure that the people of Europe, increasingly sick of footing the enormous bills both fiscally and politically for this Frankenstein project certainly will.