Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
5 takeaways from the European Union last election
5 takeaways from the European Union last election
Feb 11, 2026 9:44 AM

Rubber Wall? Although populists have won in many countries — Salvini in Italy, Le Pen in France, Farage in the United Kingdom, Nationalists in Belgium, Law and Justice in Poland, and Orban in Hungary — everything points out that little will change in the distribution of power and in the political dynamics within the European Union. The European unification project is authoritarian, and the European Parliament is a decorative body, practically irrelevant. The Eurocrat establishment is a rubber wall, no matter how strong you punch them, they will punch you back. The real power lies with the bureaucrats in Brussels, and these are insulated from any consequence that electoral shocks can cause. To the extent that populists decide to fight by rules designed to ensure the crushing of any dissent, they will never win. Moreover, they are much divided, and there is no popular majority supporting them — at least not yet.

Are young people subversive? Unlike in the United States, a significant portion of young people supports anti-establishment parties. Salvini’s League, the Belgian Nationalists, and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally — the French nationalist star is the 23-year-old Jordan Bardella–, for example, were able to make deep inroads among the younger voters. As a matter of fact, the leftist newspaper Le Monde reported that the number of young people identified as supporting right-wing views has grown in a dramatic way in France. While many young Americans seem to be calling for a new Josef Stalin to guide them – they might well vote for an Uncle Joe next election –, the young Europeans are going in another direction.

And Brexit? By capturing a third of the vote, the performance of the months-old Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party was a Sunday night’ major surprise. What does this mean for the unfolding of the political ‘telenovela’ started in 2016? Nothing! The United Kingdom will not find a way out soon or later of the confusion it had gotten in when the ruling elites decided to cheat the people through a referendum – Brexit — that everyone thought they knew the e beforehand. Well, they did not know, and the mess is going on.

Is it a transgender bathroom, baby? The roaring defeat of the Social-Democrats in Germany and the surge of the Greens across Europe show that a more radical cultural left-turn is an irreversible now. The Greens are advocates the whole radical cultural agenda and politically correct authoritarianism. Ideas associated with the old left such as the defense of the working class and better wages has been buried for good. Now, the dispute on the left-wing camp will be to see who can spell the greatest number of genders and to see who hates the white Christian heterosexual white man more.

Conservatives? Not that “conservatives” like Angela Merkel are a big deal. As far as economic issues are concerned, she is on the left of the former German Chancellor and social-democrat leader Gerhard Schröder, and on the left of munist parties of the 1980s in cultural matters. Even so, she is still called conservative and is, without a shadow of a doubt, the queen of the Eurocracy. The European Union was created to contain Germany; nowadays, the German ruling elites control Europe. These same “conservative” elites have as their primary desire to be the gravediggers of Christian Europe, and they are winning.

Homepage photo: WikiCommons

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Earthly Vocation and Eternal Salvation
One of the issues that arose during last week’s law and religion symposium (in the questions following Wim Decock’s thorough and engaging paper on Leonardus Lessius’ engagement mercial affairs from the perspective of moral theology and philosophy) had to do with the understanding of the relationship between material pursuits and eternal salvation. In some way you might say that Lessius held to a view mercial activity as a worthy expression of the stewardship responsibilities of human beings. At the time...
Commentary: So who is our Keeper, Mr. President?
In a recent speech, President Obama invoked Scripture to justify his ambitious spending plans. In this week’s Acton Commentary (published May 25), Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg notes that the president said nothing about the role of munities and associations in helping our brothers and sisters in need. What’s more, “our leader hasn’t noticed that even some European governments, many of whom have been handing out as much pork as possible to politically-connected, politically-correct crony-capitalists over the past 15 years,...
The Most Godless Place on Earth
While Christianity still holds a fair amount of sway in western parts of Germany, in the eastern areas two thirds of the population—young and old—are declared atheists: Bad news for all those who’d hoped Christianity might make eback now that the Cold War-era German Democratic Republic (DDR) is ing an ever more distant memory. Atheism, according to a new study, is very much alive and well in the eastern part of Germany. The statistics are most striking among those under...
Os Guinness on Virtue in a Free Republic
Right now I am reading an advanced copy of Os Guinness’s A Free People’s Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future. The book will be released by IVP on August 6. It’s an essential read and I pledge to publish a future review for our PowerBlog readers. Guinness was interviewed in Religion & Liberty in 1998. In my recent talks around town I have been asking questions about our capacity and desire for self-government as munity and nation. I recently...
C.S. Lewis’s Lesson on Enterprise
“We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise,” wrote C.S. Lewis in The Abolition of Man. “We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.” Even if you’ve read that passage many times (like me) you might have glossed over (as I did) the word “enterprise.” Jacqueline Otto explains why it is significant: Is it possible then, as Lewis asserts, that by making men without chests, we make men that are not...
Free Market Environmentalism for Religious Leaders
Our friends at the Foundation for Research on Economics & the Environment (FREE) in Bozeman, Mont., have put together another strong slate of summer programs for clergy, seminary professors and other religious leaders with the aim of deepening their understanding of environmental policy. In its description of the program, FREE notes that many in munities “see an inherent conflict between a market economy and environmental stewardship.” Major religious groups assert that pollution, deforestation, endangered species, and climate change demonstrate a...
When it Comes to Taking a Job, Generation “I” is Unwilling to Settle
Kids these days. Am I right or am I right? For many adults (i.e., parents) that is all that needs to be said to generate sympathetic nods. But for those without an older teen or younger twentysomething living at home, I should probably elaborate: When es to work, kids these days have expectations that are . . . unrealistic. Consider some findings from a recent surveyof 22-26 year-old recent graduates with a four-year degree who are entering today’s workforce. Dubbed...
How the Free Market Protects the Underprivileged
The Regnery Publishing news release for Rev. Robert Sirico’s new book, Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy is online. The book’s publication date is set at May 22nd and is available to order at Amazon. ...
It’s Okay as Long as the Kids Wear Helmets
I haven’t been able to work out all the specifics (perhaps some of my colleagues would be better suited for that), but somehow I feel like this video of the Casteller festival in Spain is a metaphor for the Eurozone. Thoughts? ...
Values and Capitalism is Now Hiring
Now that our friend Eric Teetsel is moving over to the Colson Center, AEI’s Values and Capitalism project is looking for a new program manager. You can find more about the job here. Also, PowerBlog readers will be interested in V&C’s excellent blog. Check it out. ...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved