Survival of the European (Dis) Union by John Theodore

Author:John Theodore
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030312145
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

The Fight Back Against Populism and Authoritarianism in Eastern Europe

Right-wing populists governments control in Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, although holding in most cases no more than 33–35% of the vote. But there is growing evidence of democratic resistance in these nations. These manifest themselves in widespread street rallies. The same has been seen in London, when in March 2019 an estimated one million (though the numbers may well have been exaggerated by “People’s Vote” advocates) took to the streets of London to express their opposition to Brexit and the current negotiations for exiting the EU. Most in interviews expressed support for a second referendum.

The fear many pro-European democrats hold is that the current polarization of European politics will work to the advantage of the populist right, particularly in the European Parliamentary elections (23–25 May 2019). There have been mass demonstrations in Warsaw Poland. In Bratislava, Slovakia’s capital, a stunning condemnation of Slovakia’s populist governing party was offered when Zuzana Caputova—a 45-year-old lawyer, activist and political newcomer—was elected on 30 March 2019 as the nation’s first female President. Riding a wave of popular discontent over widespread corruption, she has vowed to return a sense of decency and decorum to Slovakia’s often toxic political climate—in this regard, she refused to make direct personal attacks on her opponents mired in corruption allegations. Her sweeping victory, winning 58.1% of the vote in a runoff election, gave a ray of hope to opposition parties across Central Europe that the tide might be turning against narrow ethnic nationalism and related populist movements that have taken power in recent years.

Ms Caputova’s victory came a year after the brutal murder of an investigative journalist Jan Kuciak, who had been conducting investigations of corruption at the top levels of government. The scandal led to the resignation of Robert Fico the Slovak Prime Minister. Kuciak’s death will remind the public of the murder of Daphne Anne Caruana Galizia, the Maltese anti-corruption journalist where the authorities have failed to find her killer. Caputova gained her support with her messages of decency and civility that endeared her to voters eager for change. She evoked the spirit of Vaclav Havel, the poet and first President of the post-communist Czech Republic who famously wrote about the “power of the powerless” in the face of authoritarianism, and during the 1989 Velvet revolution his slogan was “truth and love will overcome lies and hatred”.

Caputova’s political credentials are firmly pro-European expressing social and liberal values in keeping with equality and civic rights. She supports gay marriage and a woman’s right to choose an abortion. As a lawyer and activist, she has been a staunch critic of abuses of power and crony capitalism deals between politicians and businessmen. She is a member of “Progressive Slovakia”, a new liberal party.

Caputova and her allies in Central European must learn from the tactics of the populist “establishment” in both Poland and Hungary to fight for democratic values. Reaching out to socially conservative elements as the Law and Justice Party (PiS) has greatly helped to broaden their electoral base.

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