A Loss of Faith in the E.U.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/19/opinion/a-loss-of-faith-in-the-eu.html

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European leaders did not mince words on the state of the European Union as they headed into a meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Friday to chart the union’s future after the British vote in June to leave the E.U. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany warned that Europe was “in a critical situation,” or what the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, called “an existential crisis.”

Reeling from terrorist attacks, an influx of refugees from Africa and the Middle East, and persistent high unemployment and low economic growth, millions of Europeans are coming to the conclusion that the E.U. has let them down. And they are turning in increasing numbers to populist movements and nationalist politicians who promise to protect their jobs, their way of life and their security by closing national borders and rejecting Pan-European solutions.

If the European Union is to survive, European leaders must restore people’s faith in its ability to address Europe’s problems. As the European Council president, Donald Tusk, put it, “History has taught us that this can lead to a massive turn away from freedom and the other fundamental values that the European Union is founded upon.”

That turn is already well underway in Eastern Europe. Two right-wing leaders — Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary and Poland’s ruling party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski — have called for a radical “cultural counterrevolution” to make the E.U. more hospitable to their crackdowns on freedom of expression and their refusal to help deal with the Continent’s refugee crisis.

With national elections next year in France, Germany and the Netherlands, E.U. leaders hope that announcing plans in Bratislava to reinforce Europe’s security through joint military headquarters, cooperation on military procurement and expanding a readily deployable European Union force will convince European voters — and politicians — that they will be more secure in the European Union than on their own.

As for the rest of Europe’s woes, all the leaders could agree on in Bratislava was to come up with a new plan to reinvigorate the union by the time they meet in Italy in March for the 60th anniversary of the E.U.’s founding Treaty of Rome. That hardly seems sufficient given the current crisis. Unless European leaders can turn plans into action — and quickly — there may be little to celebrate by the time they gather next year.