THERE is remarkable consensus in Europe. Europeans, when they vote in European Parliament elections, usually mark their ballot papers according to their views of their national governments, either for or against. That has not been the case in the elections held between last Thursday and Sunday. Across the continent, voters have turned against the left. In the UK and Spain, where the left is in power, the electorate swung to the right; in France and Italy, where the right is in power, voters embraced it, scorning the left; even in Germany where there was a shift from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democrats, they still polled almost twice as many votes as the socialists, the main beneficiary being the no less center-right and firmly business-minded Free Democrats. Greece, Denmark and Malta were about the only EU members to buck the trend but even there the swing to the left was not as great as expected.
No one, however, should jump to the conclusion that this Europe-wide embrace of the right signals the birth of a new European political awareness. The “European Idea”, so beloved of European enthusiasts, has not struck roots. The British remain firmly British; the French, French; the Germans, German; and so forth. They all voted for the right for different national reasons. Moreover the turnout, the lowest ever, screams a lack of interest in Europe; less than half the EU’s 375 million voters, just 43 percent, bothered to exercise their democratic rights. In some places, it was abysmal. In the Czech Republic it was under 28 percent. In England, it was 36 percent but would have been lower had the ballot not coincided with local elections where the electorate were chomping at the bit to pass judgment on the most unpopular government in living memory. Elsewhere in the UK, the Scots and the Welsh displayed the same level of Euro-apathy as the Czechs.
In part, the financial crisis is cause for the shift. Across Europe, voters have turned from center-left parties (traditionally more pro-European) to those on the right (traditionally more nationalist) as better able to deal with it. The vote is, however, a barometer to far more than public feeling about the economy. In their separate national ways, the British, the French, the Germans, the Dutch, the Danes and all the rest have signaled a desire for old certainties and traditional identities. They are worried about immigration, security and law and order. These are all the platform of the right and far right in each country and it is why both have made such gains.
One man will be pleased. The most powerful figure in Europe, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso is due for re-election by the end of the year. A right-wing majority in the European Parliament should ensure a second term. For the Parliament itself, however, the low turnout undermines its credibility just at a time it has real powers that touch the everyday lives of ordinary Europeans — on almost everything except agriculture, finance, security and defense. That will not stop its work but, unless Euro MPs can connect with those they represent, it is likely to further fuel the Euro-pessimism that this election so powerfully signals.
All the fish in the sea
THE Guardian yesterday commented on World Oceans Day, saying in part:
Eating fish is good for us, but catching it in the way we do devastates the sea. Nearly nine tenths of European stocks are overfished, and around a third are beyond safe biological limits: That is, the adult population is too depleted to provide replacement stock. Almost all cod caught in the North Sea have not had a chance to breed. Bottom dredging trawlers rip up everything in their path. The south Pacific and American coastal waters have almost been fished out. West African fishing communities are being forced from the water by the industrial fishing fleets of Europe. Russian and Asian fishing fleets greedily scoop the fish from the Pacific.
On the latest estimates, around a third of the world’s oceans need to be closed to fishing, perhaps forever, to regenerate stocks. According to Charles Clover, whose film “The End of the Line” is released with the ambition of creating the momentum for reform, it is a moment that compares with the launch of the organic movement 50 years ago to fight the threat of the “silent spring”.
The curious aspect of the crisis is not the grim statistics showing that for the last 20 years there has been a steady decline in the world’s catch — a decline disguised until 2001 by inaccurate figures showing China increasing its take year on year. It is the almost complete failure in Europe to take effective action. The Common Fisheries Policy, which to the detriment of British fishermen treats all European fisheries as a pooled resource, has left British fisheries ministers seemingly powerless to halt overfishing and the unintended consequences of quotas and limited days at sea — hundreds of tons of illegally caught fish are thrown back. At last, a month ago, Brussels declared the CFP dead. But in marine conservation circles there is no confidence that whatever replaces it will be policed.
