European Union: An ‘empire’ crumbling?
Interpretations on why Europe — which is beset with seething regional and national resentments — is in crisis are fabulously varied
South Africans might find the grand question of the future of the EU a perplexing and distant topic. But following two political crises in as many weeks, the chances of a major continental calamity have ratcheted up a notch. The potential fallout would leave no country untouched. So far European leaders have managed to keep the lid on this boiling pot — but for how much longer? Canny financier and philanthropist George Soros, himself a pro-European of an odd sort, does not mince his words: "The disintegration of Europe is no longer a figure of speech; it is a harsh reality," he said recently. The EU faces a large number of threats, external and internal. From the outside, the EU is threatened by Trump’s America, Putin’s Russia, Erdogan’s Turkey and Assad’s Syria. Inside, Poland and Hungary are undermining the values on which the EU is based, but Italy is emerging as the most pressing challenge to its sustainability, Soros says. And this is not even to mention Brexit. It’s an awesome...
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