Behind the symbolic title "The rape of Europe", it is not the mythological love of Zeus that is hidden, but the absolute geopolitical and economic entrapment of the old continent, which surrenders its sovereignty to foreign centers of power, as the assistant professor of the Law School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Dimitrios Roussis, explains.
As he explains from the very beginning, no, we will not speak about the famous painting of Tiziano, but about the impending end of our continent.
At least as we know it or, even worse, as we think it is.
Once, the Old Man of Democracy showed aversion to the numbers of prosperity.
But, what happens with the numbers of decline?
According to the recent forecasts of the European Commission, the economy of the Union is predicted to grow at a slowing rate of just the order of 0.9%.
Average inflation is estimated around 3.1%, affected by pressures in energy markets because of the artfully maintained live focal points of war in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Rising housing expenditures render the right to residence, let alone to property, more and more inaccessible for many Europeans and especially the youth, while homelessness increases according to the new report of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, FRA.
The EU continues to depend to a superlative degree on very expensive imports of fossil resources to cover 57% of its energy needs.
Furthermore, Europe is heading towards significant demographic shrinkage, with its population expected to decrease by 11.7% by 2100, that is, by about 53 million people, according to a new forecast by Eurostat.
This demographic change already entails a gradual reduction of the labor force and an increase of the retirement-age population, intensifying pressures on social security systems and health services.
On a broader level, the political, diplomatic and military autonomy of the EU constitutes yet another utopian pursuit, which is crushed in the Symplegades on the one hand of the jockeying of America with the aspiring superpower China and the indomitable Russia, on the other hand of the insurmountable inherent contradictions, which exist in the core of our continent.
Europe resembles a person of old age, who is unable to produce and create, depends for their vital needs more and more on the support of third parties, cedes their powers to proxies and has lost every vision for life.
The upcoming elections of 2027 in a multitude of EU countries will signal an even greater shift of European societies towards entrenchment, reservation, conservatism, localism, and not unjustly.
At this milestone, especially the European Center-Right owes to serve anew the value code of our continent.
To promote an aggressive policy of protection and exploitation of indigenous raw materials and products, the strategy of control and shrinkage of imports, the strengthening of regional development and the relief of metropolitan centers, and the brave restructuring of financial tools in favor of young families and businesses.
And, finally, to regain its undisputed cultural autonomy and spiritual superiority against every other planetary pole of power.
However, the hourglass for Europe is emptying and the Zeus-sent deus ex machina bull does not appear on the horizon.
The present article constitutes a republication.
www.bankingnews.gr
Readers’ Comments