The lessons of an election

The European elections passed too many Europeans by: it’s time to start wondering about the future of the Union. There is no dearth of questions to be asked: How will the many parties sitting in the European Parliament converge and collide? Who will be the next members of the European Commission? When will the Treaty of Lisbon be adopted once and for all? Without a doubt these questions will on the minds of the 27 heads of state convening in Brussels on 18 June.

But from the mass abstentions to the rise of extremist parties, not to mention the ecologists’ breakthrough in several countries, last week’s elections plainly showed that Europeans have other concerns on their minds. The economic crisis, the climate quandary and the unravelling of social ties are preoccupations that transcend the purely national frontiers and issues of the elections. So they call for a common response, a response with which voters can identify next time they go to the polls.

This diagnosis of a rift between the European Union and its inhabitants is nothing new. Nor is our disappointment at seeing nothing really being done about it. We can only hope the new Parliament, along with the Brussels institutions and national governments of the Union, will rise to the daunting occasion and prove equal to the increasingly formidable tasks at hand.