The evil ideology

Nazism and Hitler wasn't born out of nothing, even if it may seem so when we talk about it today. Nazism was born out of a nascent anti-Semitism that slowly grew in Europe after the first world war. With anti-Semitism followed the concept of race and the image that there was a master race, who deserved so much better than the fate they got after the First World War. A scapegoat was needed and it was very easy to dust off and develop the old anti-Semitism that became the most powerful weapon of Hitler and the Nazis. Hitler won his power through "democratic" elections before the coup and before the dictatorship was a fact. Meanwhile anti-Semitism deepened in Europe to the degree that all Jews where animalized.

Today we associate Nazism and fascism with the darkest and most evil of the human mind and by the actions that were carried out in its name, especially during the war, but we must never forget how an entire nation, and later an entire continent ended up in its grip. How boundaries and norms constantly moved forward so that they eventually landed beyond all human understanding. How it was a process over time.

The question is, where are we going today? Where is the process in 2014?  We can once again see how social norms and values are broadened to accept various forms of discrimination, racism and anti-democratic tendencies in our society's. So-called extremists and fundamentalists are annually moving their positions forward. What was unthinkable 10 years ago is now a reality.
The patterns and the process from the inter-war period is repeated all over Europe, from Greece to the UK and Sweden. There are however two crucial differences, and that is the fact that Europe isn't shattered by war, as it was after the great war and the educational level of the citizens of Europe are generally among the worlds highest. That should limit the momentum of the ideological evil, but when?

Eurosceptics, eurocritics and (more?)

For me, the definition of the typical eurosceptic, is a person who oppose any form of political, social and economic integration between European "nation-states" A person thats not willing to see any pragmatic, democratic or economical benefits from integration.
The typical eurosceptic is often found in nationalistic movements and in very romantically, conservative groups where yesterday is more important then tomorrow and institutions are more important then people. Those movements, groups and individuals are blinded by an idea of how things are, instead of how things really are. Often delusionalised that they are above everything that is surrounding their isolated perception on how things are or should be and that there is a threat in everything that is new, different or partly in opposition to their worldview.

As you see, I don't mention criticism towards EU systematics, democracy or politics in my definition at all. Why? To be critical, you must be constructive in your criticism and you must also offer constructive solutions or alternatives to what you are critical about, eurosceptics don't do that at all, according to my definition above.

If you want change and reforms to better things of state, you must search elsewhere.

Then there's the rest, fans of status qou.

What lies behind the successes of right- wing populism and extremism in Europe

What lies behind the successes of right- wing populism and extremism in Europe? The financial crisis is most frequently mentioned as a reason and it is also a likely reason that i'm not in position to question. But are there more explanations and are there examples where it can be argued that the economic crisis isn't the foundation of this populistic rampage across Europe?
In the elections to the European Parliament, the member-states that stand out the most are not the ones that are hit the hardest by recession and austerity. France, Denmark and the UK are 3 of those member-states in which extremism and right-wing populism reached its greatest successes. None of these member-states are among the worst affected by the financial crisis. Denmark and the UK are additionally outside the eurozone, if one would argues that the crisis was a currency crisis. In Sweden, which is a member-state with strong finances and also a member-state outside the eurozone, the far-right populists gets its highest result ever in a public election.
Could the election result and the populist winds that are blowing in Europe be a protest against European integration it self, the EU system or systematics if you will or is it a protest against politicians in general or even a protest against the member-states national governments and their handling of the crisis in Europe? Is it the dream of a united Europe in which people stand united in solidarity that now has been partially ruptured and questioned? Could it just be a cry for help?

The trends are the same across Europe and is therefore a European problem that we must face at a European level.
It requires first and foremost that people can rally and mobilize around something that is exclusively European, like the Parliament and by the Parliament, the appointed president of the Commission. ( Provided its not stopped by EUCO. )
European problems and opportunities must be managed at the European level and with a mandate from the citizens. That is not the case in reality. What looked like it was the EU handling the crisis was actually handled by the affected nation states and their lenders. The EU has, at its best, acted as a moderator and facilitator. ( Listed in order to use the EU as a scapegoat. )
I am convinced that the crisis of confidence between the EU and the voters is the first breeding ground for the election results that we got and the crisis of confidence is rooted in the fact that EU has no mandate of its own to deal with any problem, at the same time as the EU are the perfect scapegoat for national governments.
The European council's intergovernmental negotiations behind closed doors is a hotbed for contempt against both EU and against European politicians. In the member-states, the national leaders from the European Council can emerge as the nation's representatives against opposing forces in other national leaders. When opinion at home are showing displeasure they have there scapegoat.
When voters are kept in the dark at the same time as they feel the consequences of the politics, they get confused and angry. this nourishes all extremism and Europe got its judgment in the election.
Paradoxically, the results show how integrated and depended we are by one another in Europe.

Don't blame me

Don't blame me. I voted!

European democracy isn't ours to give away

Europe's democracy isn't ours to give away, it belongs to our children and grandchildren. We just borrowed it from those who fought, died and won the democracy that we all lean on.

They gave democracy to us so that we could build on it and make it better and stronger for every generation. This democracy have been challenged many times but never as much as right now, before the European elections and comming member-state elections.

How do we handle this?

I want to see a broad coalition on EU level and on national level against all totalitarianism, rasism and division. At the same time all of us who sees the threat must reach out to those who don't and show the strength of democracy in action. We must use all democratic weapons we have to fight the undemocratic forces back.

What's different with British nationalism

The difference between British euroscepticism and nationalism from most other EUmembers are the tone they have in the media ( including public service ) and among many established so called "moderate" politicians, against Europe and other Europeans. It's often very hard and unjust in every way.

Even when it comes to moderate pro-Europeans the focus is on British leadership in Europe and not about unification, stability or the common good of the European people.
I do generalais but it's this picture that comes out of Britain to the rest of us. And we aren't impressed!

I can see how fragile the political situation are in the UK at the same time as No. 10 and big parts of media points fingers at the rest of Europe. (EU, works as the famous scapegoat again)

The special relationship that the UK seem to want with the EU after the new deal is another example of Britain not knowing it's place as a equal member of the European family.

The UK is apart of the European family and I hope that the British Europeans will come to that conclusion very soon, once and for all.

The crisis in the UK that we don't talk about

Are the UK on the brink of a breakup?
The kingdom is divided on more then one front. EU, Scotland, Northern Ireland. What will happen if Scotland votes yes to independence? What will happen if the rest of the kingdom leaves the EU?
How will separatists in Northern Ireland act if Scotland becomes a republic within the EU?
What will happen with the monarchy and the common wealth? What would happen to England and Wales if Ireland and Scotland joins schengen?
Or turn it all around: The Scottish vote no, on independence and Cameron don't get a new term in office, what happens to the referendum? What would happen with the support for UKIP and how will they and other nationalists and populists act in this different scenarios.
The questions are many and the answers are just speculations.

What we can say without a doubt is that it is a nationalistic and populistic mess and that it can't come any good out of it for the common people. This is Cameron's legacy!

Hungarian nationalism is on fire

Hungarian nationalism haven't made Hungary or Europe a better place.
Instead we have seen concentration of power and unacceptable compromises with democracy and the rule of law.

Just as all European populists and nationalists, the Hungarian government blames EU and the rest of Europe for their own problems and shortcomings.
EU work's as a great scapegoat for Orban and his party Fidez who with great success managed to hide their "personal" agenda by making the EU into the enemy.

What will happen next?

If the "new" government continues on the same path of nationalism and questionable reforms, Hungary's future within the union is very uncertain if not even impossible. ( with great sadness )

There are lessons to be learned for the rest of Europe from Hungary's political development.
When you start accepting nationalistic rhetoric it's like playing with fire and when the fire spreads it's very hard to put the fire out.

We are Europe

We can't option ​​out of Europe without deselecting large parts of ourselves. Europe are in many ways just as integrated as most of its member states are, in terms of culture, trade, economy, science and higher education.

Something we rarely think about when we are talking about European integration is that its not comprehensive or complete in any political, cultural or geographicall area.
European integration "in deversity" is best illustrated as a quilt or as number of rings that are more or less integrated in each other.

European integration is much older then our union and much older than our nation states.
The democratic integration, however, is a creation during the postwar period with the aim to pick up where nationalism and the nation state failed, to bring Europe stability and a peaceful development.

The aim of European integration has never been to create a homogeneous Europe where regional and local cultural differences are blurred or weakened, but to strengthen diversity through democratic collaboration. It has influences of cultural federalism, which is in direct contrast to the goal with the nation-state, a culturally homogeneous society witch is organizational characterized by central government, replacing local and regional self-governance.

Nation states set limits and build walls for culture, commerce and people in Europe. Nationalism created more organized unrest and division in Europe than there ever was before. Sadley the nation-state quest lives on in Europe and even within our Union, where we see how nationalism acts against bringing down walls and barriers for culture, commerce and people.

What if the borders and walls are built again? We can only learn from the past, walls do not create stability and peace!

The most important election this century

This May it is time for Europeans to go to the polls in an election that in many respects is special and maybe even critical to Europe's democratic future.
For the first time , the voters have the opportunity to directly influence who will become the European Commission's next president. This is done by the major party groups in the EP in advance nominated its candidate for the presidency, which roughly means that the post-election largest party group's candidate becomes the next Commission president.

It is a commendable initiative to strengthen European level democracy by the EU party groups and to give the Commission greater legitimacy among the European citizens without any major reforms that would require new treaties between the national governments.

There is allot more to be desired when it comes to democratic reform of the EU but it is above or "below" the powers of the Parliament. It is in the hands of our national governments and parliaments. 
Unfortunately, the resistance at national level about giving more power to the voters over European politics are great.

Parliament elections in May, however have a great potential to bring democracy much needed focus and put it on the agenda for future national elections in Europe.

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A democratic foundation

Europe's transformation and success in the postwar period must not make us naive, we aren't safe and secure from internal threats to our democracy and stability.
There are still obvious weaknesses and cracks in the foundation of the European construction, which allows negative forces to cause fundamental problems and democratic obstacle in Europe.

Some recent examples are Victor Orban's weakening of press freedom and the rule of law in Hungary. Another example is David Cameron's attack on freedom of movement and on civil equality in the Union.

So how can Europe strengthen the democratic foundations and ensure stability over the long haul?

The best way would be a common European constitution that clearly establishes the framework for democracy, rule of law and civil rights.
There are several non-governmental organisation's in Europe that actively promotes the debate on a European constitution and which has led to several proposals and drafts on a constitution.

It is clear that the fundamental democratic principles must be ensured for all Europeans and that foundation must be built together. This is the biggest and most important issue to debate before upcoming elections. Who is afraid of more and better democracy?

Cameron and Europe

British Prime Minister drives a European policy and a campaign that means that a number of common rules would be scrapped. Cameron have repeatedly turned against Europe's environmental rules governing the minimum standards in environmental protection. Cameron also criticized Europe's labor rights and freedom of movement.

The conclusion is that the conservative Cameron does not believe that European environmental policy is too lame and that the big losers of Cameron's European policy is without a doubt, the environment, labor laws and the free movement of citizens .

Cameron also wants to renegotiate the British membership. It's primarily about the membership fee and the British rebate. It's not about saving necessary pounds to the British exchequer but in practice what Cameron believes that Britons should contribute with to the smaller economies in the Union. In other words, solidarity and one of the Union pillars are under attack.
This is what Cameron calls British leadership in Europe.

At home, Cameron plays on nationalist winds by criticizing the EU and especially the forces that want to reform by democratizing and federalazing Europe.

Fort Europa

Fort Europa is the biggest shame of modern Europe and of our civilized union. Fort Europa is there to keep the desperate and needy out and it works, but with a great cost of human lives and european values.
I suggest that we reinvent Fort Europa in to something that will benefit us all, both EU citizens and those looking for a safe harbour. Fort Europa should be and must be the safe haven for democracy, human rights and solidarity protected by a European constitution.

Euro skeptics and nationalists have air under the their wings

Euro skeptics and nationalists have gotten plenty of air under the their wings during the current global economic crisis. Criticism against the euro and the political battering on how to handle the crisis has rightly been very strong. Unfortunately, skeptics and nationalists failed to produce any concrete solutions to the proven weaknesses of Europe, but rather demanded that Europe once again be isolated behind nationalist walls. Unfortunately, the media have often uncritically blown air under the wings of nationalism during this crisis which in itself deepened the crisis and hampered the recovery. Above all, the political crisis in Europe has been affected.

What should be of interest in the media are the forces that did present and campaigned for various economic , but above all political solutions to the crisis.
Organised federalists and engaged citizens presented, through various initiatives proposals for reform and dared to debate them in various forums. Their work has had a major impact on social media and on the streets around Europe while traditional media focused almost exclusively on reactionary and doomsday prophecies, giving nationalists and sceptics a much bigger media coverage then their popular mandate.
A consequence of this is that the established politicians and parties did not and do not dare to lead the public debate, which in itself strengthens the democratic deficit in our current Union.
There is an urgent need to critically study the structure and policies of the EU if we are to emerge from the crisis and build a Europe that we want to leave to coming generations.

Our strength lies in our goals and our arguments

You can not measure what the European union has meant for Europe's democratic and economic development in the postwar period. 
From the historic turmoil in Europe, no one can imagine a Europe without the ambition to unify the European pot of historic good and evil and create a stable Europe for its people.. 

The Union has built a foundation which rests on its citizens. It is now up to us to build on this foundation and create a democratic and stable Europe, that not only Europe needs but the globalised world 
needs. We don't have a easy journey ahead of us, the resistance is established and sometimes economically strong, but our strength lies in our goals and our arguments. 
European Parliament is sadly not the institution that determines our future, it is up to EUCO and our national governments, but the elections in 2014 to the European Parliament is without a doubt the best tool in the near future to set the agenda for our struggle for a better and a more democratic Europe. We must therefore gather all our strength and courage to take the debate whenever the opportunity is given.

With democracy we shall win more democracy!  

I call for a PAN-European referendum

Europe needs to move forward! but it wont happen if we continue with the national battering we have in the council.

I call for a PAN-European referendum on a democratic federal European constitution. Let the people decide about their future. This referendum should be followed by national, on or off referendums in every member state.
This is the federal way, more democracy and in some cases more Europe and in others less Europe.

This would put an end to the unions within the union, it would mean no more first and second class citizens and it would mean that we could see the creation of a European federation of citizens. 

Federalism is about securing democracy and diversity in Europe.

"Federalism means sharing of sovereignty and dividing power and competences. Federalism means no monopoly of power, no unique power center, but a number of power centers. Hence, federalism means democracy." - Herbert Tombeur

Most Europeans needs to be informed and educated on the essence of federalism before they can fully take part in the debate about European future, because the debate is largely about federalizing the union or dismantling the union. Sadly, sceptics still compere a federal Europe to a imperialistic super state. Nothing could be further from the truth but it works well for them and will do so until federalist manege to reach out to the masses and educate. 

Thanks to internet and social media the possibilities are greater then ever. Federalists have a unique opportunity to get the message out all over Europe and this in times when the future of Europe more then ever is open for the people to build there own future. 

Federalism is about securing democracy and diversity in Europe. 

Euromaidan

EuroMaidan is a great and a very needed inspiration to all Europeans and to our everlasting struggle for unity and democracy in Europe. We stand together in our struggle to always better Europe and against all attempts to weaken the people, our unity and our democracy. Thank you!

European identity

European identity is just as real and authentic as any local or regional identity in Europe.

" United in Diversity" sums it up pretty well, but I'll try to describe, according to me what is our European identity.

It's hard to find a place on earth where all or even a majority's of the people share a general identity. I think you must search in isolated tribes of indigenous people to even come close.

In most democratic parts of the world, just like in Europe, countless identities coexist with each other, locally, nationally and in larger unity's. They are cultural, political, religious and even academic identity's. Its not always without conflict but still in coexistence and with different levels of integration among themselves.

The European identity is found in and around us. Not least culturally where local and regional identity's are clear and strong on there own but just as clearly intertwined with other local and regional identities. It is equally evident in the political struggles that's been played out in Europe, where we currently, without taking something for granted can say that democracy and freedom have taken the longest straw across the continent. I don't stick my neck out by saying that no fight, no struggle and no victory for democracy has happened separately from others in Europe.

Europe has been the centre of two world wars, the Cold War and that's only in the last 100 years. Europe is also the place where the industrial revolution took off and changed conditions drastically. Religion had its borderless fights for century's. In all this, Europeans has for more than 1000 years intertwined in social, cultural and economic enterprises that shaped and developed Europe.

Many women and men from all over Europe have fought and sacrificed there life and limb for liberty and peace so that Europe would achieve what Europe is today.

It is not possible to hide from our European heritage and identity, just as we cant forget the traditions of the community that we where born in. If we do, we do nothing but lie to ourself and our children.