Page 25 - AEI Insights 2018 Vol 4 Issue 1

AEI Insights, Vol 4, Issue 1, 2018

ill-fated policy after the European elections, Berlin caved in surprisingly quickly” (Schui
2014)

In the case of Italy having been hit hard by the global financial crisis and in no position to
introduce stimulus packages for the ailing companies and sectors, saw the precursor of what
would happen in the European Parliament only months later. In 2012-13 elections in Italy saw
the wholesale defeat of its Prime Minister Mario Monti well known for his strong leadership
in the European Commission as Commissioner for Competition. In 2011, he replaced the
discredited Silvio Berlusconi as Italian Prime minister and quickly sought to address Italy’s
economic difficulties and especially its out of control public debt. By this Monti assumed that
that austerity was the only solution – a lesson he had mastered in the Commission and one that
was general parlance within German EU circles. After carrying out disastrous policies of
government cutbacks and monetarist initiatives his election campaign and election results
showed an electorate tired of austerity and in need of stimulus and government support
(Benvenuti 2016). He lost the elections resoundingly, which saw not only the return to
government of the Democratic Party but also the strong presence of the eclectic and anti-
establishment 5 Star Movement.

With Merkel, Hollande and Renzi forcing the situation, a new climate of anti-austerity began
to take over the discourses and Renzi, to the displeasure of Merkel was acclaiming the reform
program of SPD leader Schroder in 2003 approach as a way forward. Whatever the merits of
this reform agenda, what was set in motion was a stop to the unabated charge towards austerity
and political signs were telling the politicians that uncertainty might become the norm.
However the pro-austerity approach had already created its damage and the elections would be
the place in which this displeasure would be delivered.

The watershed year: 2016

Freezing time in global politics, the year 2016 will be a watershed as much for the EU as it is
for the global order. While concern about democratic deficit, Euroscepticism and rising
nationalist right wing forces manifested through the global financial crisis, the Greek economic
crisis and the migration emergency in 2015 had been a managed concern for European
integration, the Brexit referendum outcome and the US Presidential election result pushed this
state of control matters over the edge. What were previously issues of concern that might
happen had now become stark reality. The previous crises of European integration were in
various ways addressed, fumbled through or simply forgotten over the decades. The hiccups
around the Maastricht Treaty ratification, the failure of the EU draft Constitution to be
approved by member states such as France the Netherlands were tactfully sidestepped. The
events of 2016 were major obstacles with deep ramifications and non-easy solutions. The new
global reality was having its effect and the EU was totally conscious of the could no longer
dismiss or postpone some of the more salient issues facing it. In particular, the global reality
had changed considerably and the openness and tolerance towards European integration was
quickly disappearing.

In 2015 David Cameron, the then British Prime Minister feeling the pressure from his right
wing faction within the Tory Party sought to placate their anti-EU sentiments by putting on the
British political agenda a referendum on whether the UK should remain or not in the European
Union. It was not lost on anybody that 41 years prior, Britain had already experienced a
referendum on whether to remain in the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1975 which
resulted in a remain response in the EEC by a comfortable majority. At the time of the

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