Europe’s Populist Backlash
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
The politics of populist anger are on the march across Europe, fueled by austerity, recession and the inability of mainstream politicians to revive growth.
In Greece, the main problem is Golden Dawn, whose violent neo-Nazi thugs have finally provoked a belated government crackdown. In France, it is the anti-immigrant, anti-Europe, National Front, whose clear victory in a local council race on Sunday sent shock waves through both mainstream parties. And in Italy, it is the anti-politics Five Star Movement, which feeds on popular resentment of an out-of-touch political class, austerity directives from Berlin and Brussels, and increased migration of refugees from North Africa and the Middle East.
Prime Minister Enrico Letta of Italy, who is scheduled to meet with President Obama in Washington on Thursday, warned this week of the danger that rising populism poses to political and economic stability across Europe, especially given the likelihood of strong populist gains in next spring’s European Parliament elections. But it will take more than warnings to turn back this tide. Mainstream governments like Mr. Letta’s must convince voters that they can do more than administer the austerity demanded by Germany and can deliver the economic relief demanded by their citizens.
Mr. Letta, in office since April, has, until now, been constrained by his need to avoid offending former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who controlled enough votes to bring down the government. But after winning a parliamentary showdown with Mr. Berlusconi this month, Mr. Letta is freer to act on needed reforms.
Mr. Berlusconi, a defendant in multiple court cases, pressed to weaken the powers of judges and prosecutors. Those powers need to be strengthened to assure swifter, surer justice. As an autocratic political boss, Mr. Berlusconi resisted democratizing the way candidates are chosen, and changing the way seats are allocated to make parliamentary deadlock less likely. With him out of the picture, it is more likely that center-right politicians will be more willing to negotiate over these issues.
On others, like moving from centralized national wage bargaining to more flexible, localized arrangements, the opposition comes from within Mr. Letta’s own Democratic Party. Mr. Letta needs to pressure his party to act more responsibly on this and other pro-growth reforms that union leaders in its ranks resist.
The most effective way to reduce populist anger before it further corrodes European unity would be to loosen the constraints of fiscal austerity that European Union governments have agreed to at Germany’s behest. That austerity has brought on double-digit unemployment rates across most of Europe (and more than 25 percent in Greece and Spain), which have darkened the prospects for the younger generation. Unless Mr. Letta and other European leaders can reverse this disastrous trajectory, political disillusionment will mount and destructive populist movements could emerge the only real winners.
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