Is the EU finally becoming ungovernable?
Macron’s government falls, Ursula battles for survival, unpopular German government fights itself
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2024
What do the tensions and potentially terminal strains in the EU landscape mean for Sir Keir Starmer?
Yesterday (16 Jul 2024), President Macron of France finally bowed to the inevitable and accepted the resignation of his Prime Minister. In so doing, his government fell. Meanwhile EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is in a battle for her political survival and a knife-edge vote tomorrow will decide her fate. On top of all this, the deeply unpopular German coalition government of Olaf Scholz continues to creak, barely holding itself together.
What’s going on across the water? Is the EU finally becoming ungovernable? Facts4EU.Org summarises some of the key challenges facing the EU today – and how these impact the UK
Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
The problems in Paris, Brussels, and Berlin
- Macron bows to the inevitable and accepts his PM’s resignation
- His government then fell yesterday
- France will now be under a ‘caretaker administration’
- All this as France faces an economic crisis and an Olympic Games in chaos
- EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is battling for her political survival
- Crucial vote in EU Parliament tomorrow will decide her fate
- Ursula snubs Keir Starmer’s big Blenheim event tomorrow to try to save her skin
- If she loses, Brussels will be thrown into chaos
- Germany’s already fragile coalition government is creaking at the seams
- Major battles are ahead over energy, budgets, borders
Against this back-drop, Sir Keir Starmer was hoping for ‘Ever Closer Alignment’
It seems Keir Starmer’s plans to ‘reset’ the UK’s relationship with the EU will just have to go on hold. In Brussels and in EU27 capitals, key decision-makers have other things on their minds. The new UK government’s hopes are fairly well down the list of priorities.
As an example, it would normally take a coach and horses to prevent EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen from grandstanding on the world stage. Despite this, she missed the 75th NATO Summit in Washington DC last week, where the British PM was hoping to have a side meeting with her.
On top of that, Mrs von der Leyen has sent her apologies for absence from Sir Keir’s great European event at Blenheim Palace tomorrow. Sir Keir snubbed twice in two weeks – what’s going on?
Every vote counts for Mrs von der Leyen – and Keir Starmer doesn’t have one
Tomorrow sees a knife-edge vote in the EU Parliament, where Ursula von der Leyen needs the support of a simple majority of the MEPs. She has therefore put international business on hold while she desperately tries to win the support of the various groupings.
Unfortunately for her, when she promises concessions to one grouping, she loses the support of another grouping. She has even resorted to one-on-one meetings with MEPs she would never normally spend time with. Following the vote tomorrow, we will report on the results and the fallout.
Meanwhile in Paris…
President Macron finally bowed to the inevitable yesterday and accepted the resignation of his Prime Minister, the youthful Gabriel Attar. This in turn brought down his government, leaving France with a ‘caretaker administration’ until after the Olympics.
In that time, there is the increasingly improbable prospect of all the fragmented French political parties coming up with a PM candidate who stands a chance of forming a government. As with Mrs von der Leyen’s fate, we will report on this separately.
Finally there are always the solid Germans…
The problem here is that the coalition government of Olaf Scholz is increasingly and deeply unpopular.
The right-wing AfD party now leads Scholz’s own party in the polls and looks like being Germany’s second political force across the country. In the East it is already the No.1 force.
Within the coalition itself, some serious differences have emerged in relation to energy policy, the federal budget, and border control. Just as in the UK, rampant immigration – legal and illegal – is a major topic, and one which does not seem to be being addressed in a robust manner. Hence the rapid rise of the AfD.
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Observations
By all rights we should now be in ‘the Silly Season’ for news, when newspapers might carry stories such as “Furball the feisty feline finally coaxed down from rooftop by fearless fireman Fred”.
Instead there’s more news than you can shake a stick at. On every continent there are developments which affect the British people.
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Finally, please don’t miss us on the Martin Daubney Show on GB News, this afternoon shortly after 5pm!
[ Sources: EU Commission | EU Parliament | Elysee Palace ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Wed 17 Jul 2024
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