The nationalist movements have so much support because the political forces had failed to solve people’s problems, says the political scientist Dieter Mahncke The presidential elections in France, the anti-European declarations of Le Pen, the murder of the Dutch leader of the far right Fortuyn: these are facts that question the European conscience and that raise fears of a nationalist revival. Dieter Mahncke , head of the Faculty of Political and Administrative Studies at the College of Europe in Bruges, helps us to finds answers. How do you assess the attitude of French electors in the first and second rounds of the presidential elections? “I think the reaction to the French elections has been exaggerated. We don’t find ourselves faced by the threat of Europe succumbing to a new wave of fascism or a new wave of totalitarianism. What needs to taken into serious consideration, however, is the fact that almost a third of the electors voted in the first round for ‘extremists’, whether of the right or the left, and that a large percentage did not bother to vote at all. But that doesn’t mean that a third of French citizens consist of extremists. Most of them, probably the majority, are simply dissatisfied with the way in which the traditional parties have tackled or ignored the questions they consider to be their real problems”. Do you think, also in the light of the assassination of the leader of the Dutch right Pim Fortuyn, that we are witnessing the emergence in Europe of extremist nationalist movements, or is it all an exaggeration of the mass media? “The extremist nationalist or populist movements are a reality and not an invention of the media. It’s true, too, that they enjoy popular support because the traditional political forces have failed adequately to tackle all the problems faced by the nation. If the pressure of immigration is considered a problem it’s not because of the racism of the local populations but because of the problems associated with it, such as unemployment, criminality, homelessness. It’s not enough to preach sermons asking people to be kind to their fellowmen. Rather, the underlying issues need to be addressed and resolved; of course, that’s easier said than done, and time will be needed, something that plays into the hands of the populist movements that may criticise the lack of results and so attract votes”. Do you think that the institutions of the European Union and the national governments are not always capable of transmitting a positive and constructive message to European citizens and reassuring them about the process of European integration? “Yes, both the EU institutions and the national governments are failing in this direction, the latter more than the former. But that’s precisely the raison d’être of the Convention on the future of Europe which is now at work in Brussels: that of clarifying once and for all what are the objectives of the process of European integration and improving the procedures to facilitate their achievement. The EU must give citizens a clearer image of itself: what it does and what are its real objectives. An effort of this kind would make it more difficult for European governments to blame Brussels for everything that goes wrong”.
