The trend in the EU is clearly showing itself to be a division between right-wing and left-wing, populism and re-nationalization. In Finland, right-wing populists are a part of the government. In Poland and Hungary they are the heads of government. Slovakia and Greece have left-wing EU-skeptical populists governments. In Italy, the "Five Star" left-wing populist movement is the third-strongest in parliament. In France, Socialists and the center-right are being confronted with an ever-strengthening right-wing populist National Front; Marine Le Pen will certainly make a run for president in the coming year. In Germany, the nationalistic Alternative for Germany, with its EU-critical, anti-immigration and anti-Islam agenda, is growing. And the list goes on.
The currently governing parties which support the EU have yet to find a means to remedy this trend. The drama in Austria is a last warning.
If the populist right in Austria had won, that would have added more fuel to the "Brexit" fire burning in Great Britain at the moment as they soon go to the polls to decide whether or not the United Kingdom should remain in the EU. British populists have achieved something that the right and left extremists on the continent could only dream of doing: They have brought the possibility of leaving the EU within reach. The results could be just as razor thin in Great Britain as they were in Austria. Europe is changing; it's crumbling from within. Who can stop these fatal developments?
