In recent weeks, the US press, along with certain European newspapers, has been writing about the political chaos in Western Europe. This is due to the fact that the two largest powers of the European Union, Germany and France, do not actually have a government. The crisis state of the German economy, which is viewed as the main locomotive of the EU, is particularly worrying.

The German GDP will shrink this year and the crisis is becoming more pronounced. According to Bloomberg, the German authorities “have lost their clear vision of the future and, as a result, have witnessed the confusion of their traditional followers”. A similar picture is observed in France, where almost all rating agencies have lowered the country’s credit rating and President Macron’s popularity is falling day by day.

The current situation is largely explained by the growing discontent of the population, the decline in living standards, which was the result, first of all, of the rejection of cheap Russian energy resources, the imposition of sanctions against Moscow and the actual interruption of normal trade relations.

Meanwhile, the authorities of many European countries are still thinking in terms of yesterday and are concerned about how to increase financial and military assistance to Ukraine. Naturally, this approach is causing heightened dissatisfaction among many segments of the population, who are losing confidence in their leaders.

The two largest EU states are stepping into the new year of 2025 without working governments, without approved budgets and a fragmented policy.

Countries of the Global South also recognise the leadership crisis in Western Europe

It would not be an exaggeration to assume, the Saudi newspaper Arab News wrote on December 18, that the consequences of the unrest in France and Germany would be catastrophic for the European Union, as the problems are rooted in the ever-growing wealth gap and falling living standards, which many experts attribute to the failure of leadership throughout the Western world. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the voices calling for exit from the European Union have increased; alarm bells are sounding louder and louder.

The unpopularity of the UK Labour government, which is unable to meet the basic needs of the people, is growing. British newspapers write that vital public services are barely functioning, there are a lot of shortcomings in the social protection system, they warn of another winter crisis in the shaky British healthcare system.

The British still have fresh memories of the catastrophic crash of the healthcare system in 2022-2023, when ambulance services virtually collapsed, leaving patients dying at home or in queues near hospitals. The US newspaper Washington Post concludes that the authorities are simply unable to keep the state in the necessary condition.

Englishmen are increasingly dissatisfied with the wage gap between rich and poor

Thus, the current British monarch’s fortune, including hereditary estates, works of art, jewellery, horses, cars, etc., is estimated at 2.3 billion pounds. Meanwhile, every third child and a quarter of adults live in poverty and millions of their subjects suffer from ‘food shortages’, a euphemism for the word ‘hunger’.

Unlike the wealthy Windsor clan, one in five British families regularly skip meals because they cannot afford to buy groceries. In 2023, more than 800,000 patients in England and Wales were hospitalised due to malnutrition.

The sad state of the Western Europe elite

The other day, it was very clearly defined by the richest man on the planet, Elon Musk: “Europe and Germany are in decline, partly due to a decrease in the birth rate”. According to him, Germany can now be saved only by the Alternative for Germany party, which advocates for Germany’s withdrawal from the European Union and limiting the flow of migrants (Musk has also previously spoken negatively of the German authorities).

It should be noted that, according to polls, the Alternative for Germany party may gain 19% of the vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections in February 2025, but after such strong support from I. Mask, it is likely that many more German voters will vote for it. After the recent terrible terrorist attack in Magdeburg, the popularity of the party has increased even more.

Party leader Alice Weidel became the most popular candidate for the post of German chancellor. 24% of Germans support her, the second place with 20% is occupied by the leader of the Christian Democratic Union Friedrich Merz.

The winds of change are increasingly being felt on the European continent, from the Netherlands to Romania. Slovak Prime Minister R. Fico recently visited Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin.

The authority of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán`, who is making serious efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine and establish peace as soon as possible, is growing.

Veniamin Popov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, PhD in History. Courtesy

https://journal-neo.su/2024/12/28/leadership-crisis-in-western-europe/