Dear Readers,
the financial crisis has dealt a devastating blow to the morale of Europeans, democratic countries are facing their biggest crisis in years, and all the while our statesmen are nowhere to be found. For citizens, the mistrust of politics has perversely become the greatest support. EU voters are too confused to begin exerting pressure on technocrats. Ivan Krastev portrays the following landscape.
“People were not allowed to discuss and veto the EU budget. They were left to quarrel about facts. The issue of global warming being the finest example here. This depoliticisation of the public debate pushes everyone into the politics of identity” – claims the famous Bulgarian political scientist. He also adds: if we look around Europe, we will realize that everywhere is just the same.
However, the biggest challenge we will have to face is the fatigue of our citizens.
Krastev’s essay “In Mistrust We Trust”, which is the subject of the interview, can be found here; the video version is also available. In today’s “Kultura Liberalna” magazine we are also offered a witty commentary by Aleksander Smolar. “The main reason behind the dramatic nature of the description is probably the amount of problems that the European Union and the USA are facing at the moment. Every economic crisis means bad times for democracy. Conflicts escalate, our scope to choose becomes limited, while the dissatisfaction becomes ever more pronounced. Will the prospects of democracy remain so gloomy once the crisis is over?”, asks Smolar.
More comments about the interview coming soon!
Enjoy!
Jarosław Kuisz