A Vote for Disunity !

Like most of the rest of the world, voting in European Union elections is optional  and in the past few citizens actually bothered to go to the polls and cast a vote.   This recent election was very different.  Just under fifty-one percent of the citizens of Europe voted and that was a huge increase on the forty-three percent who participated just five years ago - and the highest turnout in twenty years.

This election came at a critical time for the residents of Europe.  Individual governments in countries which are EU members have lurched to the right in many recent elections and this has created a new interest in the overall government that will rule from Brussels.  This time around the mood was different and the vote did not favour the traditional parties that have long held sway over EU decisions.

Many pundits fear that while the vote is a clear affirmation of the  European project, the result delivers fracture and fails to present a clear mandate for the parliament to follow.   Because the EU is a massive block ranging over a vast territory the issues in people's minds varied widely.  In some parts of the EU immigration control was at the forefront while in others concern was centred on the dangers posed by a hotter planet.   It is very clear that the Brexit issue and the problems of negotiating a deal with the British was on voters minds when they placed their votes.

The British EU vote favoured Nigel Farage's Brexit party and swung heavily away from both the Conservatives and Labor.  The United Kingdom is awaiting the emergence of a new prime minister and this vote will make it much harder to get the EU to agree to modify the terms of exit from the EU which the British people have continuously rejected.   It is now more likely that the final outcome will be an acrimonious no-deal breach.

Britain has had an awkward stance as a EU member country.  The fact that it was not part of the Schengen agreement which allowed travel across borders without the need for passports or visas and kept its own currency instead of converting to the Euro did away with one of the greatest benefits of being a EU member.

It is clear that the " ever closer " integration within the EU will eventually create a new country where the existing nations become its states and it will probably have unified arms forces to provide protection.   The problem for Britain is the recent experience of being head of a vast empire has reinforced the unique concept of its place in the world and created a reluctance to share power within the EU.  This EU rejection is mostly a form of nostalgia for something that no longer exists.

The one thing that is made clear by this election is that final Brexit will not be made any easier to negotiate now that the European masses have cast their votes.