The forthcoming European Parliamentary elections are expected to produce a result which increases substantially the representation of the extreme right and eurosceptic parties. So much so that the extreme right are being treated by mainstream media on a par with centre left and centre right parties, for the first time since the end of the last war – almost 70 years ago. However, the media should not be blamed for such a shift in public opinion to the extreme right, since print and audio visual journalists are only indulging in their trade, by reacting to the situation on the ground with the tools available to them, of reporting and comment. What needs to be addressed is the message and not shooting the messenger! This year is also the centenary of the beginning of World War l, the significance of which unfortunately will not feature in the election campaign.

The extreme right and eurosceptic parties have made political capital out of the policies of austerity pursued by centre-right and centre-left parties in government in most – if not all – EU countries since the onset of the economic crisis in 2008.The neo-fascist parties are expected to gain resounding victories in the elections later on this month, with their extreme nationalist rhetoric, Islam-phobia and EU-bashing. The political solution to the crisis is not however such rhetoric and empty talk but a studied and well-versed manifesto of Left policy to address the prevailing new economic and social conditions in Europe. Such a manifesto can hardly be expected to be formulated today, after the regurgitation of so much neo-liberal blah- blah for so many years, coupled with a varnish of “humanitarian" policies in education, housing, incomes policy and immigration. It was this concoction of policy that has brought about the present stagnation – euphemistically speaking for depression –  and which is contributing to the demoting of large sectors of the middle class to lower ranks, with young people losing their bearings in the “classless” society created – that is excepting the plutocratic elite of course.

Such neo-liberal policies will not be reversed by the extreme right wing coming to power with a bang – in fact the extreme right are supporters of neo-liberalism and their coming-to-power will only exacerbate the problem further, as happened in the crisis of the 1930s.

What is required is a sensible wake-up call by the mainstream political parties to salvage the middle classes from the ravages of the Great Recession. Such a political movement brought Obama to power in the USA in 2008. In our case it would not be generalised health care – which we already enjoy – but a programme of political reform to encourage business sense generally and especially in   the sector of small business and cooperatives. Within the framework of our EU membership, government agencies such as Malta Enterprise can make EU funds more accessible to this sector and in the process create jobs and opportunities for the local economy including in agriculture and fisheries and consequently avoid the disconcerting conditions of unemployment and despair prevalent in many other European countries, where apparently no efficacious measures were taken to countervail the crisis.

Mario Mifsud     

Hamrun