gracchusdixit

After weeks of tense, almost terrified anticipation, French voters finally went to the polls to choose their new president.  Unlike their American counterparts, the French overwhelmingly cast their ballots for the centrist, Emmanuel Macron, rejecting the extreme nationalism and xenophobia of his opponent, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the Front Nationale, a neo-fascist political party founded by her unapologetically racist father nearly 40 years ago.

This was the third European election in as many months—the others took place in the Netherlands and Austria—to reject the allure of right-wing nationalism in favor of liberal democracy and the “European project.”  It was also far and away the most important.

France is the second largest economy on the continent and has the largest military force.  Along with Germany, it was the principal architect of the European Economic Community, the forerunner of the European Union.  Had Marine Le Pen won, it is all but certain that she would have turned her back on the European Union and NATO, leading to the disintegration of the political and economic order that has given Europe peace and prosperity for more than half a century.  No wonder, then, that a giant sigh of relief could be heard in one European capital after another when the election results were announced.

We would be deluding ourselves, however, to imagine that France or Europe are out of the woods.  Many French voters went to the polls, holding their long, Gallic noses, voting for Macron, not out of enthusiasm, but solely to oppose Le Pen. Voter turn-out, though astoundingly high by American standards, was comparatively anemic.  Millions, particularly voters on the left, did not vote at all.  Feeling betrayed by their current president, Francois Hollande—a faux socialist, who promised fundamental economic and social change but delivered neither—they saw in Emanuel Macron more of the same.  The ominous fact remains that Marine Le Pen, though defeated decisively, won more votes than her party has ever won.  It is therefore clear that she and the Front Nationale are down but definitely not out.

Then, there is the problem of how Macron will actually govern.  His party—La République En Marche!—is less a party than a movement or, to put it less charitably, a public relations facade, created little more than a year ago for the sole purpose of advancing his candidacy.  A month from now, the French will go the polls again to elect their parliament or National Assembly.  Macron has promised that En Marche! will field candidates in every electoral district.  That is unlikely.  Without a constituency in the National Assembly to back him up, it is difficult to see how Macron will be able to get anything done.

France aside, the European Union that Macron supports has yet to come to terms with its own internal flaws and contradictions.  There is little doubt that the EU is one of the most enlightened, effective, and consequential institutions in the otherwise bleak and lamentable course of human history.  It has given the once war-torn continent of Europe decades of peace.  It has produced unprecedented prosperity. It has abolished countless barriers and obstacles that once separated nations and peoples.  And more than all of that, it has become what the United States of America once thought itself to be—a “City upon a Hill”—a force for reason, tolerance, and social responsibility.

But the European Union is far from perfect.  In particular, its adherence to neoliberal economic orthodoxy has led to unsustainable inequalities, not only within nations, but between nations.  Under the EU economic regime, northern Europe—Germany, most of all—has grown rich, while southern Europe has been demonized and punished.  There are those in Germany who would like the world to believe that these inequalities are the result of a moral difference between “hard-working” northerners and “lazy slackers” in the south.  The truth is otherwise.

The creation of the European Union—and of the euro, specifically—was a gift to countries like Germany.  It instantly devalued their currencies, made their exports less expensive, boosted their economies, and poured billions into the pockets and bank accounts of their citizens.  Until countries like Germany are willing to acknowledge how much of their prosperity is owed to the European Union, until they accept responsibility for helping their European neighbors, the fundamental problems of the European Union will never be solved.

All that said, what the citizens of France just decided to do—and what the citizens of the Netherlands and Austria decided to do just weeks ago—is quite astonishing and constitutes a sharp rebuke to the citizens of the United States.  We faced a choice, and Europeans faced a similar choice.  We chose a narcissistic, authoritarian bully to become our president.  They chose tolerance, decency, and democracy—even when it conflicted with their own economic interests.

Once upon a time, we imagined ourselves to be that “City upon a Hill” that was destined to provide moral leadership to the world.   With Donald Trump in the White House, with Jeff Sessions heading up the Department of Justice, with Rex Tillerson as Secretary of States, with corrupt cronies beyond counting running our country and lining their pockets, that time is clearly gone.  It is up to Europe now.  And thanks to the citizens of France, Europe still has a chance.