EU facing disintegration threats

By Azernews

By Gunay Hasanova

The Brexit vote is encouraging populist parties in Europe to seek similar referendums for their nations. 

 “I am ready to hold a referendum on leaving the European Union,” said French far-right National Front Party leader at the European Parliament- Marie Le Pen.

“Give to people the right of being free back. Give them the right of cooperating at the level they want to. Finally, create for people the ability to determine their own destiny and be a democrat,” she added.

Previously, Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the far-left party Front de Gauche (FG), has also said that France should leave the EU.

Melenchon and Le Pen are both set to stand on Euro-skeptic platforms in the French presidential election in spring 2017.

Earlier, another presidential candidate Bruno Le Maire, a former secretary of state for European affairs, has also called for a referendum on redefining the European project. 

More than 60 percent of French people view the EU unfavorable, indicates the Research conducted by the U.S. think tank Pew Research Center.

France’s relationship with Europe has always been paradoxical. On one hand, France has long been a supporter of the idea of a united Europe. Aristide Briand, Jean Monnet, and Robert Schuman were the founding fathers of European integration. On the other hand, France is a country with a long history as a nation-state which is why making its policy dependently on the European Union is a controversial issue.

French Euro-skepticism has been fueled by the economic troubles of the Eurozone crisis and the migrant crisis in Calais and other parts of France. 

The National Front has managed to capitalize on general dissatisfaction, fears about immigration and security concerns in the wake of the Paris attacks. 

In turn, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that the European Union is not at best shape.

Obviously, the UK’s decision to leave the European Union turned out a strong fact to impact the further developments within the union.

Recently, the European Union announced its intentions to create its own military bloc in order to ensure its internal and external security.

Moreover, Brexit would have a wider political impact on the EU, both by disrupting internal political dynamics and because of the risk of political contagion if the case of leaving the EU encourages disintegrative forces in other member states.

In turn, earlier Germany has warned that France, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, and Hungary could leave the Union as well.

The European Union is an economic and political partnership involving 28 European countries, which after the Second World War fostered economic co-operation, with the idea that countries which trade together are more likely to avoid going to war with each other.

It has since grown to become a "single market" allowing goods and people to move around, basically as if the member states were one country.