The European melting pot

The European 2016 drama continues. A few days ago Mr Hollande - suffering from historically low popularity ratings - announced that he will not run for re-election as French precident in 2017, and yesterday PM Renzi said also he was heading for the exit after suffering a major blow in the Italian constitutional referendum.

While there are additional explanations and differences between France and Italy, it is tempting to see the fate of Hollande and Renzi as an expression of people's dissatisfaction with their handling of Europe's economic, migration and security crises.

Earlier in 2016 also people in other countries have objected strongly to European politics - as the Dutch Ukrain-European Union Association Agreement referendum, which the government lost, and of course the Brexit referendum in the UK.

There is of course an interaction between the political develpment in the EU member countries and what happens at the European level. The Delors era with a strong supranational Commission seems far away. To day the European Council - the member states institutional channel - occupy the drivers seat. 

And on a global level Mr Trump´s election victory represents a change in the context of European politics. 

In total the European melting pot has many ingredients and it is difficult to predict results of the mix. Some think the EU itself will collapse. But the Union is a strong construction, and a more likely development is policychanges and institutional reforms - hopefully with more democracy and better distribution of responsibilities between national and supranational level.