left-wing has to communicate quality solutions to the wider citizenry

Executive director of the Center for Civic Education (CGO) Daliborka Uljarević: A scenario in which the right would have a majority in the EP

…is not realistic.

The strengthening of right-wing parties in the world may continue this year, but it is not realistic for parties of that orientation to win a majority in the elections for the European Parliament (EP), said the executive director of the Center for Civic Education (CGO) Daliborka Uljarević.

She said that the trend of strengthening the right in Europe began in 2008, with the world economic crisis.

The world economic crisis, she added, is one of the cyclical capitalist crises and caused uncertainty, instability, the decline of the middle class in society, and the consequent strengthening of the extreme right.

In an interview with the MINA Agency, Uljarević said that, in the meantime, other elements have joined this type of crisis.

“In the last period, we had the effects of what was the crisis brought by the coronavirus, then the immigration crisis, and also the wars that we have witnessed in recent years. Cumulatively, all this was expressed in what is a change in the fabric of political relations and structures”, stated Uljarević.

As she said, during that period, extreme right-wingers managed to detect problems well and offer citizens quick and easy solutions for complex social, economic, political, and social challenges, which is not the right way.

“Of course, all these challenges and problems require much more professional, radical cuts, and that, on the other hand, leads to the renunciations of the citizens themselves, so they also turned to what seemed to them to be a simpler way,” said Uljarević, saying that there are no quick or easy solutions to big problems.

She said that the fact that many are paying dearly for the delusion or belief that things can be solved overnight and that there is some magic wand, which, as she stated, right-wingers often point out.

When asked if she agrees with the estimates that the trend of strengthening the right, which was recorded last year, may continue this year, Uljarević answered in the affirmative.

“The only question is whether it will be a strengthening in terms of a change in the political constellation in certain states and a wider influence, or whether it will be reflected only in the better positioning of a certain right-wing group in the individual parliaments of the member states,” said Uljarević.

Asked if she thinks it is realistic that the right has a majority in the EP, she said that she does not think it is a realistic scenario.

“With a note that we will have a stronger right-wing bloc within the EP, which is certainly a sign of the weakening of the moderate right, but also of the inability of the left to communicate quality solutions to the wider citizenry,” stated Uljarević.

She said that she believes that within the EU, however, there is a democratic pluralist order in which movements with a strong mobilization potential are “alive”, and that this will also have an effect on limiting the enormous growth of the right.

“These days we are also witnessing protests, like the one in Germany, which is probably the largest recorded so far. It should not be ruled out that we will have similar things in other member states”, added Uljarević.

As she said, Germany is very important here for many reasons, not only because it is one of the EU’s founding states, but also because it has a great influence on the shaping of policies and the direction of the entire Union.

Asked how the rise of the right in the EP would affect the functioning and future of the EU itself and its enlargement policy, Uljarević said that in that case, certain processes would certainly slow down, but that she believes that the democratic order that exists within the EU is still stronger. and tougher than those forces that want to collapse it.

According to her, it is natural and expected that this would have consequences for those who are the weakest in the system, that is, those who are waiting for EU accession.

“We should also not ignore the fact that Hungary will take over the EU presidency from July and that we can already expect, regardless of what the results of the EP elections will be, certain attempts to position politics differently”, stated Uljarević.

She added that Hungary when it comes to Ukraine in the EU, had a different attitude than the other 26 member states.

“The growth of the extreme right is, on the one hand, an expression of xenophobia that appeared in society in a certain period. At the same time, it (the extreme right) continues to feed this xenophobia, and then we end up in a vicious circle,” Uljarević said.

She said that these negative trends in the EU will last for some time and that we need to have answers to that.

“Progressive forces in all societies, including ours in the Western Balkans, have a special responsibility here, where progressive, anti-fascist, and left-wing currents should connect much more and try to give their answer to all these issues we are facing,” she added. is Uljarević.

Asked how the strengthening of the right affects the Western Balkans and whether it is strong enough to resist those negative consequences, she said that the countries of the region have shown in the past that they succumb to negative influence much more easily than they manage to preserve certain positive trends, or from them. they build on some new practices.

According to Uljarević, this is not unexpected for societies with an underdeveloped political, action culture, and human rights culture.

She said that in that part she sees a huge responsibility of political decision-makers, but also of civil society, the media, and the academic community.

Uljarević pointed out that what is currently happening in the EU, or on the other side of the world, are not isolated things.

“We are all somewhere in the same hole and we have to think about what kind of consequences it can have for us specifically,” stated Uljarević.

When asked whether, in the elections in the United States of America (USA), the victory of Joseph Biden or Donald Trump is more certain, she replied that she thinks it is too early to assess that.

“Because for them, elections are a serious story, which is conducted for a long time and systematically, and modern communication channels have added complexity to that story, so I would not prejudge at this moment,” stated Uljarević.

She said that she hopes that the USA will not again find itself in the situation it had in the period when Trump was in power and when he was stepping down from power, because those were scenes that we had not had the opportunity to see in that country before.

The USA, as she added, in many ways serves as a model of someone who is democratically mature and where certain anomalies in society manage to be solved through the strength of institutions and processes, which function independently of who leads the country.

“It remains to be seen whether the result will be the same as we have had before. It is not good for America either, that in this way it is returning to a conservative, or extreme right-wing approach,” said Uljarević.

According to her, it will be a big disruption in the system, if Trump is the president of the USA again.

“But, on the other hand, we’re used to America bringing certain surprises, so we shouldn’t completely rule out the result or the possibility of being pleasantly surprised there,” Uljarević added.

She said that the elections in the USA have a lot of influence on events and political changes in the world because it is one of the key players on the international stage.

“Ultimately, we had the opportunity to see how it was reflected, to bring it back to our micro level, to Montenegro”, stated Uljarević.

She assessed that certain processes, primarily those related to malignant influences from outside, gained momentum in Montenegro after the country entered into NATO, and that is because the USA lost its focus on Montenegro.

“They in a way singled us out as a country that met certain standards and relied on the fact that everything else that was not achieved, and that should have been completed even when we joined NATO, would be compensated in some way through the process of European integration”, said Uljarević.

She said that this did not happen and that the absence of that synergistic action by the USA and the EU led Montenegro to the fact that today she has a much more difficult position in the negotiations with the Union and “let’s talk about some processes, freedoms, and rights for which we are thought that they had been overcome and that we no longer had to deal with them”.

“If in that segment we had that American administration that is dedicated to Montenegro, whose focus is not on other countries and if we did not have, in my deep conviction, the Trump administration, some processes of establishing democratic consolidation and functional rule of law would have been fast and easier”, believes Uljarević.

(Antena M)