🔗 Share this article Addressing the Continent's Populist Movements: Shielding the Vulnerable from the Winds of Transformation Over a year after the vote that handed Donald Trump a clear-cut comeback victory, the Democratic Party has still not released its election autopsy. But, last week, an influential liberal advocacy organization released its own. Kamala Harris's campaign, its writers contended, did not resonate with core constituencies because it did not focus enough on tackling everyday financial worries. By prioritising the threat to democracy that Trumpist populism represented, progressives overlooked the kitchen-table concerns that were foremost in many people’s minds. A Lesson for European Capitals While Europe prepares for a tumultuous period of politics between now and the end of the decade, that is a message that needs to be fully absorbed in European capitals. The White House, as its recently published national security strategy makes clear, is optimistic that “patriotic” parties in Europe will soon mirror Mr Trump’s success. In the EU’s core nations, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) and Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) lead the polls, supported by significant segments of blue-collar voters. But among mainstream leaders and parties, it is difficult to see a strategy that is sufficient to challenging times. Era-Defining Problems and Costly Solutions The challenges Europe faces are expensive and era-defining. They include the war in Ukraine, sustaining the momentum of the green transition, dealing with demographic change and developing economies that are less vulnerable to pressure by Mr Trump and China. As per a Brussels-based research institute, the new age of geopolitical insecurity could require an additional €250bn in yearly EU defence spending. A major report last year on European economic competitiveness called for massive investment in shared infrastructure, to be partly funded by jointly held EU debt. Such a fiscal paradigm shift would stimulate growth figures that have stagnated for years. But, at both the EU-wide and national levels, there continues to be a deficit of courage when it comes to revenue raising. The EU’s so-called “budget hawks oppose the idea of collective borrowing, and Brussels’ budget proposals for the next seven years are profoundly timid. In France, the idea of a tax on the super-rich is widely supported with voters. Yet the beleaguered centrist government – while desperate to cut its budget deficit – refuses to contemplate such a move. The Cost of Inaction The truth is that in the absence of such measures, the less affluent will pay the price of fiscal tightening through spending cuts and increased inequality. Acrimonious recent disputes over pension cutbacks in both France and Germany testify to a growing battle over the future of the European welfare state – a trend that the RN and the AfD have happily exploited to promote a politics of nativist social policy. Ms Le Pen’s party, for example, has opposed moves to raise the retirement age and has stated that it would focus any benefit cuts at foreign residents. Preventing a Strategic Advantage for Populists In the US, Mr Trump’s pledges to protect working-class interests were deeply disingenuous, as subsequent Medicaid cuts and fiscal benefits for the wealthy underlined. But without a convincing progressive counteroffer from the Harris campaign, they worked on the campaign trail. Without a fundamental change in fiscal policy, societal agreements across the continent are in danger of being torn apart. Policymakers must avoid handing this electoral boon to the populist movements already on the rise in Europe.