The Daily - Part 1: The Battle for Europe

Episode Date: June 10, 2019

The decades-long plan to stitch together countries and cultures into the European Union was ultimately blamed for two crises: mass migration and crippling debt. Together, those events contributed to a wave of nationalism across Europe. In a five-part series this week, we take a look at some of the movements aiming to disrupt the E.U. from within. Guest: Katrin Bennhold, the Berlin bureau chief for The New York Times. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.Background reading:Before the European Parliament elections last month, Katrin Bennhold and producers of “The Daily” set out on a 10-day trip to find out what Europe means to Europeans today.The results of the elections indicated that the struggle over the future direction of the European Union would only intensify.

Funny, isn't it? Isn't it funny? You know, when I came here 17 years ago, and I said that I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the European Union, you all laughed at me. Well, I have to say, you're not laughing now, are you? I'll make one prediction this morning.

The United Kingdom will not be the last member state to leave the European Union. From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This week on The Daily. Us, as European citizens, we are living in a bubble. Before the recent rise of nationalism in the United States, in Europe, a decades-long plan to stitch together countries and cultures into a united Europe was ultimately blamed for two crises. How many people are you on the boat?

The UN estimates about 5,700 migrants have arrived in Italy from Tunisia since January. One of mass migration into Europe. It's a big problem. There are too much of them. The other of crippling debt. We've had enough. We don't want to be governed by you. We want to govern ourselves.

Together, they set off Europe's own wave of nationalism. First, the Italians. First, the Italians. First, the Italians. Forward! Long live the people of the world! Long live the French people! Long live France! While the UK has elected to leave the EU altogether, nationalist movements across the rest of Europe want to blow it up from within.

My colleague, Berlin Bureau Chief Katrin Benhold, tells the story this week. It's Monday, June 10th. Katrin, where should we start this story? So for me, the story starts when I start to doubt Europe. And there were two moments that really crystallized this for me, the story starts when I start to doubt Europe. And there were two moments that really crystallized this for me. The total number of votes cast in favor of leave. The first was Brexit.

Was 17,410,742. This means that the UK has voted to leave the European Union. The British people have spoken and the answer is we're out. I was living in London at the time with my family. I was a correspondent there. And, you know, the European Union has always been a certainty in my life. It's sort of this thing that has always been there and I thought would always be there. You know, I'm German.

My husband is Welsh. We met at university in London. And it's kind of incredible, but our grandfathers fought on two different sides of World War II. And now we have three children. And they're little Europeans who basically speak both of our languages and feel at home in both of our countries. So when I woke up to the news on that morning in June 2016 that Britain was leaving the European Union, it was kind of the first time that Europe felt fragile. It was kind of this moment that put a doubt in my mind about the European Union. And that felt very new.

And then in 2018, I actually moved back to my own country, to Germany, for the first time in like over 20 years. And Germany at the time felt very different from the UK. It was kind of considered to be this bastion of liberal democracy. But there was a backlash building here too. And one of the first things I started reporting on when I got back was this rise of the far right. on when I got back was this rise of the far right. This party's story very much echoes that of the anti-establishment movements seen elsewhere across Europe. And then eight months into my stint in Germany, the second thing happened. There's a city in the eastern part of germany called chemnitz

and every august they have this festival celebrating the founding of the city so on august 25th last year they were having this festival once again and after most people had gone home at around three in the morning, a fight breaks out. These two Germans, locals, are stabbed and one of them actually dies. A German man was fatally stabbed by, it's believed, a Syrian and an Iraqi man. So pretty quickly, news spreads that the men who allegedly did this were from Syria and Iraq and had been claiming asylum in Germany. And remember, this is three years after this big influx of migrants in 2015. This is sort of political dynamite. But within a few hours, you've got protesters on the street.

They organize on social media and they outnumber police 10 to 1. And things go totally nuts. For a few hours that day, it really felt like this mob owned cabinets. I remember talking to this Syrian guy who had actually been watching this from his friend's apartment. And he'd been seeing this march sort of snaking through the city below. And he'd been seeing these breakout groups pursuing brown-skinned people like him. He described it as a pack of wolves. He said it felt like wolves going after innocent prey.

So this is starting to look like a riot against migrants. It certainly felt like that. But what was really interesting and sort of shocking to me was that while fueled by this anti-immigrant hatred, there was this other thing going on. And it felt sort of eerily familiar in this country. sort of eerily familiar in this country. Late in the evening, Uwe Jubala is at his restaurant. A restaurant that he's owned in Chemnitz for 18 years. It's a Jewish restaurant.

It's the only Jewish restaurant in town. The restaurant is closed that evening because Uwe is having this little book party. There's a journalist there and a few people from the community. And what they're talking about is this book about how the Nazis took over Jewish businesses during World War II. So they're all sitting there talking about this till about 9.30 at night and then they see on television that these riots are happening right there in their city outside. And so they're like, okay, let's call it a night maybe. And then Uwe, sort of without thinking, says, you know,

I'll just check if everything is okay. But as he opens the door, he hears a sound that he says sounds like a rolling bottle and a horse hoof or something. And he doesn't know

what's happening. And he looks up and he sees a group of young men, maybe about a dozen, although he says at the time that it felt closer to a hundred. And they were covered in dark clothing, standing in front of him, looking pretty threatening. And as I always say, either loud or quiet, it disappears. I don't know anymore. Then they start throwing things at him and at the restaurant.

A crowbar. Bottles. And they break his window and they hit Uwe himself in the shoulder by a stone. And then they're shouting, get out of Germany, you Jewish pig. So this riot that started out as a protest of this murder by what people think are refugees is now also targeting a Jewish man. Yes. What I come to realize is that some of the protesters out on that street are full-blown neo-Nazis. And what makes it such a moment for me, a kind of a moment that really crystallizes just how fragile the European project has become, is the fact that alongside those far right extremists are elected German officials, leaders of this far right party that's rising in Germany. There they are, in the crowd, walking alongside these neo-Nazis. Something shifted that day.

You know, I grew up in West Germany in the 1980s. My parents were both born still during World War II. In school, you know, the Hitler years were taught early and often. On the 30th of January 1933, this man became Chancellor of Germany. This was like the darkest possible version of nationalism, the darkest possible expression of national identity. And we had to learn about it, and we inhabited that. And it is a sort of constituent part of German national identity. So to experience this rise of ethnic hatred and this resurgence of anti-Semitism up close in Chemnitz was basically really,

really scary. I've been watching as a correspondent this nationalism and populism build. But to see this in Germany felt more significant. Why? Germany is the most important country in Europe. It's the most important country in the European Union. Both because it's so big and so rich and because of its history. It was that horrible history of World War II and of the Holocaust that led to the foundation of the European Union. We must recreate the European family in a regional structure called, it may be, the United States of Europe.

And it's this moment where a group of nations get together around this shared understanding that they have to suppress nationalism, this kind of destructive nationalism that fuels ethnic hatred and ultimately war, and instead unite around this different idea, this idea of a European community. Europe can only be united by the heartfelt wish and vehement expression of the great majority of all the people in all the parties, in all the freedom-loving countries, no matter where they dwell or how they vote. And in order to do that, they designed this system, a kind of a club that will trade together and get so economically intertwined that war becomes impossible, unthinkable. And at the heart of this system is the idea of liberal democracy.

And at the heart of this system is the idea of liberal democracy. So it's both a sort of ideal and also set of practical structures. On the one hand, it's everything that you think of when you think of a democracy. It's elections. It's a variety of political parties. It's separation of powers and independent judiciary. It's basically an open society and free markets. But above all, it's sort of the protection of human rights and of civil rights, of civil liberties and of political freedoms for all people.

The scene now here at the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag in Berlin is unbelievable pandemonium. It's New Year's Eve, the removal of the wall and unity all in one. And, you know, it was interesting because I remember when the Berlin Wall fell. It's happened. It's official. Germany is now one country of 80 million people. And even the Germans themselves are stunned. It's a fantastic time. It's very good. We like it.

When the wall falls and communism falls in Europe, we see all these previously unfree countries now very eager to join the European Union as well. You know, this was a tall order. These countries had to sign up to an entirely new set of values, to the values of liberal democracy that required them to get their proverbial houses in order to gain membership. But they do it because the expected payoffs were so great, not just in terms of prosperity and development, but in terms of rejoining the European family after decades of Soviet rule. So all this had started with Western Europe, but now these Eastern and Central European countries are joining too. Countries like Poland, like the Czech Republic, like the Baltic states. The EU is getting bigger.

And it feels, at that moment, like it's getting stronger too. We're welcoming 10 new member states into the European Union. And today marks a new beginning for Europeans. It's kind of this glorious period. This day is a day of this glorious period. It feels like there's only one system now. There's only one way forward. And that way forward is liberal democracy.

And that system is completely at the heart of the EU. Exactly. You know, in that moment in 2004, it was kind of inconceivable that these countries that had just joined and had made such an effort to join and got their houses in order would actually roll back. Nobody thought it was possible that these countries would roll back their democracies. It felt like it was all just moving forward. It felt like it was all just moving forward. We'll be right back. So we're in this post-Cold War moment. The EU is big and strong.

So what happens? At the heart of this, you've got Germany. And Angela Merkel comes to power in 2005, and she embodies all of this. She's from the East. She has experienced totalitarianism. She grew up in communism. And she becomes the de facto leader of the European Union, really. And she oversees this sort of amazing period in Germany,

where in the early 2000s, a sort of civic patriotism grows. So for the first time, Germans feel able to be proud to be German again. Germans feel able to be proud to be German again. In 2006, Germany hosts the Soccer World Cup. Suddenly you see Germany flags being flown across the country. And it's a moment. It's funny, this was new to me. You know, I don't actually recall as somebody growing up in West Germany, seeing German flags like ever, because it was kind of a taboo. And I remember traveling the United States

for the first time as a teenager and seeing all these flags. And it, it kind of shocked me. Because to me, it just looked like nationalism and nationalism was bad. But now the German flag was back. And it's kind of fascinating, actually. It's through all these decades of atoning for its history, through this embrace of a united Europe and liberal values, that Germany has actually come to feel more comfortable again with its own national identity. But shortly after, just a couple of years later,

there come these two big tests to these values and to these principles of the European Union that Germany is sort of a symbol of. You know what, right now, breaking news here, stocks all around the world are tanking because of the crisis on Wall Street. So in 2008, we have the financial crash. And that leads to a serious economic crisis in several European countries, especially in Southern Europe. Greece is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy right now.

Banks are closed, cash hard to come by, and the ripples are being felt around the world. The idea at the time was that a crisis in Greece could infect the entire European Union. And there was this fear of a kind of contagion. Angela Merkel makes it clear at the time that she wants to keep Greece in the euro area pretty much at all costs. But it comes at a heavy, heavy cost for those Southern European countries, and particularly for Greece, because there's austerity imposed on them that is mainly directed from Germany. And it causes a lot of social pain in those countries. It's a point at which Angela Merkel's star in Southern Europe really dims.

And then, of course, on top of this devastating economic crisis, you have the refugee crisis that sends hundreds of thousands of Syrians and Afghanis and North Africans to Europe. All of these migrants are now showing up at borders across Europe, and many countries are just not allowing them in. Yet another queue for weary refugees. But then… But this is a breakthrough. Hundreds are being allowed to board trains to Germany and Austria. None of these people have visas. Yet now they're crammed inside a train, bound for Munich and cleared to leave.

Merkel lets them in. I remember this moment well. I was quite pregnant at the time with my third child, and I came to report on this. I was sent to Munich. At Munich train station, people stood on the platforms, masses of Germans welcoming these refugees and clapping as they arrived off the trains.

Cheers. Germany basically opened its arms to these refugees. past had created refugees who were fleeing from Germany for their lives was now a safe haven for people fleeing for their lives. We'd become the safe haven. This country had become a safe haven. So this is sort of the ultimate affirmation of what the EU was created for and what Germany now represents. At that moment, it definitely felt like that. But not all Germans like this vision of Germany. In some ways, that decision by Angela Merkel in 2015 to embody these liberal values and to act on them,

she may have inadvertently set in motion a reaction that is now challenging those very values. So you now have a situation where the Alternative for Germany, the AFD, this far-right party that we talked about earlier, is the third largest party in the national parliament and is the main opposition party, which means that it gets to respond to Angela Merkel whenever she speaks in parliament first. Angela Merkel whenever she speaks in Parliament first. This has started to normalize far-right language, far-right slogans, certain angry sentiments about immigrants. So you now see stuff that's being said that has become pretty much mainstream when only a few years ago,

you would not have been able to say it. And this is when you started to question the future of Europe. This is when you started to question the future of Europe. This is when I started to question the future of Europe. I was thinking if this could happen in Germany, I mean, can the European Union survive this? We'll be right back. So last month, there was a big test of all of this. A continent-wide election to the European Parliament, which is the only directly elected body in the European Union, where every five years, each country gets to send a number of lawmakers to represent it in the EU. And this year, there were a lot of nationalist and populist candidates

running for seats inside the EU parliament, running on platforms that directly oppose the EU and its values. They're no longer proposing to leave the EU. They've understood that voters don't want that. Maybe because they've seen how messy it gets. You know, they've seen Brexit. They've seen how messy it is to actually deliver on a promise to leave the EU. And so instead, they want to change the EU from the inside. They want to blow this thing up from within. So a few weeks ahead of these elections,

I decided to go on a road trip across Europe with two producers from The Daily, Lindsay Garrison and Clara Tuniscutter. I basically wanted to understand the frustrations and the movements that are behind all of this, that are driving all of this. I wanted to understand what Europe means to Europeans today. Katrin, thank you very much. Good talking to you, Michael. All this week, we'll follow Katrin, Claire and Lindsay's trip across Europe. We're in France. We're here. We've arrived.

Except it looks like we're in the middle of nowhere. Oh, my God. That's a serious train. What was that? That was a TGV, a train de grande vitesse. It's basically a feat of French engineering and a big source of pride in France. They have these super-fast trains that are a product of, like like a lot of state investment.

But this is actually something that's pretty worth it. Thank you.