The same week in which the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, outlined the future challenges of the continent in her important speech on the State of the Union, the worst omens in the Swedish elections were confirmed with the fall of the government social democrat and the irruption of the extreme right. That in Sweden, the cradle of social democracy, a xenophobic party has overridden the conservatives and caused the resignation of the Swedish Prime Minister, Eva Magdalena Andersson, is a symptom of the evolution of our society.
And this week, too, the European Commission has initiated a process against Hungary to freeze its aid funds after the Europarliament voted that the Government of Viktor Orbán is not a democracy. Surely it will not be, but what is clear is that Hungarian citizens clearly supported this same government in the elections held last April. And in Italy, the third largest economy on the continent is about to become governed by an ultra formation with leader Giorgia Meloni at the helm. I recommend that you follow today the information from our correspondent Anna Buj in the International and Money sections, and the analyzes that Enric Juliana will also publish tomorrow about what is happening in Italy.
In Spain, it seems that the emergence of Alberto Núñez Feijóo in the PP has slowed down the rise of Vox, but it would be a mistake to think that it can evaporate in the future as it has happened with Ciudadanos. Its foundation is solid.
Reality is as it is and not as we would like it to be. Thousands of citizens feel disenchanted with the traditional parties of the right and left and have found in populism a way out of the frustrations generated by the conjunction of the political, economic, social and also spiritual crises that invade us. There were hardly any references to this topic in Von der Leyen's speech, which focused more on the commitment to Ukraine, the climate crisis or measures to curb supply increases. But perhaps this is the main threat that hangs over the future of the EU today.
