Germany just broke the EU's firewall - Yanis Varoufakis & Wolfgang Munchau | The Econoclasts

The rise of far-right movements like the AfD and Le Pen stems from the failure of centrist governments to deliver economic prosperity, mirroring the collapse of the Weimar Republic. While traditional narratives blame technical constitutional deficiencies for Hitler’s ascent, the true cause was the economic devastation that alienated the middle and working classes. Today, the European Union faces a similar existential crisis; it functions as a cartel of big business that implemented a monetary union without the necessary fiscal or political integration. This structure creates massive inequality and stagnation, prompting big business to view reactionary parties as a stable alternative for rent extraction. Ultimately, the current European model represents a "worst of all worlds" scenario, where the lack of democratic agency and economic growth forces societies toward extremism, necessitating a fundamental shift toward a truly integrated political federation.