Analysis | Thirty years later, a curtain of moral divides Europe

November 2, 2019

Three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the consequent collapse of the iron curtain, the two lungs of Europe have experienced a dramatic convergence of political and economic, and breathe to the beat in many ways. On the one hand, three exrepúblicas soviet, six countries of the former Warsaw pact and two of the exfederación yugoslav are today part of the European Union; on the other, the great economic progress has come powerfully to the level of life of these societies to that of their western sisters. However, there is still a substantial fracture in the area of values that runs through the continent in lines roughly similar to those of the old iron curtain. It is a sort of curtain of morality.

The Eurobarometer on discrimination linked to sexual orientation published last September, shows the consistent gap between the south-eastern part and north-west of the continent. The answers to several questions in this matter show a remarkable conservatism in the first region in front of the very majority propensity to equality of rights in the second. The average value of the answers in the whole of the EU trace a dividing perfect: the western side is above the average, the east below, without exception.

This kind of backdrop of moral largely corresponds to the route of the former iron curtain, but also includes some countries traditions conservative of the old west (Italy and Greece) or neutral (Austria).

The divergence morality in terms of sexual orientation is not a factor isolated. Other values are marked differences between the East and the West of the continent. The geometries are variable according to the theme in question, but it is recognizable a pattern, bringing together the poles of western and eastern.

The opinion of the attorney general of the EU ruled on Thursday against Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary, for refusing to comply with the agreement for relocation of refugees recalls, for example, the special closure in the area of migration in several countries of the region. The breach of that covenant is obviously only a question of government and xenophobia exists throughout the continent, but seems to have traits more acute in these societies.

Interestingly, the migratory section, it can be inferred that the eastern part of Germany (where the game ultra AfD experiencing a strong boom) is more close to their older brothers eastern than the western part. In Italy, in the section of sexual orientations computed in the adjacent “southeast” according to the Eurobarometer data, seems to be in that side also in the migration to the view of the tremendous upsurge of xenophobic Salvini.

In the context of a more general, the thrust of politicians who are skeptical or hostile to liberal democracy recalls the success incompleteness of that model in Eastern Europe. A study published in mid-October by the Pew Center indicates a high level of support from the citizens of eastern to the concepts of pluralism of political parties and capitalism. But liberal democracy is based on several other pillars must-haves, among them the rule of law and respect for minorities. These seem to be less consolidated in several countries of the area.

in Front of the end of History heralded by Francis Fukuyama in his famous essay in that it pointed to the statement short, without a rival, the model of liberal democracy, the rise of politicians such as Victor Orbán or Jaroslaw Kaczynski points to one membership only in part, to the values which that banner stands for.

In an overall look, what you have accomplished in these 30 years is remarkable in many ways. But one should not neglect the inherent risks of these signs of divergence of values. Among other things, because they seem to growing. In the matter of discrimination based on sexual orientation, for example, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia and Italy have experienced a worsening between 2015 and 2019.