As the discussions on a free trade agreement with the US get
– painfully – off the ground, I notice growing opposition in many segments of
the EU public opinion against anything that might look like opening new doors
to globalization. It is not just the workers’ movements, or the small
entrepreneurs, or people from the left or the centre-left. The opposition also comes
from heads of larger firms and others that know the world and have very much
benefitted from the opening of the borders. It is also now the key feature
within the nationalist groups.
The debate about globalization has lost objectivity.
Everything is now about fears, vested interests, and protection from outside competition.
Those who should explain the advantages
of a more open world market and how to operate in tomorrow’s global economy
have preferred to remain silent. To do so is to give space to all kinds of
populist views and to encourage retrograde politics to take over. It is, in my
opinion, a dangerous withdrawal.
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