A great month for Western democracy, January 2021.

January the first month of the new year, and we already have plenty of developments in the Western democratic front. First of all, in the "poster-child" and self declared beacon of the free world, we witnessed something which can be classified as embarassing, laughable and worrying at the same time.

On the 6th of January, a mob of supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump in an attempt to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, stormed the U.S. Capitol, aiming to prevent the formalization of President-elect Joe Biden's election victory.These rioters occupied, vandalized, and looted parts of the building for several hours, resulting in five deaths.

The storming of the Capitol was described by many as treason, insurrection, domestic terrorism, and an effort by Trump to carry out a coup d'état. The incident was a result of a number of actions by President Trump and his supporters, to keep him in power for at least another term. Trump announced plans for a rally before the January 6 vote count to continue his challenge to the validity of several states' election results. On December 18, he wrote on Twitter; "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!" And sure it was.

President Trump was ardent that he was robbed of victory without any credible evidence to support that belief. Despite assurances from his own departments of Justice and Homeland Security that no serious fraud occurred, Trump has raged against the election result and mounted a relentless campaign to reverse Biden's victory.

From vote recounts to Twitter rants, presuring a top election official in a phonecall, to “find” enough votes to overturn his defeat, plus numerous lawsuits that followed, one could only wonder why he would not just let go. Even if we for one moment accept that all his claims were true, he could not actually prove anything. Every effort failed to justify his cause. The decent thing would be to admit defeat, step down and fight another day if he felt that he still had the American public's support. His actions, not only hinder any chance of him returning to American politics, but polarized and divided American society, damaged his party plus the image and reputation of his country abroad, as a democratic state.

As Europe was watching with disbelief, America was mocked by countries that itself had heavily criticised for the lack of democratic values, such as Belarus. Its President Alexander Lukashenko, in a meeting with International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel, for talks amid calls to move the world championship following mass protests against him, compared his country with the United States. “In our country, protesters and other dissatisfied people don’t storm government agencies and capitols,” Lukashenko said. “We have a completely normal situation from the perspective of the development of democratic processes.”

As we have only a few days left until the inauguration of Biden, one can only hope that this saga will come to an end, although it is doubtful that we heard the last of Trump. For him to be so desperate to cling onto power, he either had plans for America that did not want to be interrupted, feared as he had something to hide, or there are many powerful circles that desire a different America and backed him. No matter what, he managed to gain many devoted supporters and that ensures or indicates an inevitable change of course for U.S. politics. Even if the Democrats try to mend the damage done by Trump, they too will have to compromise, appeasing or winning back some of his voters, in order to stay in power. So Europe must be prepared for such development, in case.

Besides, our continent had its own fair share of political drama and instability. In just one week, three EU members had their governments imploding and resigning. Italy, the Netherland and Estonia are without a government effectively. All leaderships collapsed due to corruption, infighting, mismanaging and how they dealth the corona virus pandemic. The problem is, that in all three countries, far-right and euroskeptic parties are lurking, gaining influence, ready to pounce and grasp power. And if they do, Europe will have even a more difficult time to stay united, if it doesn't lose another member.

Italy's former premier Matteo Renzi said on Wednesday he was pulling his party's ministers from the cabinet, effectively leaving the ruling coalition without a majority in parliament. Renzi, who heads the tiny Italia Viva party, had long threatened to quit the government, complaining about Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's plans over how to spend billions of euros promised by the European Union to relaunch the economy.

The country has been viewed as the "Sick Man of Europe" for years, with stagnant economic growth, rising poverty,emigration, political instability and euroskepticism. Since the last eurozone economic crisis, Italy has been engulfed in a bitter infighting over reforms,numerous goverment collapses, elections, coalitions, technocratic administrations, clashes with its EU partners over the block's budget. They just don't seem to get a grip and keep it together, or face the reality.

Italy, as all other former European powers, have not got over their former grandeur, influence and wealth. They fail to admit that they now need each other, as the world has dramatically changed since the time of European dominance. Many want things to remain as they are and they avoid reforms at all cost. Others wish for things to go back to what they were-like Britain, and left the EU altogether. Italy refuses to accept that its economy has been so integrated with that of other countries, that it cannot continue the way it has for decades. Reforms are painful but necessary.

They distanced themselves from Greece ten years ago, leaving it at the mercy of Germany and its allies, in an effort to avoid the same fate. "Italy is too big to fail", many economists were claiming back then, thus the Italian economy and politics were allowed to continue their antics for another decade. Now since the Covid-19 pandemic is threatening Europe with another financial crisis, in Italy the knives are out again, in order to safeguard vested interests in the country, to the detriment of the ordinary Italian and European citizens.

The country's rulers must understand and make a decision that they cannot have their cake and eat it. They willingly joined the eurozone and they are one of the founding states of the EU. To avoid reforms is daft at this stage. If Greece was forced to privatize, sell out and reform, so can Italy. Having said that, it remains to be seen if the Greek painful path will bear fruits, or it merely turned it into a German de-facto colony, something that both France and Italy refuse to accept for themselves. But then why didn't they stand by Greece, forming a block that could stop and counter-balance the German hegemony in Europe? They do not want to see their national companies and assets, being taken over by foreign-notably German buyers, yet they were happy to see the Greeks ones suffer this fate. What goes around comes around as they say.

In a twisted turn of events, Italy's recent nemesis-the Netherlands, also saw its own government collapsed, over a child benefits scandal. Thousands of parents were wrongly accused by Dutch authorities of fraudulently claiming child allowance, with many of them forced to pay back large amounts of money and ending up in financial ruin. The fact that some parents were targeted for investigation by tax officials because they had dual nationality also underscored long-standing criticisms of systemic racism in the Netherlands.

Well, we ought to remember how Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch former Minister of Finance and Eurogroup President, treated Greece, by demanding the country to open its financial books and records for inspection. Perhaps the Dutch should have primarily sticked inspecting their own books all these years, to avoid this embarrassment. If they equally focused on what was happening in their own country and national authorities, perhaps they could have coped on earlier and avoided this fiasco. But no, to them it is always the Southern EU states that need to get their taxation system in check, they dance and listen to music and drink wine while the hard working Dutch have to always pay for the tax evading Southerners. Clearly we can see that themselves are not so perfect and spotless after all.

This is a poor way to distract your public from your own faults dear Dutch government, by pointing out the faults of others. Again, what goes around comes around. When the Greeks were crying for mercy, their European "partners" threw them to the arms of the IMF to save their own economies.They accused them of not paying taxes, bothered by Greek farmers not declaring all their incomes, while they did not mind rich Greek companies tax evading by relocating their headquarters in countries like the Netherlands. They also accused them of retiring too early, but of course they forgot how generous is their own social welfare systems, offering benefits for life. Belgium's chomage technique, which not only is much higher than Greece's, but in principle unlimited, was never a cause of concern for the Germans and Dutch. Nor, the institutionalization of a part of Ireland's population, by keeping them permanently as welfare receipients, never mind the Scandinavian generocity in benefits.

And the Dutch scandal gets even more sinister, if we think that it is just a revelation of the reality in the country's government mentality, not a mistake or mishap. Because then, it indicates the fascist, racist nature of their policies and explains their contemptuous attitude towards Greece, Italy and Spain. They treat their migrant communities like second class citizens, when they present themselves as a very liberal nation, open and progressive society, ready to condemn others for their human rights abuses. If Greece pushes back a boat loaded with immigrants in the Aegean, they will be the first to criticise, as well and scorn Poland and Hungary for refusing to take them in. At least the Hungarians, although I strongly disagree and despise their attitude on this issue, are honest about it. Hypocrisy however is revolting.

The Netherlands to be fair, is not the only country that struggles with immigration. The whole of Europe does. But then we should stop pretending or keeping up the appearances and do something about it. Work collectively,by establishing a pan-European immigration policy which aims to attract the right immigrants, regarding their numbers, skills, educational background, countries of origin and length of stay. In this way, we can avoid the embarassing double standards, when we allow migrant families to settle in an EU member, offer them citizenship, only to treat them in this horrid manner, in an effort to stigmatize them and make them leave, or discourage others from coming. Yet, our national governments insist on keeping all policies and decisions ultimately to themselves, creating a messy, patchy mosaic or laws and regulations, detached from another state's.

The third country to become without government last week, was Estonia. Like many of the former USSR states and Central/Eastern European nations that joined the EU in 2004, Estonia enjoyed for over a decade an impressive economic boom. Yet, similarly to many others of this region, it can not easily escape its past, proving that democracy and capitalism in these countries are still fragile and vulnerable. In addition, it also indicates that for the EU periphery, like in the case of Greece and Ireland, economic prosperity or political stability are not guaranteed and secured for the long term. Thus, we need to collectively work on maintaining and promoting them, though this can only happen with a more active role of the EU institutions, something that all local, national elites dislike; they obviously want to hold on to power and influence over our national resources for themselves.

Estonia’s Prime Minister Jüri Ratas has ultimatelly resigned, after police and prosecutors launched an investigation into an alleged corruption scandal involving his left-leaning Centre party related to a impropriety, over the €39 million Porto Franco property development. Ratas just so happens to be in a power-sharing agreement, with the conservative Fatherland party and the Eurosceptic right-wing Conservative People’s Party of Estonia. And like most parties with populist ambition, they are opportunistic and seek to get in power by revealing or underlining government scandals. Thus, Ratas had no option but to resign, hoping the storm passes and regroup for the next election, in order to stop another Euroskeptic party edging closer to power.

To conclude and sum-up all of the above: We in the West must understand that democarcy can never be taken for granted. Even in the richest and strongest countries, things can easily be overturned. Therefore, we must always remain alert. Economies and political systems are constantly being in flux, thus any period of prosperity must be accompanied with preparations, investments and reforms, in order to deal with the eventual and inevitable downturn. Corruption and systemic faults exist in all countries, it is just some of them manage to deal with or cover them with their wealth, government cover-ups and media PR. The poorer a nation is, the more citizen corruption it experiences, due to the fact that its people do what it comes natural in such circumstances; struggle to survive.

For the European rich nations then to go an blatanly slander and scapegoat them, while themselves are enjoying different standards as they exploit their resources, is the worse kind of corruption itself. Inequality among members of a "union", renders it as non democratic, thus unworthy. In addition, we need to have an open debate on immigration and reform the relevant laws. It is clear that the approach that we adopted until now does not work. Out of complex of our colonial past, we allowed too many migrants in Europe, but then when we do not want them, we do something even worse to these communities: we treat them as second class citizens, we scapegoat and label them as lazy and corrupt scroungers, seeking to abuse Europe's generous welfare system. But by these actions, we risk allowing the Far-Right to gain more power, destabilizing our continent and societies, threatening what we have worked and built so far in Europe.

Us Europeans are all in this together, meaning that our societies and economies are largely integrated. So any kind of infighting only makes matters worse and ultimately, it must come to a decision. We either start cooperating as a group of nations, preferably by upholding the vision we all have already agreed to adopt, or we revise and reverse back to what we had before, with all the good and bad of a divided continent, always at each other's throats, with peace and prosperity only enjoyed periodically by most.

Adieu Royaume-Uni. Et au revoir?

Well, it finally has happened. After four gruelling years of negotiations, debates and a nation divided, the United Kingdom has finally left the European Union. It took back control of its borders and fate as it always wanted, and left the Brussels based "gravy-train" of corruption, red-tape and unelected bureaucrats.

They can now see their sovereignty returned to them and be masters of their own fate and course in history; or can they? For the months prior the Brexit deadline and during the last minute negotiations between the EU and the UK to avoid a no-deal, we witnessed the humiliation of Britain in diplomatic and economic fronts, not their government's grandeur. Now if these sacrifices were necessary in order to reach the desired level of Great Britishness again, remains to be seen.

One of the most obvious losses if it materializes, will be Scotland. Together with Northern Ireland, it voted to remain in the EU, while England and Wales opted to leave. Since then, the Scottish government proposed a compromise. That would have meant the UK leaving the EU but staying in the single market, yet that compromise offer was rejected by the UK government, which wanted then, and still does now, a more distant relationship with the EU.

Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, penned an article published in the Irish Times, just after New Year's Day 2021, stressing her nation's plea again, pointing out that the only route for Scotland rejoining the EU is indepence. "For too long successive UK governments have taken Scotland in the wrong direction, culminating in Brexit and the introduction of legislation that had threatened to break international law and which still undermines the Scottish parliament. It’s no wonder so many people in Scotland have had enough. We are committed to a legal, constitutional route to becoming an independent state. As an independent member of the EU, Scotland would be a partner and a bridge-builder – not just a bridge to building a stronger economy and fairer society, but a bridge to aid understanding between the EU and UK," she said.

Should Sturgeon convinces her nation to follow her aspirations, the United Kingdom will be no more, at least as we know it.If the EU accepts Scotland and politics over break-away regions don't come to the fore, aka the Catalonian issue, then the UK just lost a vital region and its access to a significant part of the North Atlantic/North Sea. Thus, Great Britain just got smaller.

Then there is the Northern Ireland issue, another region that ideally would like to stay in the EU. After the EU-UK negotiations, this British territory is practically remaining in the EU, all but in name. It stays in the single market, since the UK and EU have agreed to keep an all-but-invisible border without checkpoints, between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland will continue to follow many of the EU's rules, meaning that lorries can continue to drive across the border without having to be inspected. However, some new checks will be needed on certain goods arriving into Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK instead. Food products will need to be checked to ensure they comply with EU standards. Brussels-run officials will be able to supervise checks on trade that is happening within the UK's borders, despite Boris Johnson insisting there'd be no border down the Irish Sea.

In addition, the Irish government has announced that it will fund Erasmus scheme for Northern Irish students, since Boris Johnson had said the UK would no longer participate in the exchange program. Irish Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris told the national broadcaster RTÉ, “the cost is relatively low, but it’s not a cost, it’s an investment,” adding the estimated expenses would be around €2 million per year. In other words, the Irish government is stepping in where the British one has failed or disdained to act decisively, ensuring further opportunities and chances for the Northern Irish youths. If that is not something that may turn the tide in the future for Irish unification, or the drifting of the region away from the UK core, then what is. The Northern Irish students, which represent their nation's future, hopefully will never forget who stepped in for their rights and interests.

But Northern Ireland and Scotland are not the only regions that are opting to retain their ties with the EU. A last-minute agreement between negotiators from Spain, Britain and Gibraltar, allows passport-free travel between Gibraltar and Spain. As part of the deal, the European agency Frontex will monitor sea and air arrivals in the British enclave. People arriving from Britain will need to go through passport control, as they did until now. Fearing border checks that could leave it isolated economically, Gibraltar wanted control-free access to the Spanish mainland, similar to those enjoyed between the European countries that are part of the Schengen area. The borderless area's requirements, will be adopted by Gibraltar with Spain as the responsible member for the application of Schengen rules. The Spanish authorities also insisted on maintaining the interdependency with Gibraltar, since many of its citizens work there and cross the border daily.

But even the City of London, the country's economic heart and powerhouse, will not be spared by the new reality. On the first trading day of 2021, the fourth of January, billions of euros of business left the UK for the European Union. Some €5bn of trading in shares ranging from French banks to German car companies departed London and reappeared in financial centres in mainland Europe such as Paris and Amsterdam. A pan-European exchange where EU equities are traded, saw virtually all the trading business flip from its London platform to its Paris base.

Naturally such shifts were expected and they won't be perpetuating for ever. At some stage in the future when the dust settles, things will normalize again and we will have a clearer picture on the new EU-UK relationship after Brexit. Yet while the rest of Europe will go on without one of its oldest members, the British people will be the ones that will pay the highest price. What has been signed by their government hasn't been explained to them in its totality and there are many grey areas. They will gradually have to reajust to the new reality and hope for the promised better deals with other blocks and countries, which their government promised them.

Hopefully in the end, things won't be as gloomy as predicted by many for Britain. A number of other European countries are outside the EU and the Single Market, like Serbia for example. They are managing and progressing, despite the slower pace and limited number of opportunities. Besides, the UK is not Serbia. It has more resources, overseas territories, wealth, partnership with the US and the Commonwealth and it is located within a stable, prosperous region of Europe, unlike Serbia. The question is, why restrict yourself by abandoning what you have negotiated and worked for the past five decades, as it serves the interests of your country's elites.

Because that's what really is Brexit about. In fact, that is the driving force of every political reality and development in Europe. Some powerful and rich groups from within or outside our continent benefit from a shake-up, thus they lobby, corrupt or campaign in order to achieve what they want. They use and manipulate public opinion, taking advantage of our democratic system and freedom of press, in order to employ our societies in making decisions that suits them. And we are falling for their lies, just as the British people did regarding Brexit.

The ordinary UK citizen will see little benefit from it, quite the opposite in fact. Prices of goods will rise, travel and trade will become more complicated, opportunities to study and work in another European country will be limited or awkward to achieve. And all the promises of wealth "trickling down" from the new reality will remain just that: promises. We should be wise enough by now, not to fall for such false claims. When did any of the benefits and privileges we granted to the big multinationals, have trickled down to the rest of us?

By tapping into the lower classes' fear of foreigners, nationalism, financial worries and ignorance on how the EU works, the British elites have managed to convince them to vote for something that will ultimatelly be detrimental to their future. As if British politics and society do not suffer from corruption, bureaucracy, lobbying, favoritism and nepotism, they have nevertheless projected those negative qualities to other countries and the EU institutions, perhaps in a desperate attempt to cover their own shortcomings and faults.

And that is why, although it pains me to see one of the oldest members leaving the club, partially I am pleased that Britain has voted for Brexit. For decades they were unhappy and utterly contemptuous towards their partners and the EU, opted out of many of its regulations and blocked an equal amount too. I believe that Brexit will shine a light on the truth, the British citizens will realize their government intentions and satisfy their curiosity of being outside the EU. If they ever decide to return as full members, they will do so consciously and with a better knowledge or information. And this will be beneficial for everyone.

In addition, Brexit will be good for the rest of Europe too. And not just regarding the aforementioned financial terms, or the fact that the EU lost one of the main obstacles for further integration. Similar euroscepticism like in Britain, can be found across the block. The UK can act as an unfortunate example of what is to come, if others want to follow suit. It can finally teach our governments on the importance of informing their citizens of the benefits of EU membership, and clarifying on how it really works. Until now, they were claiming all of the achievements as their own, while they were charging the mistakes onto the EU or other member states.

Besides, our governments were primarily self serving. That is another reason why Britain left. There is no true solidarity among them, just vested interests. For example we witnessed on how Europe is treating Greece over its problems with Turkey, or how Germany and France pushed Greece under the rails, sacrificing it to the IMF, in order to save their own banks and affairs. And I would not exclude the possibility of rich EU and non-EU states allowing, or even encouraging Britain to leave, in order to benefit themselves again. Let Brexit be a stark reminder to our governing elites, that if this selfish demeanor continues, more citizens will be disillusioned and fed up with the constant inequality, infighting, bullying and slandering that exists within the European politics and circles. And the EU institutions are not the ones that should get the blame, rather our own national governments.

The EU is not responsible when a member state is voting against the interests of another, or when the richer and most powerful countries, are sidelining and exploiting the poorer ones, the periphery of EU. The blame should be applied entirely on those governments. However, if they do not change their course of action in the EU, the sentiment among the populace will become even more sour than it already is. Consequently they will turn against European integration overall, not the national governments. They will naturally want to disolve this union, if their needs are not met and witness the inequality that exists among the members. Thus, Europe in its totality will lose out, for the errors and short-sighted decisions of our national politicians.

To conclude, the battle for Britain to remain in the EU is sadly lost. Let everyone take stock of the situation, study the outcome, learn from the mistakes that took place which lead to this new reality. Every government in Europe should ponder on the future of the EU and their desired role in it. Because if they do not change course, instead of an example to avoid, Britain will become an example to follow, when a country must save itself from an unworkable situation. As for Britain, I truly wish to see it as a member soon again, fully committed to Europe and working to change it for the better from within.