From Lisbon and Porto to Berlin, Paris, and Barcelona, Europe is witnessing a surge of protests where peaceful demonstrations coexist with severe violence. While specific grievances such as unaffordable housing and crumbling schools are real and urgent, the article asserts that no legitimate claim justifies destroying property, inciting aggression, or attempting to replace democratic institutions with the sovereignty of those occupying public squares. The core issue is not merely the protests themselves, but the underlying reality that Europe's current model of life demands conditions it has ceased to guarantee.
For decades, European societies operated under a comfortable assumption that prosperity was eternal and production was secondary. This mindset relied on Russia for energy, China for manufacturing, and the United States for security, while Europe focused on refining rules and moral standards. However, this framework collapsed following the invasion of Ukraine and shifting geopolitical priorities in Washington. The continent now faces a stark disconnect between its capabilities and its collective decisions, characterized by deindustrialization, expensive energy, investment difficulties, and bureaucratic inertia.
The economic strategy of treating cities as open-air museums to attract tourism and capital has failed to increase productive capacity. This approach drove up housing prices without corresponding wage growth, turning real estate into the primary asset for many while creating a generation of heirs who inherit wealth without contributing to production. Instead of addressing productivity and capital recovery, the political debate has been ceded to those advocating for administrative price caps, the expulsion of investors, and the persecution of property owners.
Demographic challenges further exacerbate the conflict. An aging population with low birth rates led to mass immigration as a utilitarian solution to fill labor gaps, often without adequate planning for housing, schools, healthcare, or cultural integration. This approach treated immigrants merely as replacement units rather than addressing the need for shared rules and values. The result is a society that demands high standards of living and strategic autonomy while rejecting the costs of defense, infrastructure, and construction required to sustain them.
The article concludes that this culture of individualism has eroded the sense of reciprocity within communities, leaving previous generations to protect existing systems while delaying necessary reforms for their children. Current political leadership offers no viable future, with the left promising chaos or false tomorrows and the right offering a return to a past that cannot be restored. The only path forward involves difficult choices: producing, building, investing, having children, integrating populations, and strengthening institutions. As the author notes, any honest political promise today can only offer blood, sweat, and tears, alongside the necessity of sacrifice.
Sources: Observador.