The last days of Europe

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The Last Days of Europe is an EU-critical non-fiction book published by journalist and writer Henryk M. Broder in 2013 in the German Albrecht Knaus Verlag . It is subtitled How we sink a good idea .

Accompanying articles by Broder appeared in August 2013 in the tabloid BILD (as a three-part series) and in Die Welt and in Weltwoche . In September 2013, he advertised his book on the ZDF talk show Markus Lanz .

content

Henryk M. Broder depicts the current situation in Europe in a total of 15 stories. He begins by describing “How I discovered Europe for myself” (Chapter 1). In return, he also goes into his initial disinterest in the European idea. The trigger for its change was the introduction of energy efficiency class C for incandescent lamps by the European Commission on September 1, 2012. In “It's good that we talked about it” (Chapter 2), he describes the legislative process behind the decision in favor of energy-saving lamps in the EU. In Chapter 3, “You have to be able to indulge”, he goes into the high expenditure of the European Union. He criticizes the voting behavior of parliamentarians under the heading: “That's why you usually do it at the weekend” (Chapter 4). In “We are living in a very happy time” (Chapter 5), he critically examines how politicians deal with the financial crisis . The topic of subsidies can be found under “Out and about in the European funding jungle” (Chapter 6). The following are the chapter "Omnipotent fantasies impotent bureaucrats" (Chapter 7) and "The Nothing is in full swing" (Chapter 8), where he mainly due to the busyness of the EU parliamentarians received as such. B. on Lothar Bisky ( Die Linke ). “A bit of peace” (Chapter 9) is about the supposed peace project of the European Union. The topics “Ask yourself what you can do for Europe” (Chapter 10), “When does the Leberkäse get upset?” (Chapter 11) and “We for Europe” (Chapter 12) follow it is about the defense of German prosperity . “Opportunity Makes Thieves” (Chapter 13) refers to the waste tendencies in the EU bureaucracy, also through the involvement of external consultancy firms. A separate chapter 14, “The United Church of Europe”, takes Europe as a kind of worldview . In the last chapter 15, "The carousel Europe has to keep turning - or ...?", He comments on the future viability of the European Union.

Reviews and reactions

Eckhard Stuff from Kulturradio ( rbb ) writes: “Henryk Broder sees the great European idea going under. Europe, in which we can live freely, conduct free trade for the benefit of all and, above all, Europe, which is characterized by diversity and which only gets its charm through diversity. "

In the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , the reviewer Joachim Jahn considers the author Broder to be “ provocative ” and “ funny ”. He talks about “a treasure trove of absurdities ” and cannot identify a nationalist in Broder .

With the words: "The high priest of the destructive word is not limited to the scourging of grievances - but convinces above all through detailed knowledge of history and as an ardent advocate of the European idea." The features section of the Leipziger Volkszeitung described the book.

The Austrian journalist Christian Ortner reviewed the book in the Wiener Zeitung : “What sets Broder's text apart from the usual EU criticism is not only the typical snotty and wonderfully refreshing Broder sound, but above all the attitude that is not at all hostile to the EU , from which he criticizes the Union. ”He went on to say: The fact that Broder approaches the subject of his criticism without too much special prior knowledge [...] is both weakness and strength. Weakness, because his argumentation naturally contains hardly any new facts or contexts; [...] On the other hand, and therein lies the strength of the impartial approach, he repeatedly opens up refreshingly new perspectives on the subject of his interest. "

In the Basler Zeitung , the reviewer Hansjörg Müller says: “Broder is a brilliant polemicist that you will not find anyone else in the German-speaking world. One punch line chases the next with him. This is his strength as a columnist, but reading more than 200 pages can soon become a bit tired. "

At an author reading during the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair , Hans Eichel (SPD), former Federal Minister of Finance, criticized Broder for purely polemics . Eichel also said: "The misery of Europe is the inability of national governments to come to an agreement" and "The decisive question is whether we are able and willing to come together with others despite all the differences."

Rainer Wieland (CDU), Vice President of the European Parliament, commented: “Broder serves popular resentment against Europe through the BILD newspaper .” He continued: “The theses in Broder's book are based on ignorance and target the prejudices of many people. Somebody wants to cash in on the back of Europe. ”And“ With headlines like 'How we sink a good idea', a publicist who otherwise goes against the grain of public opinion sheds crocodile tears of a Eurosceptic populist . ”

The book received benevolent comments in far-right media such as the new-right youth magazine Blaue Narzisse and the Islamophobic blog Politically Incorrect, as well as Udo Ulfkotte at Kopp Verlag , who also operates a conspiracy-theoretical program.

Bestseller list

Broder's book was in 16th place on the Spiegel bestseller list 43/2013 for non-fiction books.

output

  • Henryk M Broder: The last days of Europe. How we sink a good idea . Knaus, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-8135-0567-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Henryk M. Broder: EU is a tenement house with a brazen culture of extortion . In: Die Welt , August 25, 2013.
  2. ^ Henryk M. Broder: Europeans in missionary position . In: Die Weltwoche , No. 36, September 5, 2013.
  3. ↑ Markus Lanz , ZDF , September 26, 2013.
  4. ↑ Eckhard Stuff: Henryk M Broder: "The Last Days of Europe" ( Memento of the original from October 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Rec.). Kulturradio , September 17, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kulturradio.de
  5. ↑ Joachim Jahn : Henryk M. Broder sees the EU heading towards disintegration (review). In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 21, 2013.
  6. ↑ In brief . In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , September 6, 2013.
  7. ^ Christian Ortner : Broder, Henryk M .: The last days of Europe (review). In: Wiener Zeitung , October 21, 2013.
  8. ^ Hansjörg Müller: Europe as a desolate tenement house . In: Basler Zeitung , September 6, 2013.
  9. ↑ Sarah Kohlhauer: Europe must find each other ( memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Vorwärts , October 9, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vorwaerts.de
  10. ↑ Critique of Henryk Broder's “The Last Days of Europe” . EurActiv 28 Aug 2013.
  11. ↑ bestseller . In: Der Spiegel , 43/2013, p. 146.