In the early phase of the pandemic, Germany seemed to stand out as one of the few western democracies that had handled it relatively successfully. By contrast, they saw other countries such as the UK and the US, where “populist” leaders were in power, as mishandling the crisis. For the past decade, Europe has been engulfed by what has frequently but misleadingly been called a populist “wave”. Thus, there is a kind of dialectical relationship between technocracy and populism: technocracy creates populism, which in turn leads to more technocracy in response, and so on. The creation of a €750bn (£645bn) EU recovery fund – the “NextGenerationEU” – restored the hope of many Italians in the union.

Source: The Guardian March 28, 2021 07:45 UTC