The illusion of democracy and the market economy

Sandro Viola writes in the left-liberal daily La Repubblica that the new East-West divide could put Europe back twenty years. But that is not solely the fault of the economic crisis, Viola argues: "A clear warning signal that Europe's new unity had not erased historical differences was the anti-Russian sentiment on the part of the former Eastern Bloc countries. This could be seen in the mistrust, suspicion and fear of Vladimir Putin's Russia. ... The financial and economic crisis has once more reopened the old wounds. Everything that was taken for granted in the East in the past 20 years - the free market economy, foreign investment, membership in the European Union, democracy - has now been destabilised. The sacrifices that were made to enter the Union seem to be in vain. Fear and foreboding are now widespread in the countries worst hit by the recession. The selfsame conviction ruled Russia after the bankruptcy of 1998: it is illusory to join the West if history will not allow it. Democracy and the free market may be suitable for the West, but they don't work in the East."

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