The impatience and irrationality of the parties of protest would undo the good work of fiscal consolidation done since 2010. They were splitting Europe at a moment when it needed to stand united against the new threats on its borders.16 There were dark rumors of Russian infiltration. That was alarming, no doubt. But in 2014 a new cold war was among the more reassuring scenarios on offer. What if Europe was marching back not to the 1950s but to the 1930s? Was the script not hauntingly familiar? A financial crisis met with obstinate austerity led to mass unemployment and political
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