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From Munich to Milan, political narratives are driving citizens into ever more separated mindsets

The biggest danger facing Europe isn’t so much Brexit, or even the “populist wave” sweeping the continent. It is the depressing fact that continental Europeans seem to be losing an appetite to even try to understand one another across national and cultural boundaries. Ignoring or even provoking your neighbour has become a new normal as countries become more and more inward looking.

In recent weeks, I’ve travelled to a number of European capitals. What I picked up is that a fragmentation of minds is under way, even though so many contemporary themes, from globalisation to migration, are the common concern of all Europeans. There is particular pathos to this as the centenary of the 1918 armistice approaches. With a key European parliament election just seven months away, the psychological divisions across the continent seem to be deepening, not diminishing.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2SbMGc5