Italy’s new Government puts another strain on Brussels.

The wave of populism continues to sweep across Europe with Italy being the latest nation to feel its ‘people power’ unsettling the political establishment. But it is not only Rome that is fearing radical change: the shockwaves are reaching Brussels and shaking the EU. The past week has been one of turbulence in Italy with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) doing a deal with the right-wing anti-immigration League after more than 12 weeks of haggling.

The two parties nominated Giuseppe Conte, a professor of law with no political experience, as Prime Minister and Paolo Savona – a fierce opponent of the Euro – as Finance Minister. Both were overruled by the President who refused to appoint them. President Mattarella was widely reported to be following instructions from Brussels with particular pressure from Germany. A compromise has been reached with Conte remaining as Prime Minister but Savona being moved to Minister for European Affairs and Giovanni Tria – who favours remaining in the Eurozone – becoming Finance Minister.

But Italy’s new populist Government still presents a headache for Brussels because both M5S’s leader Luigi Di Maio and the League’s Matteo Salvini – now Deputy Prime Ministers - are strongly Eurosceptic and have declared that the Euro is not good for Italy. The President’s intervention, far from steering Italy into calmer waters, enraged voters who support these two parties precisely because they are anti-EU and anti-establishment.

Justified Anger

The rise of the populist parties reflects the justified anger at the political class both in Rome and in Brussels. Italy has 30% of young people unemployed and more than 20% unemployment in the southern half of the country. Vital reforms have not been carried out by previous governments and the situation has been greatly exacerbated by the flow of immigrants coming across the Mediterranean from North Africa.

The shockwaves of populism are reaching Brussels and shaking the European Union.

Appeals to the EU for help with the migrant crisis have been ignored; so too have the desperate needs for tackling corruption and improving the country’s education and youth services. Italy’s economy has not grown for the past two decades, which has caused the people at last to rise up and say “Enough is Enough! We will not have these people ruling over us any longer!” Historically, this has been the cry of oppressed people throughout the ages.

The new Coalition, due to be sworn in today, plans to increase spending, cut taxes and disperse half a million immigrants across the Eurozone - to the horror of Brussels! The new populist Government in Italy takes power at the same time as Britain concludes its negotiations for exiting the European Union – all putting additional strain on the EU that could result in the collapse of the whole enterprise of a united Europe.

Resentment and Revolt

Even if Italy does not abandon the Euro, the shockwaves of its new populist Government’s policies will be enough to shake the EU to its foundations. Italy is the fourth largest economy in Europe and their national debt is already at 132% of GDP. No nation can go on spending more than it earns without courting disaster. But that is what Italy’s new Coalition plans to do – to increase spending massively in order to give a living wage to the poorest families which could send the Euro spinning out of control.

The plain fact is that Italians are contemptuous of their political establishment and of the Brussels hierarchy. In particular, they deeply resent the power exercised by Germany. They saw the brutal treatment of Greece by Germany’s bankers last year which was in line with the way the Nazis dealt with Greece in the Second World War. The Italians are determined that this is not going to happen to them. They want to shake off the power of the EU over them.

Even if Italy does not abandon the Euro, its new populist Government’s policies will be enough to shake the EU to its foundations.

Last week there was talk of impeaching the President for refusing to recognise the democratic will of the people. But this would have resulted in a General Election which was the last thing that Italy’s President or the EU wanted, because public opinion was swinging increasingly to the populists who could have won an increased majority. That is the strength of the populist movement sweeping the country, with its strong nationalist and anti-immigration sentiment which is likely to strengthen the same movement throughout Europe.

Demand for Justice

The demands of the people for justice and righteousness cannot be ignored for ever. There is something in our human nature that recognises corruption, lies, oppression and injustice as wrong. Perhaps it is because we are created in the image of the God of the Bible, who abhors these things. Truth, righteousness and justice are part of the nature of God, but corruption and lies are the works of the devil – the father of lies.

It looks as though the European Union is facing judgment day. The warning shots fired by Britain through Brexit and the many calls for reform from other nations across Europe have all been ignored by the liberal postmodernist intelligentsia that rules Brussels, enjoying wealthy lifestyles and practising oppression and corruption.

There is something in our human nature that recognises corruption, lies, oppression and injustice as wrong.

The populist movement is probably not a paragon of virtue! But God often uses imperfect instruments to accomplish his purposes. He even used Cyrus the Persian to deliver his people from Babylon. One thing the Bible makes abundantly clear is that God hates injustice and corruption. Here is a selection of verses from the biblical prophets that illustrate this:

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness…Who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent. (Isa 5:20-23)

Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth I will forgive this city. (Jer 5:1)

Sow for yourself righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love…But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception because you have depended on your own strength. (Hos 10:12-13)

They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. (Amos 2:6-7)

Woe to those who plan iniquity…They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud a man of his home, a fellow man of his inheritance. Therefore, says the Lord: I am planning disaster against this people. (Mic 2:1-3)

Maybe the word of the Lord to the EU today is similar to that which he pronounced against Israel when their leaders were steeped in corruption:

Therefore, this is what the Holy one of Israel says: because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly in an instant. (Isa 30:12)

People power and the hand of God.

This week we have seen the fall from favour of two powerful politicians – Mugabe and Merkel. They have each held power in very different societies but their downfalls are both linked to the rise of people power.

People power signals the awakening of ordinary people to the misuse of power among the ruling elite that has been the source of oppression for far too long. It is now even affecting cruel dictatorships such as the Mugabe regime, which has dominated Zimbabwe for decades.

The popularist backlash has begun: where will it end?

Angela Merkel’s problems stemmed from her unwise single-handed decision to welcome more than one million asylum seekers from the Muslim world and to try to force other EU nations to follow the same policy. Her nearest neighbours - Poland, the Czech Republic, and Austria - have all resisted this pressure.

Populist Revolts

Other parts of the EU are experiencing something similar - a populist reaction against decisions made by those in power. In France, Macron’s sudden rise to prominence reflected a workers’ revolt against both left and right traditional political parties. But his failure to please the workers has brought them out onto the streets in protest.¹

It remains to be seen whether a similar pattern will be followed in Zimbabwe if the vast army of unemployed do not see radical change with their new President, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Politicians in traditional parties throughout the EU are watching the growth of anti-establishment, populist movements with trepidation.

And what about the European Union itself? The cracks we have been forecasting in Prophecy Today UK are beginning to widen. The corruption at the heart of this evil institution with the gross rewards it pays to its unelected officials is becoming widely known and will bring its inevitable consequences. Politicians in the traditional parties throughout the European Union are watching the growth of anti-establishment, populist movements with trepidation.

The God Factor

Angela Merkel announces the failure of her coalition talks. See Photo Credits.

But the major factor that the Establishment does not recognise is the God factor!

Yes, certainly, the forces of social change that are sweeping Europe and other parts of the world, including traditional monarchies such as Saudi Arabia, are of sociological significance, but they also have theological significance! They are not simply generated by human ambitions or discontent: they all show signs of the guiding Hand of God!

The Prophet Haggai prophesying in the year 520 BC may not have known God’s timetable, but he certainly received a clear revelation of the purposes of God when he declared, “This is what the Lord Almighty says: in a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations…”.

We are certainly seeing a great shaking of the world of nature through storms, hurricanes, floods, droughts and earthquakes – arguably more than in any other period in recorded history; and we are also seeing a great shaking of the nations.

The forces of change that are sweeping Europe and other parts of the world all show signs of the guiding Hand of God.

This is where we need our Bibles more than sociological and political theory to give us a steer about what is happening and the likely outcomes of the forces of change that are driving the nations.

When we get a clear view of the nature and purposes of God, we have the necessary tools of analysis to enable us to understand what is going on in our world today. Without this knowledge we are left with our secular human frailty; alone in the universe, facing the gathering storms with winds of change reaching hurricane force and no compass or rudder to guide.

The two fundamental assets of the biblical prophets were: revelationary knowledge of the nature and purposes of God; and understanding of the sovereignty of God - that everything that happened was either because God directly willed it, or because he allowed it.

Exposing Injustice

So, what’s happening among the nations today? Certainly, we can see that in Europe and the West, God is exposing the corruption, injustice and oppression exercised by the ruling elite who misuse their riches and their power to pursue selfish aims and objectives.

As Jeremiah stated in his famous ‘Temple Sermon’ (Jer 7), God hates injustice and oppression. There is something in our fallen human nature that still reflects the image of God, in which we were created, that enables us to recognise injustice and oppression and to reject them. This is what is happening today as God turns on the light, exposing the corrupt financial, political and social systems of the modern world.

Mrs Merkel’s fall from power is likely to trigger elections in the new year which will benefit the far-right nationalist ‘Alternative for Germany’ (AfD) party, or even the ex-Communist Left Party. This will further destabilise Germany and could possibly trigger the collapse of the European Union, already under threat because of Britain’s withdrawal.

The two fundamental assets of the biblical prophets were: revelationary knowledge of the nature and purposes of God; and understanding of the sovereignty of God.

This gives an enormous opportunity to Britain to review the whole policy of offering enormous sums of money to the EU to allow us to come out from under its oppressive regulations.

But is the British Government sufficiently spiritually aware of what is happening in the world that political decisions can be made in line with the purposes of God? This is evidently not the case – unsurprisingly, given how few MPs are biblical Christians. This is where Christians are greatly needed to make their voice heard in the nation and to bring a ‘God-perspective’ into national decision-making.

Church, Arise!

At present there is very little indication that God-centred direction will come from the Church. But it is the Church that should be the prophet to the nation. In the absence of the word of God thundering through the naves of our cathedrals and from the pulpits of our churches, perhaps people power may yet emerge from the pews!

It is surely time for Bible-believing Christians to find every opportunity in this media-saturated world to declare the word of the living God to this godless generation!

The authorities in Israel were forced to take note of the disciples: “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realised that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). May the backlash not only be seen on the streets, but in the churches as well!

Notes

1 E.g. Read more here.