Far right is having a strong time in many parts of the world, partly due to the rejection by electors of "establishment", but also because some politicians are quick to kindle nationalism and xenophobia to get cheap votes from angry people. Not sure what it has to do with the collapse of the USSR.

You sound like you don't own a passport and just repeat fearmongering you hear on the news

Please get a passport, visit Europe, and then have an informed opinion.

I can't speak personally for the eastern or southern states but here in central europe things are quite peachy.

The central/west/northern parts of Europe are the most stable in the world, I doubt that will change soon, regardless of what happens elsewhere.

Come on over and have a look! I invite you to coffee and cake, and a stroll in my garden

Greetings from Frankfurt

You didn't really address his points though. He named multiple countries in which Eurosceptics are on the rise, and that is going to become a problem in time for EU. Hell, even here in Latvia anti-EU sentiments are (albeit slowly) becoming more widespread. I don't think there will be a fall anytime soon, but we certainly have interesting times ahead of us.

After Brexit, pro-EU sentiment across the EU has risen sharply.

Go figure.

Thank you for your concern: i have a passport and i have visited every EU member state with the exception of Romania and Sweden.

On a more positive note that the rest of the thread: having been to both, I'd highly recommend them, and if you want any recs, let me know!

So you like your free travel and ability to work anywhere in the EU??? But beyond that what does the EU offer other than a lot of regulations that seem to be hurting a lot of smaller countries?

"...beyond that"... that is funny. The "ability to work anywhere in the EU" is a huge win for all countries involved, and it alone would be worth having the EU. And what kind of "regulations that seem to be hurting a lot of smaller countries" do you mean? I can't think of any.

Biggest one right now is probably migrant program. France, Sweden, Germany, all suffering as a result. The problems with Trade Agreements, or lack of.

Well... not a win for the countries the high-skilled labor is escaping from in droves.

> what does the EU offer other than a lot of regulations

The fact that there have no longer been wars between the participants?

After thousands of years of endless strife, wars & massacres.

Ask people from my great-parents generation (who lived throught WW2) if this is not a HUGE benefit...

That and the fact that Germany, France and England having the longest uninterrupted peace between them since the battle of Hastings.

But beyond free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour... what has the EU ever done for us???

Since when is Macron anti-EU?

Poland is not anti-EU, it just opposes the migrant quotas due to variety of reasons. The society also has a generally negative view on multiculturalism and forcing the refugees to live where they will feel unwelcome and oppressed doesn't seem like the best idea.

I'm struggling to see what massive wins you are referring to here.

The only 'win' I can think of of the top of my head was the UK referendum, which was 52/48 in favour of leaving. Polls taken now suggest that people are now mostly against leaving but the referendum result still stands.

reject[ing] giving more power to the EU is not the same as being anti-EU. I think there's a broad understanding that the EU isn't perfect, but that it's better than not having an EU. Britain is the one exception to this of course, but that depends on who you ask ... but even of the 50% who voted to leave, a large %age of those didn't really take stock of what it entailed.

In The Netherlands Geert Wilders' PVV became the second party by size, but the rest of the mainstream parties refuse to form a coalition with them so they are pretty much always in the opposition. I don't like that type of party (we had the LPF, then PVV and in the future maybe FvD) but I have to admit that as long as they don't actually govern they have a very useful function in that they often point out painful truths or situations that the other parties won't touch for fear of seeming politically incorrect.

That's four countries out of 28, and the Polish government is losing popularity (my girlfriend is Polish, I visit Poland often) due to its ultra-conservative Catholic views.

Poland was one of the most pro-EU countries in the union, and it will be again. It has seen the benefits firsthand, regardless of a vocal minority of xenophobes.

Le Pen had big gains yes, and still lost because the country decided to vote tactically, together to stop a fascist getting any power. She lost.

Hungary I'll give you, because it has been hardcore right-wing for a long while and massively corrupt.

Hungary elected Viktor Orbán, a notoriously anti-EU, anti-immigrants hatemonger.

How about arguing specifics instead of merely emoting? For instance, what does a national border mean to you? Is it totally meaningless? What is a nation? Does it share any characteristics at all, with the concept of a family? Should a country not set any requirements for entry or should it adopt a free-for-all with no barriers? Actually I'm not taking sides here but merely suggesting it would be instructive to see a salient point or two in support of your evident take on Orbán. There are lots of people I don't like but who gives a damn if I don't offer reasons for my preferences that show some evidence of intelligent analysis on my part?

Orbán's flirting with far-right groups, his opposition to everything related to EU and his extremely nationalistic bent are all well-known. He has a history of policies and laws that are overtly nationalistic and isolationist. Which is not a healthy approach in an increasingly global politic climate.

His policies and speeches bring definite reminders of nationalistic policies past, of using immigrants as refugees and scapegoats for everything wrong in a society, as well as appealing to traditionalist values, the "things were much better in the old days" rose-tinted glasses mentality.

It is a symptom of being stuck in the past, a wish to bring society back to the imagined "good old days", which never actually existed in the first place. There are also the obvious calls to maintaining traditions and cultural identity that is "under attack" and in many cases were actually imported from other cultures and assimilated over decades. It's the exact same story with every other nationalistic politic party, in every European country.