Deeper EU integration and solidarity are the answer

The European Union and its future are the subject of this position, which holds that the answer to Europe's challenges is deeper integration, solidarity and shared sovereignty rather than fragmentation. Its advocates stress the rule of law, common standards, cohesion and a firewall against parties of the right, and some call for banning or isolating parties they describe as extremist.

The position is voiced by 39 outlets and appears in seven disputes: European political fragmentation, the AfD and German polarisation, the realignment of the parliamentary right, French political instability, Hungary and EU rule-of-law standards, EU migration and asylum policy, and the EU budget, where it backs stronger common financing.

It is answered by two positions: that Brussels overreaches and nations and voters are right to resist, and that quarrels inside the West expose hypocrisy and decline. They part on whether integration or national control is the remedy. Recent events show the AfD leading German polls and winning in Saxony-Anhalt, the SPD calling for a ban, protests against the AfD, and Marine Le Pen's party gaining Senate seats.