Why Populists Can’t Win in Europe’s Heartland
Elections will show if populism really can challenge the European project.
The Tiamo comes into dock in Duisburg, Germany, on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Nothing cuts through Europe like the Rhine, and the river is Piet van Meel’s life.
Like the two generations before him, the 45-year-old Dutch barge captain works on it by day and sleeps on it by night. When he was 21, he kissed his future spouse on it. Now he and his wife, co-captain Miranda, are split over how to protect their livelihood from competition and secure their futures.