Paris, the capital of love, literature and culture, is burning. In fact, all of Europe is on fire at the moment. Strikes, street protests and harsh police intervention are prevalent everywhere in Europe. Finding oil is a challenge, subways do not operate and flights are grounded.

So, what is happening?

What is happening in the EU, which denies the right to move freely to the citizens of some EU candidate countries, including Turkey while refugees are losing their lives on the Mediterranean for the sake of landing there?

The answer is clear: The end of a paradigm is imminent.

The old continent is growing older. Its modes of production, relations and models are not in line with the new period. The moral values they claim to cherish hardly go beyond some kind of romanticism in the face of today's economic and political realities. The continent is losing its flexibility and ability to revise itself.

State apparatuses are resorting to strict implementations as a solution. New taxes are being introduced while wages are declining and detentions are becoming more widespread and normalized.

"With new taxes, life is much more expensive in Greece," a piece in the To Vima daily said.

"The EU has signed a code with Twitter and Facebook to remove content it disapproves of within 24 hours," Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

As the course of events are viewed, the specter of communism Karl Marx expected from Europe due to its developed industries materialized in Russia, which did not even have a proper working class at the time. It seems like we may bear witness to the first serious collapse of globalization in Europe.

This could take a long time, or happen in a European country other than France. But the course of events indicates no positive sign for those in power in Europe.

How far can Europe continue to sell its classic, old-fashioned model while leading technologies of the new millennium are in the hands of the U.S. and dynamic Asian giants like China?

Or, how far can Germany's powerful economy subsidize the burden of deteriorating European cities?

I do not know to what extent the EU is aware of the fact that membership in the bloc is currently used as a bargaining chip rather than being adopted as a civil integration project in accordance with its founding principles. However, the organizers and coordinators of the EU's expansion policies have to evaluate this projection as soon as possible since it is obvious that the EU membership of young and dynamic Turkey, which is at the center of new economy zones and strategic energy regions, will cure the EU's problems in the short run.

Undoubtedly, when the day comes, the EU's double standards in the current negotiation process will constitute one of the greatest barriers hindering a solution.

Does the EU remember Turkey's Gezi Park incidents?

As the incidents in Paris coincided with the anniversary of the Gezi Park demonstrations that took place in Turkey in 2013, people started to draw comparison between the two incidents. Turks are now rightfully questioning the attitude of European administrations and media concerning the Gezi Park incidents three years ago.

During those days, Europe made a big deal about the minimum security measures the Turkish government took against vandalism on the streets. But today, the same Europe is implementing far stricter measures due to protests with rightful demands.

The barriers they set before freedom of expression, like censoring the press or internet, are evident.

Also, the violence displayed by the demonstrators in European capitals is trivial when compared to the vandalism of groups involved in the Gezi Park incidents.

In addition, the 2013 demonstrations in Turkey marked a certain group's resistance to change and development in the aftermath of the group's decline. As can be remembered, their slogan was: "We won't allow it." They do not favor any change, including the new transcontinental bridge, the new airport and subways, new constitution and changing the governmental system. On the other hand, what Parisian protesters demand today are fundamental rights such as fewer work hours and less unemployment, wage increases, humane conditions democracy and getting a fair share.

Moreover, although those who played a major role in the Gezi Park protests defined themselves as leftists, they were in fact a group of reactionaries from the middle and upper-middle class who were yearning for the demolished status quo. But in France and other European countries, people from lower income groups, including immigrants and the working class, are leading the protests now.

I wonder if the European countries that currently struggle against similar actions, particularly the French government, are being self-critical and recalling the double standards they imposed on Turkey during the Gezi Park incidents.