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James Morrow: Gallic petulance too much to stomach
On the latest faux-pas by ChiracFRENCH was once the language of diplomacy; the hangover of this legacy is why passports still bear headings such as "Name/Nom" and places to fill in the holder's "Adresse du titulaire a'l'etranger" (that is, where you're staying overseas). But even though the world's diplomats no longer chatter to one another en francais, the French government still likes to pretend it is the top chien on the world stage. Which is why, given France's increasing irrelevance in global affairs, Jacques Chirac's petulant outburst last Sunday to Russia's Vladimir Putin and Germany's Gerhard Schroeder is both amusing and understandable. For those who missed it amid all the Live8 hoopla, France's leader was overheard in a meeting in Kaliningrad telling his two fellow heads of state that "the only thing that [the British] have ever done for European agriculture is mad cow disease", adding, "You cannot trust people who have such bad cuisine. It is the country with the worst food after Finland." Leaving Finnish food aside for the moment (presumably Chirac hasn't had a good plate of kaalikaaryleet lately), the French president's comments are further proof that his country has once again missed the bateau. Britain has become something of a culinary superstar. London is home to 35 Michelin-starred restaurants, second only to Paris, and British chefs from Jamie Oliver to Gordon Ramsay are famous the world over. France, meanwhile, can boast that its McDonald's franchises are the best-performing in Europe in terms of income per restaurant, serving a million customers a day nationwide. All of which suggests that the French president may have been suffering from what psychiatrists call "projection" when he made his critique of the British and their food: recognised since the time of Freud, projection is a psychological defence mechanism that occurs when a patient transfers his own -- often negative -- urges or impulses on to someone else. Think about it: Chirac wanted to stop Tony Blair from joining the US's toppling of Saddam Hussein, but all that came out of his blustering was a captured dictator and an oil-for-food scandal that hasn't reflected all that well on his government. Likewise, Chirac's great hope for the future -- along with his fellow food critic Schroeder -- was the ratification of the EU Constitution. Unfortunately for him the whole thing was spectacularly derailed by French voters, who delivered a resounding Non! at the ballot box -- a great example of people doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. (According to the polls, French voters were concerned that the final plunge into the EU would force them to become -- quelle horreur -- more capitalist.) Of course, the whole impenetrable 852-page scam of a document was never going to get past the British voters, who still cling to romantic ideas such as accountable governments, national sovereignty, and individual-based civil society -- factors which, as James Bennett has pointed out in The Anglosphere Challenge, make England far more closely connected to Australia and the US than their counterparts across the channel. Not being able to blame Britain for the failure of Europe must have been a great disappointment to Chirac. About the only thing on the horizon for French pride for Chirac is Paris's bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games - for which London is also bidding, and in with a chance at that. If that doesn't wind up going France's way, there won't be much left for Chirac to do, even in the playground of the European Union. Because on Friday, the rotating presidency of the EU transfers to - you guessed it - Britain. James Morrow is editor of Investigate magazine. Posted by: anonymous5089 2005-07-06 |
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