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Germany gives up dream of federal Europe
Looks like the clue bat used on France and Germany (or maybe just Germany) is beginning to work.Joschka Fischer, the German foreign minister, has made a dramatic attempt to improve relations with Britain by indicating his willingness to abandon the push for a full European government. Speaking to the Telegraph today in his first interview with a British newspaper since the Iraq war, he appears to accept that his federalist dreams are now unrealistic. He says that while EU institutions must be made more effective, a community of 25 will work best when "resting on strong member states". He admits that he "learned a lot" from the Iraq conflict, which split the EU down the middle, with Britain and many smaller countries under bitter attack from Berlin and Paris for backing US strategy. The dispute raised fundamental questions of how close European neighbours with different histories and traditions could agree on vital joint policies. Mr Fischer has clearly thought long and hard since the battles of the summer. "At the end, I think all the countries have the same interest: a strong Europe," he says. "But we have different traditions, different political disputes at home, complicated parliaments, complicated majorities... but this is Europe. We have to balance that and go forward. Language and history matter in Europe and we have to understand these different histories and the difficulties." Mr Fischer gives an assurance that Europe will not become a superstate: "Nobody has an interest in a European superstate in the way it is described by Eurosceptics, especially in the United Kingdom." His wish is that Europe should act more effectively on issues such as foreign policy and trade, subjects on which small nations struggle to make their voice heard. Mr Fischer, a former street-fighting anarchist in the 1970s, is now one of Europeâs most popular politicians. His comments represent a sharp change of tone from four years ago, when he shocked sceptics by floating the idea of a European government in Brussels, with a bicameral European parliament. His references to British history indicate that, rather than wanting to team up with France and leave Britain behind in an expanding Europe, Berlin has edged closer to Londonâs pragmatic view of the EU and is keener than ever to build bridges. Mr Fischer says he hopes that more young people in Britain will learn about Germanyâs post-war history and therefore come to understand how it approaches Europe. Noting that his nation was destroyed by what he describes as "Nazi barbarians", he says that German leaders have long backed closer EU integration as the best guarantor of peace. He describes the European constitution as an "excellent compromise" between Britainâs reluctance to pool sovereignty and Germanyâs post-war preference for concentrating more power at European level. He suggests that he now regards the constitution as the high water mark of integration. Mr Fischerâs comments, including reassurances that Europeâs defence policy will not lead to the creation of an EU army or compromise Nato, will also reassure the Americans who feared that France and Germany might use their EU ambitions to set up a rival power to the US. He refuses to be drawn on whether he and Germans in general feel vindicated by growing evidence that intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was faulty. He says he was not convinced by the case for war but emphasises the need to "win the peace". ⢠Italy and Spain last night attacked what they described as moves by Britain, Germany and France to take command of EU policy-making. Tony Blair plans to meet Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and President Jacques Chirac in Berlin next month to align policies in a range of areas, raising fears among other member states. Franco Frattini, the Italian foreign minister, said the creation of a directorate of countries was "a worry for those who believe Europe is a mechanism for power-sharing, not a mechanism for the concentration of a hard core of power". Posted by: tipper 2004-01-31 |
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