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| Europe |
| The end of the European Union |
| 2005-05-26 |
| Severely EFL. Hat tip: Instapundit. For the first time, fear really stalks the Rue de la Loi in Brussels, headquarters of the European Commission. It is visceral. We know this because of the increasingly hysterical register of the messages in which the commissioners are sending French and Dutch voters preparing (in their referenda on 29 May and 1 June respectively) to vote down the treaty establishing a federal constitution. If you do so, the European Union nomenklatura is saying, you will bring to Europe economic disaster, a return to internecine war or (most tastelessly and least forgivably) another Holocaust. It is ridiculous hyperbole and therefore all the more demanding of explanation. How did it come to this? *snip* What a difference fifteen years can make! In 1990 the European Community (as it still was called) was still doing, more or less, what it had been intended to do since 1957: in essence, to ensure that the skilful French rider could ride the sturdy German horse, So apparently the Phrogs have always been narcissists? in Charles de Gaulle's celebrated description (with, one might add, the Dutch and British stable-lads paying the bill for the cheerful French peasant to grow the fodder). Well, yeah. And they ought to be thankful for the privilege, sez the Phrogs. In 1991 the rider fell off. The occasion was the death of Yugoslavia. Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Germany's foreign minister, insisted that his newly-reunited country pursue an active foreign policy for the first time since 1945. Along with his Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, he forced the European Union in January 1992 to recognise two republics of fragmenting Yugoslavia — Croatia and Slovenia — as sovereign states. Many other European capitals, and Washington, had grave doubts about this move. London, Paris, Rome, and Amsterdam were convinced — correctly, as it turned out — that this would lead to a Balkan civil war. No, really? Who could have seen that coming? The Germans insisted, and won; John Major, the British prime minister, consented to the decision after having secured from Kohl in exchange an "opt out" from the Maastricht Treaty's "social chapter". The shock of German heavy-handedness and EU foreign-policy rudderlessness and division were the stimulus to accelerated federal steps in the 1990s. Some were taken on autopilot: the Brussels machine is programmed to legislate as a spider is to spin its web. Great description. Thus the Gulliver-like achievement of the single market was tied down by the myriad Lilliputian threads of the acquis communautaire legislation, advancing stealthily into ever-wider areas of member-states' national life (especially under cover of "heath and safety" and "environment" regulation). WAKE UP, EUROPEANS! Among the historic errors of this period — when the heaviest-footed drivers were in Paris rather than Berlin — was the introduction of the single currency; a premature decision that has been severely punished by the capital markets, where the euro is now effectively traded as a debauched currency. Jacques must be so proud. *snip* Then came Giscard d'Estaing's extravagant federal constitution, which may yet prove to be the bridge too far. *snip* This brutal acceleration of the European Union project in the post-1990 period has leaked so much legitimacy from it that it now starts to resemble that other superannuated, elite-created, imposed federal union "project" also conceived in Europe in the same period (1910s-20s): the Soviet Union. OUCH! *snip* The fundamental issue is that the EU, like the failed Soviet experiment, cannot meet Alexis de Tocqueville's tests of democratic legitimation. The organisation is trapped by the local effects of a worldwide crisis of institutional trust, and a breakdown in the essence of the social contract between citizen and state. European social contract: We elite pontificate and lord it over everyone and have all that we want, including expensive cars, 5-star hotel stays, and country houses for our mistresses - all paid for by our taxes on the peasants - and the peasants have just enough to keep them from rioting, plus lots of days off from the work they don't do much of anyway. Yeah, that'll work. *snip* Least of all is the "EU" coterminous with Europe. The Eurobarometer opinion surveys reveal that the generational gradient of affinity to a primary European identity is the reverse of what Monnet and his colleagues expected in 1945. They were the strongest enthusiasts for the federal project; the soixante-huitards (like me) were still keen, but less so; "Generation X" and today's rising 20-somethings are just not interested. They take for granted the four basic qualifications for successful modern living: convenience of travel, the universal need to speak English, computer and mobile phone skills, and car-driving. And they feel Dutch, English, French, German or Italian, first of all. Emphasis added. The castle is all lit up; the flag is flying, the wardens peer out anxiously, but the people aren't at home. It is not what many would have predicted in 1991. Maybe not, but I know I've predicted for year the EU was a train wreck looking for a place to happen. You just can't legislate national identity out of existence. A longish article but well worth reading the whole thing. Nobody comes out looking very good. |
| Posted by:Barbara Skolaut |
| #6 I thought Tony-boy had promised that the Brits would get a referendum. Or was that when it still looked like a lock? |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-05-26 17:07 |
| #5 Perhaps it's a good thing it's square-bashing season for a certain Greek, for the sake of his health. Personally, I'm preparing to Vive la France a bit, assuming things go favourably on Sunday, and loosen my boycott of French produce quite significantly. I appreciate the Non camp's motives are questionable, but the effect of a French 'No' vote will be superbe for us all. My only minor complaint is the fact that us Brits won't get a vote on the issue, but that would be a small price to pay and would avoid an agonising wait and long period of fairly bitter campaigning. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2005-05-26 15:57 |
| #4 And Aris does? |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-05-26 15:18 |
| #3 I'm hoping he'll chime at some point, rj. It's morning over there - maybe he's got a life (unlike some of us ;-p), |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-05-26 15:14 |
| #2 Where is TrueGermanAlly? |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2005-05-26 15:06 |
| #1 Pity Aris isn't around. I'd be interested in his take on this. I have no good feel for what the man in the street really thinks in France (or Italy, or Greece...), or how deep his complaints go. |
| Posted by: James 2005-05-26 14:00 |