March 6, 2004
THE ANTI-FEDERALISTS WERE RIGHT:
EU's false trilateral dreams (DAVID HOWELL, March 7, 2004, The Japan Times)
Today it is still held in leadership circles in certain European capitals, as well as by some commentators outside Europe, in America or Japan, that the Europeans only need to get together as a single entity, on the lines of the United States, and all will be well. [...]In practice, a new and different model is now coming within reach, making the EU a much more open and comfortable kind of arrangement that will give the newer and smaller countries plenty of elbowroom and breathing space, and yet combine them gently in a commonwealth of interests and endeavor.
To make this work, a new and simplified treaty envelope is probably required, allowing for a looser and less centralized union in which the smaller states have a full say.
The question is who will have the confidence and vision to set Europe on this different path from the past. The obvious candidate ought to be the British. But if Britain lacks the nerve and courage to give that lead, then others will have to step forward. Spain and Poland have already shown that they are ready to break ranks with the traditional European elite and with Franco-German supremacy, when they blocked the proposed constitution at the end of last year.
Perhaps it is now their turn to take the helm of reform. They will find many willing voices throughout Europe to support them.
How is it that Spain and Poland are always so much wiser than the rest of Europe? Posted by Orrin Judd at March 6, 2004 8:16 PM
Because they aren't consumed with ambition or dreams of lost glory.
Posted by: ratbert at March 6, 2004 8:25 PMTheir electrical outlets are all different voltages...how the heck can they unify?
Posted by: Bartman at March 6, 2004 8:55 PMIf indeed they are, it's a very recent development, at best two decades old.
If the newest and smallest EU nations feel that they're being shut out of the biggest decisions, the question is, why are they surprised by it ?
There's a very good reason, in the US, that California has more political clout than Rhode Island.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at March 6, 2004 8:56 PMPoland fought the Soviets in the teens and brought them down in the 80s. Spain fought them in the 30s and managed almost uniqurly to avoid falling under either Stalin or Hitler. Both are by our side now against Islamicism. Who else on the continent did so well for so long?
Poland brought down the USSR.
That's a new one, to me anyhow.
It seems far more likely that Poland's success in throwing off the Soviet yoke was a symptom of the USSR's decline, and not the cause of it.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at March 7, 2004 1:53 AM"Yes, yes, of course, we all know you cannot poke a stick through the walls of a concrete tower, but here's something to think about: what if the walls are only a painted backdrop?
-Solzenhitsyn"
The Poles showed everyone the wall was paper.
Posted by: oj at March 7, 2004 8:05 AM