March 23, 2005
WEDDED TO THEIR OWN DECLINE:
Barroso seeks to calm fears of a Thatcherite laissez-faire Europe (Nicholas Watt, Jon Henley in Paris, David Gow in Brussels and Luke Harding in Berlin, March 23, 2005, The Guardian)
Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European commission, yesterday tried to allay Franco-German fears that he is attempting to impose a Thatcherite vision on Europe.Amid mounting opposition in "old Europe" to a series of liberalising initiatives from Brussels, Mr Barroso pledged to fight against what has been dubbed the "race to the bottom" - in which wages are driven down as a free-for-all economy is introduced. [...]
On one side stand the two main founding members of the EU, France and Germany, whose political forefathers would turn in their graves if the Treaty of Rome led to a Thatcherite laissez-faire Europe.
On the other side is Britain and the new EU member states in central and eastern Europe who want to reform what they regard as Europe's hidebound economy.
Alasdair Murray, of the Centre for European Reform, said: "The new member states are in favour. They do think they will do well out of it. They are excited by the idea that they can send people into the west European economy and it will play to their competitive advantage. Clearly the opposition is being led by the French, symbolically old. It is, very sensitive ahead of their referendum."
Opposition to the directive has been virulent from Mr Chirac, who has demanded that it be not just amended but rewritten. The Socialist party leader, François Hollande, has been equally vituperative, describing the text as "detestable" and "unthinkable".
Gallic opponents to the constitution at both ends of the political spectrum have seized the Bolkestein draft directive (so called for the arch-liberal former Dutch European commissioner who introduced it last year) as an example of the kind of market-driven EU that can be expected if the constitution is adopted.
Philippe de Villiers of the sovereignist Movement for France said the directive would mean "1 million more Frenchmen and women on the dole", while a leading Socialist campaigner against the constitution, Henri Emmanuelli, described it as "dripping in Bolkestein sauce".
Like France, Germany has become an implacable opponent of the commission's plans to liberalise the EU's services sector. For the past year, Germany's chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, had given his tacit support to the proposal, despite opposition from Germany's powerful trade unions.
This month, however, Mr Schröder gave his most categorical statement yet that Germany would do everything it could to block the new directive.
Yeah, why would they want to have an economy like America, Ireland or even England when they can have one like France or Germany? Posted by Orrin Judd at March 23, 2005 11:44 AM
Of course, France and Germany can't even abide by the EU economic guidelines they've purportedly agreed to uphold.
When the contradictions in the structure are too great, the edifice begins to crack. It's either adapt or die.
So of course France and Germany will have to adapt (or is that assuming too much?). But it will be most interesting to watch as Chirac and Schroeder continue accelerating towards the brick wall in their foolhardy (or is that courageous?) contest of economic chicken.
One wonders if the voters be able to bail out before the crash?
On the other hand, one may also wonder to what extent France and Germany feel that, since they represent two of Europe's larger economies, they can use the specter of economic failure to continue to blackmail Europe's smaller members into obedience.
To this end, it may be most useful having an external economic-political challenger (enemy?) such as the US to keep the focus on what's happening outside and the murmurers in line.
Posted by: Barry Meislin at March 23, 2005 12:07 PM