April 7, 2005
MEANS TEST:
2 visions of Europe clash in its budget (Graham Bowley, April 7, 2005, International Herald Tribune)
What sort of union will the European Union be?The European Commission, the keeper of the Continent's unifying flame, made its pitch here on Wednesday for a well-funded union, one that has enough money to dole out development aid to its poorer backwaters, to fight crime and illegal immigration, stimulate a high-tech future and run its federal institutions well.
In this vision, Europe is without borders, run more and more from Brussels - one, according to José Manuel Barroso, the commission president, that has "the means to match its ambitions."
The referendums on Europe's new constitutional treaty that are planned to roll across countries over the next year or so are a big test at the polling booth of Europeans' stomach for further integration, analysts say. According to opinion polls, a rejection is looking more likely at least in Britain next spring, and perhaps in France on May 29, thus dooming the EU to a lengthy period of introspection and argument.
But the Union will also be tested by national responses to the commission's opening gambit on the EU's budget, equivalent to 1.14 percent of EU gross national income. Already at least six countries want to limit it to 1 percent.
If the question is how much will the French give others the whole thing's overwith, no? Posted by Orrin Judd at April 7, 2005 12:00 AM
I'd like to put in a plug here for EU Referendum, an outstanding blog on the funnyhouse that is EU politics, written from a British perspective.
I thought I was pretty knowledgeable about the EU but I've learned a great deal just from perusing some of their archived posts. Also, their mordant cynicism appeals to my sense of humo(u)r.
Posted by: Eugene S. at April 7, 2005 10:42 AM"best solved by working together - on the environment, transport, crime, immigration, even defense ..."
Even defense? Wow, the only time the subject was mentioned in the article.
"France is unhappy that, with the accession of 10 new countries last May and the possible accession of Turkey in a decade, the EU is becoming less of a tight unit that can be used to project French influence and power.
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It is also disillusioned by the apparent turn Europe is taking toward liberal economics, which it fears could undermine its welfare state."
Liberal economics? I love it! I guess we're really liberals in the French sense.
Posted by: Genecis at April 7, 2005 11:05 AM