A Welshman in Milano: Europe - all together now?

lunedì, giugno 21, 2004

Europe - all together now?

With the agreements reached in Brussels last Friday regarding the Constitution (Italiano o English), I felt I should just go over some of the issues and try to find some sense in the discussions and the Constitution itself. The moreextreme flag-waving British have always seen the rest of Europe as a bit of a serpant headed monster - fuelled by centuries of war and argument, perhaps a little reminiscent of the Japanese soldier rescued from the small island in the Pacific that still believed the war against the USA was happening - after 29-odd years.

It is interesting to see the situation from the perspective of distance - away from the British press and television - and also away from the influence of the French press and television. You might gather that my own belief is that Britain and France are equal in their tendancies toward xenophobia - but France has learned how to have it's own voice heard across Europe far better than the British have. There can be very little doubt that it is France that has campaigned for a Federal Europe - dragging a still guilt-ridden Germany with it - although with a far smaller voice than France has, despite having a population 50% larger. With the growth of the EU, admitting a further 10 Member States to the alliance of Countries that make up the EU, there has been a shift of power away from France and toward a more balanced position. The downside of this movement is, of course, the fact that the whole political movement of Europe will now be substantially slowed down from the vision of Europe that has become the cornerstone of French thinking.

The great tragedy now is that British thinking has been subverted and led into believing the mistruths of the politically inept glory-seekers of the likes of Kilroy-Silk because of the disasterous involvement of the UK in the US led war of attrition and aggression against the Middle East countries that either directly oppose the Israeli State or the US ownership and control of oil resourses. Of course, these are a relatively small number of people that, like political groups are demonstarting in Britain at the moment, are able to control and direct the beliefs of the general population of their countries by means of propoganda and calls for religious "duty".

Well, what of the EU in al this now? With all of the argument over Federalism, have we actually "lost the plot" of the EU? It is certainly true that there is surprisingly little interest taken in the EU in Britain these days - if there ever has been any taken since Heath managed to negotiate entry into the then EEC, despite the best efforts of the French government to prevent British entry. The situation in Britain isn't singular though. Several other Member States have similar views and feelings that they have stiffled publically declaring because of their own localised political issues. So, we are guilty of having abdicated our own responsibilities in Europe just for the sake of a quiet life. We have certainly been quiet though. It is rare that anyone feels any kind of comitment or involvement in the very many problems that the EU has generated for itself. Problems mainly surrounding accountling and accountability. Problems that should have been dealt with promptly - if even accepting they should have even been allowed to develop and grow in the first place. With our (and othe MS's) lack of interest in the whole process of the EU, the process has been allowed to develop in the best self-serving interests of those with the self-seeking ambition to milk it for all that it's worth - and it's worth an awful lot!

We have to ask ourselves whether this situation is one that we can continue to simply feel observers of - or should we take it on the chin and admit our own mistakes in order to prevent the mistakes continuing - which would surely lead to the ultimate failure of the grand "European Experiment".

So long as there are people with the raw, self-seeking ambition that Kilroy-Silk has demonstrated he has in abundance (ironic) over the years - or, in France, Le Pen - or any of the other Fascist politicians that are always going to exist in our faltering democracies, there will be a movement to destroy the foundations of a European alliance of countries. Who wants a Europe when they can have the ultimate power in their own backyard - without the responsibility for their actions that would be the case if their country were to remain in the Europe as in the original visions of Europe - not the Federalised vision of Germany and France. Perhaps a Federal Europe will be possibly - in the future - but there are just too many problems that need addressing before anything Federal can be included in the short-term discussions of the EU - despite there being individual politicians that would dearly love to see themselves as the first President of a Federal Europe, I've no doubt.