How green could make Europe a tech power

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Federalism

It's certainly interesting. My observation is that, in many EU countries, there are particular national factors which prevent people from questioning impositions from Brussels which, under normal circumstances, they would certainly question. The imposition of the Euro without any kind of vote is an example.

The Spanish like the EU because they see it as their path to modernisation and out of isolation and backwardness under Franco. The Italians (I suspect) like the EU because they regard their own government as deeply dysfunctional and therefore welcome regulation from the centre. Eastern Europeans want to escape from Russia and all that's associated with it, and to modernise. Until recently, France has wanted to avoid being invaded by Germany, and Germany has wanted to atone for its war guilt. Small countries like Belgium and Holland get more power and influence from belonging to a big club. The countries knocking on the door in the Balkans want a way out of war, chaos, poverty and ethnic rivalry. Many continental European countries have recent memories of invasion by their neighbours, and have gone through revolutions, dictatorships, and consitutional instability. Britain and, to some extent, the Scandinavian countries are exceptions, because little of this applies to them.

With the exception of the small countries, I see most of these "good European" countries becoming more sceptical towards Brussels over time, because this special "glue" that binds a centralised EU together is weakening. France is no longer so worried about Germany, Germany is freeing itself gradually from guilt over the war, and as countries on the periphery develop, they will see Brussels less as a path to normality, as more as an unaccountable authority that interferes in their affairs from time to time.

The constitutional treaty has caused considerable trouble in Britain, and may yet cause more. The battle over it is only the "end game" insofar as it may be the last significant federalising treaty that can be pushed through without a popular vote. The next time anything similar is tried, I suspect that the government will be unable to resist the pressure for a referendum. The mood is pretty grim.

Other countries are mistaken if they believe this is only a "British problem". It only takes a few European directives that supposedly threaten some key aspect of national identity - be it bullfighting in Spain, or Germany's beer purity laws, and the mood can shift rapidly.

If the EU is to hold together, it will need to proceed by slow consensus, and by doing less.

Posted by: LordLiverpool   Posted on: 03/25/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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