The EU's War of Words
American Future
By Marc Schulman on European Union
In the aftermath of the failed EU summit meeting in Brussels, European leaders are so busy tossing verbal bombshells at each other that they probably don't have the time or energy to engage in anti-American polemics.
In a speech in Berlin, German Chancellor Schröder attacked Britain's social model and its vision of Europe:
There is a special European social model to protect that has developed on the Continent. Those who want to destroy this model due to national egoism of populist motives do a terrible disservice to the desires and rights of the next generation.
At the National Assembly, French Prime Minister Villepin castigated the British government for demanding a generous rebate (negotiated by Prime Minister Thatcher in 1984) every year from the EU:
This British check - and I say this with all the friendship I carry for the British people - is truly an expense from the Old Regime. [It's] a legacy of the past, an obsolete legacy, no longer with any purpose.
By contrast, Villepin defended the billions of dollars in subsidies French farmers receive from the European Union as "a major asset for Europe and for France," and denounced what he called Britain's "groundless accusations" on the subject.
About 40 percent of the annual 105 billion-euro ($127 billion) EU budget goes for farmers under policies dating back to the EU's founding in the 1950s. France garners a quarter of the farm aid, twice its share of the EU's population.
British Prime Minister Blair has branded the farm subsidies an anachronism that sucks much-needed EU financing from R&D and the promotion of small businesses. On Tuesday, Blair said he was ready to recognize that Britain's rebate is "an anomaly that has to go," but only if "the other anomaly" was changed - that is, the expenditure of 40 percent of the EU budget on farm subsidies.
In an article in Germany's tabloid newspaper Die Bild, Blair rejected claims that he wants to reduce the EU to little more than a giant marketplace:
Of course the EU is much more than a free trade area. Britain supports a social Europe, but it must be a social Europe which is adapted to today's world.
Continuing, Blair said that the UK shared "European values" such as security for individuals and environmental protection, but added that
We have to understand why some European economies are creating jobs and others are not. Without jobs and growth, all of these ambitions will be undermined and we will not be able to sustain our European model of society. We need to modernise sooner rather than later. The rest of the world will not wait for us. We certainly cannot wait until 2014, as some suggest.
European Commission President Jose Barroso opposed scaling back farm aid before reaching an agreement on the EU's budget. He said that any review should be put off until 2008 or later, Blair's call to unstitch a 2002 agreement to hold farm subsidies steady.
Dutch foreign minister Bernard Bot was sharply critical of Chirac's performance at the summit meeting:
He talked about fat, bloated countries that are not ready to do something for poor countries and looked at us. That is obviously not the way to get others to make concessions.
The Netherlands is the highest per capita contributor to the EU budget and pays three times more per capita than France does. No wonder Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende had this to say to Chirac:
I told the French president that I could not explain to Dutch citizens why they should pay more than the French. This is about having a fair system, and this system is not fair.
It's going to be a long time -- if ever -- before Humpty-Dumpty (aka the EU) is put together again. The EU as a counterweight to the US? Forget about it. In the current environment it's perhaps a good thing that the Europeans spend so little on the weapons of war. |
