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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (26638)	4/23/2002 9:52:17 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 281500

growing irrelevance of Europe 2. Le Pinned: (Reason) Europeans are aghast that nativist conservative Jean-Marie Le Pen bumped Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin from France's presidential elections by pulling 17 percent of the vote on Sunday. Le Pen fill face the incumbent, the center-right Jacques Chirac, next month while Jospin watches from the sidelines. The outcome is being treated as a shock despite steady poll data showing that Le Pen's pro-security message, which touched a nerve in a country worried about terrorist cells in its midst, was popular with voters. But pundits simply sniffed that such an "anti-Europe" outcome was impossible. In fact, the vote is exactly what one should expect from an electorate told for a decade that grand European Union plans would fix France's economic problems while preserving its Frenchness. Instead, during that time, France's GDP per capita has slid to 12th in Europe from fifth. The E.U. was supposed to be the vehicle for France's return to greatness. It would render NATO moot, subdue Britain, get Germany off the pesky mark, and challenge the U.S. and Japan in terms of economic oomph. Instead, as the E.U. expanded, poorer members found ways to undersell France's bloated and subsidized farms and factories. Tiny steps have been made to arrest the tax-eating welfare state, but the current mix is still unsustainable without real economic growth. Chirac, assuming he dusts Le Pen, has promised to make deep cuts in the taxes that strangle French businesses. The ability to make and keep more of their money might even get the French to ignore Hollywood and McDonald's for awhile reason.com