Merci, Mr Chirac!

national | miscellaneous | news report Saturday March 08, 2003 22:10 by bruno

BRUNO KAUFMANN - "Once again we can note that this part of the world needs a crisis to rouse it from its complacency."

EUOBSERVER / SALT&PEPPER - When a German magazine starts to call him the "Emperor of Europe" and when a united political opposition marches through the streets of Paris to back "the biggest liar in history" - as they called him before last year's presidential elections -, then something has changed indeed. But the 70-year-old statesman Jacques Chirac is using the world crisis on Iraq not only to consolidate his leadership at home and in relationship to Germany, but with his schoolmasterly reprimands of the EU candidate countries Mr Chirac has also delivered another rare benefit: a transnational public debate on the future of Europe.

In the footsteps of General de Gaulle
In the footsteps of General de Gaulle, Mr Chirac leaves nobody untouched. At home, former socialist Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn interpreted the recent anti-war-marches in "Le Monde" with the words: "A Nation is born (...) Let us give this Europe a President".

But outside the Franco-German axis of friendship many Europeans have understood Jacques Chirac's attitude of dominance and arrogance as an invitation - often for the first time - to reflect and deliberate about the future of a political body called the European Union. In the EU Constitutional Convention new alliances have emerged, like the axis of intergovernmental "Bush-ists" in the West (UK, Denmark and Spain) and 19 smaller countries interested in defending a strong position for the European Commission under the "New order for Europe" (Joschka Fischer in his Convention speech on February 28).

The rise and fall of "hardcore" leadership
Once again we can note that this part of the world needs a crisis to rouse it from its complacency. The last time this happened was back in the 1990s, when the European Commission was dismissed by the European Parliament after a series of corruption scandals.

In a similar way, the No-votes in the Danish and the Irish Treaty Referendums gave the impression of a learning process towards a more democratic and transparent Union. However, as soon as the public debate dies down, the will of the powerful to share power and reform the Union from below decreases as well. This time the situation is somewhat different. Firstly, the crisis is not limited to Europe; and secondly, the current constitutional debate ahead of the Eastern enlargement provides a (still weak) institutional framework for bringing Europe a couple of steps further.

Bulwark against a federal Europe
By pretending to be a President for Europe à la Washington and by offending other countries "in public", Jacques Chirac has not only smashed a lot of dusty crockery but also illustrated his "hardcore" leadership.

On the surface a lot of Europeans support Chirac's US-critical strategy, but only a few really share the French President's claim to shape the EU's internal structure by establishing a strong and common foreign policy for the Union. One of Chirac's warmest supporters is Sweden's Prime Minister Göran Persson: "He (Chirac) is a bulwark against a federal Europe", stated Persson recently in an interview with the daily Dagens Nyheter and confessed: "I like this man".

Next step: a Europe-wide constitutional referendum
For too many years, European politics has been made behind closed doors, far away from those directly concerned by these political decisions. This has led to a unique concentration of power in a political body.

Under the current Treaty structure, the governments of member states have a dual position of power: as executives in their own countries and as legislatives at the EU level. Both Parliaments and Peoples have been left outside. If it were to go the way Chirac and a junior partner like Persson would like it to go, this paternalistic and centralistic direction would be further strengthened. And no doubt there are many "leaders" out there who in the shadow of the brute force Bush-Blair-style would like to strengthen their own positions.

A European public sphere in the making
But fortunately, there is also a culture of criticism and reflection in this part of Europe - an attitude of political democracy which until very recently had been limited to the fringes of countries. And now, for the very first time, we are witnessing a European public sphere in the making - as an answer to the politics of dominance exercised in capitals like Washington, London, Paris and Stockholm.

In this perspective the EU Convention constitutes a unique opportunity of bringing both Europe and democracy further. The most important factor for the success of this political enterprise will not be the date when the first EU Constitution is delivered, but the way it is decided and ratified. Thus, the next step must be a Europe-wide constitutional referendum. By his behaviour the French President has brought this demand further. Merci, Mr Chirac!

Join the debate

BRUNO KAUFMANN - is a peace- and conflict researcher, radio journalist and president of the Initiative & Referendum Institute Europe in Amsterdam.

Website Initiative & Referendum Institute Europe

Written by Bruno Kaufmann