Sunday, June 30, 2013
Some people say that EU politics is
technical, boring and unsexy – a bit Olli
Rehn if you like. They are all wrong. This week’s confrontation between
President Barroso and an assortment of French politicians is an indication of
just how wrong they are. Did I mention that “the Governator” himself, Arnie
Schwarzenegger, came to town?
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| Who needs French cinema when you've got Arnie? |
José has never been popular with any
of the French governments he has dealt with as Commission President. An
anglophile, classical liberal, who loves banging on about global
competitiveness, is never going to warm Gallic hearts. In a recent interview with the International Herald & Tribune, catchily
entitled “European Official Takes on the French”,
he let the world know that the feeling was mutual, labelling the French
government as “reactionary”. This was concerning the recent spat between the
Commission and France over the maintenance of l’exception culturelle in the TTIP negotiation mandate,
which will forbid any discussion of the protectionist laws that guard French
cinema and music from trade liberalisation.
By Sunday, Arnaud Montebourg, France’s
industry minister, had let lose a sizzling riposte, accusing José of being “the
fuel of the French National Front”. My favourite put-down came from former conservative PM, Alain Juppé, who said
that José had “a vision of the world that dates from around 1958”. Ouch. Nicole
Bricq, France’s embattled trade minister, went even further by declaring that José
was useless and had “done nothing during his mandate.” Sorry Nicole, you might disagree with
what he has done, but to accuse him of having done nothing isn't the most informed
of observations. Where was President Hollande? Anywhere but asserting his ‘authority’
apparently.
José’s joint press conference with
former Hollywood star and disgraced Republican politician, Arnie Schwarzenegger (he came
to talk about climate change), was a very apt backdrop from which to be asked
how he felt about all the hurtful things that had been said about him. He
claimed they weren't "worthy of comment”. He never wanted their Christmas cards
anyway.
This very public spat is not just a
piece of domestic showboating, it says a lot about the level of French
frustration with the EU and the way in which leadership of the project has
slipped out of its grasp. Until very recently, the clichéd Franco-German tandem
as the “motor of the Europe” was a cornerstone of journalistic reporting. When
was the last time you heard that line in the news? The French government is largely powerless
to shift the policy priorities coming out of Brussels away from fiscal conservatism
and trade liberalism, to meet its own agenda. Barroso is the very personification of
this trend.
This is not what France signed up
for when it embraced la construction européenne. The EU was always meant to
be a way of maximising French influence on the direction of Europe and the world; the interests of France
and Europe becoming intertwined and projected globally. De
Gaulle might be turning in his grave.
The views expressed in this post are strictly my own; but you can borrow
them.
