Europe is Doomed! Special 'Nobodies' Edition | 211 comments (211 topical, editorial, 1 hidden)

The big difference (4.00 / 3)

between France and Germany on one side and the UK on the other (beyond the euro, Schengen, the opt-outs, the rebate, the permanent anti-Brussels propaganda from both media and politicians) is not that France and Germany are any less selfish or self-interested, it is that they have usually forced themselves to find an agreement that is EU-compatible in the end.

I'll readily admit that Chirac and Schröder have strained that, and Sarkozy made it worse, but both governments stil ltend to work on that basis. Note for instance how Sarkozy's attempt to do the Mediterranean Union thing ended up being folded into a EU process.

For France and Germany, the EU is a fundamental political process; for the UK it's still seen politically as a zero-sum optional game, and a largely trade-centered effort otherwise.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Fri Nov 20th, 2009 at 06:21:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The big difference (4.00 / 5)

Jerome a Paris:

Note for instance how Sarkozy's attempt to do the Mediterranean Union thing ended up being folded into a EU process.

You mean that Sarkozy's attempt to reinvent and hijack the EuroMed raised concerns in Germany and wound up involving all the EU countries with no connection to the Mediterranean thus diluting it.

Germany's participarion in the Mediterranean Union was explicitly to prevent it from doing anything interesting.

I don't recall any mediterranean countries feeling so threatened by the Baltic Cooperation or the Black Sea Synergy to insist on having a seat at the table.

A friggin' disservice to the Mediterranean, Sarkozy and Merkel did.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Nov 20th, 2009 at 06:35:26 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Europe is Doomed! Special 'Nobodies' Edition | 211 comments (211 topical, 0 editorial, 1 hidden)

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