Au Contraire, Mon Petite Poulet
Senior politicians and Eurocrats yesterday abandoned their previous chorus of upbeat, inspiring calls to build a new Europe on a foundation of French values*.
Seems the chirpy promises of living This Perfect Day haven’t persuaded enough French voters to mark in the ‘yea’ column, so they’re switching to doom and gloom pronouncements. Pestilence, penury and political pugilism are on tap if the French d*ck this one up and everyone’s gonna point the finger at them.
Appealing to French pride and sense of rivalry with the United States, he raised the spectre of international scorn for the EU. “People would say, ‘There you go, the Europeans are not able to agree on a constitutional treaty,’ ” he said.
Oh yeah. ‘There you go‘, ‘take that‘ and the always terrifying ‘everyone’s talking’. I wonder if folks in the other member nations were aware the EU was meant to make them all…French? Maybe they wouldn’t have been so quick to vote okey-doke, n’est pas?
*Emphasis on parTICulairly scary phrase (French values ???) all mine.
Swill Salute: Samizdata.
World Stuff | tree hugging sister | 
May 20, 2005 12:33 am
Subscribe
“I wonder if folks in the other member nations were aware the EU was meant to make them all…French?”
The European “project” was meant to be France writ large from the very beginning, going all the way back to Schumann and Monnet and the Treaty of Rome establishing the European Coal & Steel Community in the 50’s. Expansion has finally made that no longer possible, which the French have suddenly become far more Eurosceptic. I expect France to vote the constitution down, at which point all hell breaks loose, and the EU probably never recovers (which, in my mind, is a good thing).
“…he raised the spectre of international scorn for the EU.?”
What does he mean, “spectre”? It already exists! Me, I’m just waiting for the French to throw their temper tantrum, vote against the EU Constitution, and then watch the ensuing meltdown.
“foundation of French values”?
I’m at a loss to figure out exactly what those are. Are they planning to turn the entire continent into corrupt, arrogant, two-faced, stinky whores?
However, I did giggle at “sense of rivalry with the United States”.
I believe the current French disenchantment with the EU began with the realization that the new eastern European countries in NATO, etc. were diluting traditional French leadership in things Euro. They don’t ‘get to be the boss of me‘ as originally planned, so no point in playing anymore.
“foundation of French values” reeks of a stolen conservative mantra from here (“Christian values”) and the ‘rivalry’ reflects the inferiority complex from hell, for all their snooty Gallic schtick. If I were the French public I’d be concerned that there doesn’t appear to be one original thinker in the bunch.
THS, if you were the French public, the last thing that you’d concerned about is original thinking.
Instead, you’d be swilling wine*, smoking cigarettes, bathing once a week (whether you need it or not), and loudly complaining that you need more holidays to rest up from the strikes.
*: Agreed, there’s nothing wrong with swilling wine, so long as it isn’t French.
“I believe the current French disenchantment with the EU began with the realization that the new eastern European countries in NATO, etc. were diluting traditional French leadership in things Euro.”
Jacques ChIraq telling the new EU members in eastern Europe that they had a good opportunity to shut up didn’t help things, either. He and Schroeder have been courting Kwasnieski recently, but Poland is now regarded in Brussels as nearly as much of an annoyance as the UK: they refuse to just simply go along with everything. The dynamic has changed, and the new members help to solidify and reinforce Eurosceptic attitudes that existed before in some of the old members but never had a chance of actually winning before.
they refuse to just simply go along with everything
Amazing how living under communist dictatorships, breaking free and setting up fledgling democratic societies will mitigate blind allegiance to supercilious ‘betters’. Very much the ‘old money, new money’ paradigm ~ you’ve got the self made men of Eastern Europe being told how it’s always been done by the fusty Grande Dames of the Continent, from their tottering, motheaten mansions. (That’s also why they hate America, but our ‘BITE me‘ has had some time to mature.)