| Brussels officials reminded of democracy A few months ago, French President Jacques Chirac said that a country that rejects the constitution of the European Union is, in fact, leaving it. Shortly before the French referendum, former European Commission President Romano Prodi said a negative result would “end the future of Europe.”
These gloomy prophecies did not frighten voters: with a convincing majority of almost 10% (54.87 versus 45.13), the French refused to approve the proposed text of the fundamental law of the European Union. And if before the vote the elite deliberately exaggerated, now the leitmotif of the statements is exactly the opposite - nothing terrible happened.
This is true. The EU continues to exist in accordance with the Treaty adopted in Nice in 2000, as well as existing legislation, running into thousands of pages, which is the true basis of European integration. It was not the idea of unification as such that was defeated, but its version, adopted in recent years by the administration of the European Union and running counter to the covenants of the founding fathers 55 years ago.
For decades, the stability and progressive development of the European process, which has no analogues in history, was ensured by the fact that every step was carefully prepared, and the population knew how it would benefit them. As the EU apparatus grew, the decision-making mechanism moved away from citizens, and the logic of the powers that be became less and less accessible to them.
Within the Western European community, the growing contradictions were successfully (albeit with increasing difficulties) resolved. However, the admission into the European Union of ten new states at once, most of which have no experience of modern European politics, introduced an imbalance into the system.
The most important thing is that the “old” Europeans no longer understand why all this is being done. Substantive argumentation was increasingly replaced by demagogic slogans about the need to overcome the division of Europe and bureaucratic inertia, which developed according to its own laws.
By the way, if in the French case one can refer to the ambitions inherent in this nation and the internal political situation, then the upcoming referendum on the EU Constitution in the Netherlands on Wednesday is a pure experiment. The Netherlands is the EU's largest donor per capita, and Queen Beatrix's subjects are unwilling to continue paying for experiments to simultaneously deepen integration and expansion.
The decision to begin negotiations on Turkey's accession and the surge in talk about the need to open the doors to revolutionary Ukraine became an additional factor that played into the hands of Eurosceptics: the impression was created that the expansion of the European home could simply become uncontrollable.
It is wrong to talk about the collapse of the European project after the results of the referendum in France. The Old World now faces the prospect of returning to its original democratic principles, eliminating what Czech President Vaclav Klaus called yesterday the serious "differences between European politics and the views of normal Europeans." Having made the right choice, the architects of integration will once again demonstrate that the European idea is capable of overcoming serious difficulties.
True, the first statements by the Chairman of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, and the current EU Chairman, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, indicate their intention to continue the same course: ratification will continue, and there can be no changes to the text of the constitution. The approach is purely bureaucratic: we have spent so much effort and time that you, the people, simply do not have the right to throw our work into the trash!
Apparently, Brussels hopes to repeat the experience of plebiscites in Denmark and Ireland, which were held twice due to the “unsatisfactory” result of the first. However, the countries that are the founders of the EU, which are both France and the Netherlands, will clearly not allow themselves to be treated this way.
Those who will definitely have to be patient are the countries that are knocking on the door of the European Union: the Balkan states, Turkey, Ukraine. It is unlikely that anyone will dare to raise the issue of a new expansion in the foreseeable future. Bulgaria and Romania, whose accession is already scheduled for 2007, may jump on the truly departing train.
For Russia, the outcome of the referendums could mean the following: by delving into internal problems, Brussels will push into the background the implementation of the just signed “road maps” for the four common spaces. There is no catastrophe in this, since Moscow itself is not ready to hastily implement much of what is laid out in these maps, especially in the economic field. It is possible that the turmoil in the European Union will somewhat expand Russia's opportunities for foreign policy maneuvering. However, you should not rely too much on this - until now, in dealing with Moscow, the European Commission has acted quite harmoniously, regardless of internal turbulences. Fyodor LUKYANOV, editor-in-chief of the magazine "Russia in Global Affairs", - specially for Vremya Novostei |
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