Regards, Ivan
Posted on 09/25/2004 4:38:35 PM PDT by MadIvan
A proud nation is coming to terms with the new reality, Matthew Campbell reports from Paris
When President Jacques Chirac rolls out the red carpet at the Elysée Palace, it is only for visiting heads of state. Last week, however, he made a conspicuous exception. Jose Manuel Barroso, a former Portuguese prime minister who will become president of the European commission — but not until November — got the royal treatment when he came to see Chirac on Wednesday.
Chirac, along with the palace guards in their full regalia, were there to meet him at the front door. The last time Chirac did that was for the Queen and George W Bush.
* It might seem trivial, but the French take protocol as seriously as football and food, and the greeting of Barroso represented a dramatic change in the behaviour of a monarchical French leader who until recently displayed every sign of believing that he — not the commission president — was in charge of the European Union.
In short, Chirac has realised he must stop antagonising people by behaving as if he were the western world’s senior statesman; and that, in turn, shows how far down the EU pecking order France and its ageing leader have fallen since the enlargement of the European family earlier this year.
Throughout the history of European integration, from the common agricultural policy to the introduction of the single currency, the major policy initiatives of the EU have always been French. French presidents strutted the corridors of Brussels and installed their choice as candidate for any of the EU’s top jobs with the click of a finger.
Not any more. Pascal Lamy, outgoing French EU trade commissioner, recently summed it up thus: “Things are changing,” he said. “The French have to realise that Europe will be something different from a big France.”
A new balance of power since the “big bang” EU expansion to 25 members has left the French fretting on the sidelines, a predicament all the more frustrating considering that their rivals les rosbifs are now mustering more diplomatic firepower in Europe.
Part of the problem for France is a linguistic one to do with the retreat of French and the spread of English in Asia and the former eastern bloc. Documents at the EU are now circulated in English rather than French. Even the Olympics used English and Greek exclusively this summer, prompting a Parisian protest.
In June, Britain ganged up with new and old “Anglophone” members to win substantial changes to the EU’s draft constitution. Originally this was a French project drawn up by Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, one of Chirac’s predecessors. He had urged its approval without amendments, as had Chirac, arguing that a “watered down” constitution was worthless.
Instead, Chirac now faces the prospect of seeing his countrymen voting in a referendum against a document that many on the French left view as a sellout to the British vision of the EU, defining it as nothing more than a free trade zone.
Then Britain and its allies managed to shoot down France’s candidate for the post of president of the commission and orchestrate the appointment of Barroso. To add insult to injury, when Barroso nominated 25 commissioners, one for each member state, France was awarded the low status transport portfolio, prompting howls of outrage in the French press.
Since then, British bureaucrats have also netted powerful cabinet jobs in the foreign relations, budget and trade directorates of the commission, gazumping the French in what they had always regarded as a branch of their own civil service.
Last week, Britain and the new EU members also pushed the commission to relax Europe’s 48-hour working week rule, so eastern European countries can work as hard as they like to catch up with their richer neighbours. France, which observes a 35-hour week, had opposed the change, fearing it would tempt investors to move to the east.
Chirac is having to play by new rules and Barroso did not make it any easier for him: on a tour of EU capitals to meet each leader before he assumes office, Barroso visited even tiddler countries such as Luxembourg and Hungary before deigning to drop in on Paris.
So what is the reason for France’s European demotion? Chirac is paying a high price for his anti-Bush stance at the United Nations over the Iraq war and for the high-handed way in which he told the new members that they should have “shut up” rather than side with America.
Anti-French sentiment intensified among the new member states when Chirac brazenly argued that EU financial penalties for countries whose budget deficits exceeded 3% (as laid down by a growth and stability pact) ought not apply to France when they had all struggled hard to meet them.
“No one should be surprised,” says Pierre Moscovici, a former European affairs minister for France and the vice-president of the European parliament, “that so contemptuous a French attitude . . . provoked a reaction detrimental to France.”
* Michel Barnier, the French foreign minister, seems to embody a more pragmatic approach geared to prospering in the newly arranged Europe and recently urged a gathering of French diplomats to accept “a cultural change” at the foreign ministry.“France is not great when it is arrogant,” he told them. “It is not strong if it is alone.”
Yet if France is feeling a loss of standing on the world stage it may reflect an even deeper malaise that has been gnawing for some months at the Gallic soul, judging by the welter of doom-laden books appearing with titles such as France in Decline and French Arrogance.
For Chirac, the sense of national decline has been accompanied by the weakening in his own authority and it is not only in Brussels that officials roll their eyes when the French leader takes to the floor.
He used to be known as le Bulldozer for the way in which he trampled all opposition, but in cabinet meetings these days ministers show no fear of a flattening.
The rebellion was illustrated last week when Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the normally obedient prime minister, broke ranks with the president by announcing that he was opposed to Turkey’s membership of the EU.
This was nothing, however, to the insurrection being waged openly by Nicolas Sarkozy, the 49-year-old interior minister and dynamic young star of the government who is expected to be elected head of the ruling party in November.
A popular politician who is more in the American mould than most French politicos, Sarkozy has come to represent a vigorous, younger generation that is clamouring for the modernisation of France.
Yet because of a long and intense personal dispute with Sarkozy, Chirac is determined to prevent le petit Nicolas, as he calls him, from succeeding him in the Elysée, even if it means running for re-election himself.
Alternatively, he may attempt to promote the arrogant Dominique de Villepin as a successor even though he enjoys little support in the party.
Whatever the case, Chirac seems chastened. When Barroso finally agreed to meet him, “Chirac received him very, very warmly”, said a government official. “It shows that he is not harbouring any hard feelings.” Or, that at last he is realising that he cannot indulge them.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
The points enumerated are well taken. The points omitted are even more glaring. France eats "humble pie" for added reasons: a. Their hand was caught in the cookies jar of Oil for Food; b. They were unable to exhibit any leadership at the UN to muster backing to deal with the Syrians use of nonexistant WMD (gas) on the Sudanese.
More reasons can be thought of, however, many in the EU and Olde Europe go along with the French view on those items.
The misspellings in the quoted sections are those of the British, who do not know how to speak English nor spell in it eirter. :D
Has a nice ring to it.....!
Chirac is so Old Europe.
About damned time!!!
here's a real pie in the face to them... I bought some Spaghetti-O's for the kids today, and the Campbell's company has jettisoned the name "Franco American." They're called "Campbell's Spaghetti-O's." Who's next, Chef Boyardee?
It was much worse and seriously more gauche than that! If I remember correctly, he told the eastern European members to remember their manners and their "place" and speak only when spoken to (by France, presumably).
United West Ping!
With my honoured fellow countrymen Barroso in charge of the EU comission (remember the Azores summit that lead to the iraq war where Barroso stood side by side with bush Blair and Aznar?)...and the prospects of proamerican petit Nicolas to take on chirac the next elections... expect an united west on this war on terror! Iran and NKorea FEAR US coz we're coming for you! :D
oops where I wrote "bush" I mean MR. BUSH ... or W for the friends ;)
What an absolutely delicious article, makes my day.
Payback's a b*tch.
Chirac's head on a stick! LOL.
Thanks Ivan
FReegards
Baredog
Koko Get this PING
Good, then maybe they can defend themselves.
5.56mm
Why not, they already eat horses and garden pests.
I think the frogs need their ass kicked by the Germans a couple more times. Couldn't hurt, anyway, and might adjust their snotty attitude for good.
He's deeply saddened.
He wants that constitution ratified DESPERATLY.
He certainly pissed off the Greeks when Greece held the presidency in the lead up to GulfII.
This is about as real as john kerry's latest flip flop.
Speaking of which, we desperately need them powerful French on our side, they'll send 2 or 3 divisions to Iraq just because Kerry asks them to.
Or not.
I think that most people do not realize how much France helped us in the Iraq War...who wants French troops fighting along side?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.