Most Europeans might be socialist and left of center but they are smart enough to realize the disasterous consequences of glaobalism and multi-culturalism (illegal immigration) and the devestating effects on their individual countries (read Netherlands).
The EU was a civil war waiting to happen.
Remember: it is better to not get married in an ugly fashion than to divorce well.
It would be interesting to see a referendum in the USA regarding NAFTA and GATT. I'd bet the farm that they both would fail.
I've always liked this guy, his stuff is pretty good.
I'm afraid the London Times puts the NY Times to shame. They may have plenty of liberals, but everyone knows how to present a reasoned argument.
Just last year it was in the news that the french had a dirty little secret: they were admitting that working hard was not bad, and they were ridding themselves of the 35 hour work week, and opting for 40 hour weeks.
If I were Chirac, I'd watch my back.
Writing about Europe's future is like writing about the future of the Western Hemisphere.
Let us focus on France.
There are many good signs in France.
Here is one: since the introduction of the Euro, and with more flexible lending available from the expansion of banks and competition from across Europe, real estate values have surged dramatically. That means that the private wealth of individuals in France, where 62% of people own their own residences, has grown quite significantly.
Now, France does not yet have the suppleness of mind that allows the French to comfortably take out second mortgages on their homes and use this money to start businesses (or to speculate in more real estate). This is an American phenomenon. The French objective is, and is likely to remain, the ownership of one's own home unencumbered by debt. French people dislike debt rather intensely, when compared to Anglo-Saxons, and for this reason there is less leverage in the overall economy.
Nevertheless, Euroization has had a dramatically good effect on the personal wealth of French people, by expanding the value of their homes.
Therefore, the Euro will not be going away.
The "Non" on the referendum prevents an undemocratic European bureacracy from gaining more power, but it does not destroy the Euro.
The Euro will remain. France will keep that which the French consider to have been useful: the Euro, but reject that which has not been favored: closer political integration under bureaucratic control.
There are other good signs in France. The center-right government has been unpopular, but it has reformed labor law, allowing for flexible hours within the contours of the 35 hour limit. Overtime is also allowed more flexibly. The 35 hour rule stands as a symbol for the socialists, but the government has enacted a regime of derogations expansive enough to provide business and workers the sort of flexibility they both have said they desire.
The government has also increased the co-pay regime on health care, bringing the national insurance system into better alignment with fiscal reality.
These things are all good, because they change things at a structural level.
French population growth continues to be robust, and growing populations both make the social charges of the future easier to bear, as well as allow the economy to expand.
A paradox of the political paralysis that will descend on France now is that the subsidiary sources of national movement: businesses and families and private associations, will have greater room for maneuver. This will further the progress towards a supple economy, even as everyone complains and worries that things are falling apart because the government is weakened at the center.
Taken altogether the French future, seen through the haze of confusion and political turmoil looks cautiously optimistic.
"President Chirac's perverse relationship with public opinion."
That is the funniest thing I've read yet about this toad.
It seems that it took this vote in France and the Netherlands to get insightful reporting from the news media. Better late than never.
From now on, Europe will be judged not by rhetoric, but by results. For this, we all owe a debt of gratitude to the voters of France and the Netherlands.
Indeed we do.
btt 4 l8r