Posted on 05/10/2002 7:01:36 PM PDT by blam
Schröder calls on EU leaders to quell far right
Germany's chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, has warned the leaders of Europe that they must pay urgent attention to the issue of law and order if they are to stem the rise of the far right
John Hooper and Edward Pilkington in Berlin
Saturday May 11, 2002
The Guardian
Speaking at the end of a tumultuous week in the continent's affairs that saw the anti-immigration Dutch politician, Pim Fortuyn, assassinated and nearly six million French people vote for an overtly xenophobic Jean-Marie Le Pen, the chancellor said: "In France, and possibly also in the Netherlands, the right has been getting stronger because, among the public, a feeling prevails that the question of internal security - the protection of people - has not been adequately addressed". His comments came ahead of a meeting tomorrow with Tony Blair at which, he said, the advance of the extreme right would top the agenda.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Mr Schröder also put forward the controversial argument that the European commission was partly to blame for the advance of the far right because of an inability to explain its policies and an insistence on "one-size-fits-all" free-market solutions for the European Union's member states.
"Decisions from Brussels that have repercussions for the economy and therefore for the sensitivities of people in the nation states should be communicated better, and this communication should be prepared before the decisions," he said. "Otherwise they cause anxiety and give impetus to groups we must regard as anti-European, on the extreme right".
Putting the case for Europe to rally round different, less technocratic and more egalitarian values, he said: "It has to be clearer than in the past that Europe is not just a market, a place of economic interaction, but also a place for social interaction. Europe is very much more than a market place. It's always been a social model - a model at whose heart lies the idea that all citizens, or as many as possible, can share in the wealth that is created and also share in the decision-making. I think that this is the only way to anchor more deeply the European idea in people's hearts and minds".
That sideswipe at the neo-liberal ideas embraced so enthusiastically by Tony Blair will not be appreciated in London. But Mr Schröder stressed that he nevertheless saw eye to eye with the prime minister on the need for a tough stance on law and order issues. "Blair and his government have said, quite rightly, that security is a civil right," he said. "That is the same position as we take here".
When they sit down together in Berlin tomorrow, the Social Democrat chancellor and the Labour prime minister will be united in feeling more isolated than ever before in a Europe that has shifted notably to the right.
The chancellor warned democratic conservatives against the temptation to play the race card and called on them to join him in forming a united front against racism and intolerance. The chancellor said: "I think that if the democratic forces in European societies agreed that something should be done to counter this danger, they would be doing something for sensible integration and would also be doing something for their own power and strength".
As an American and a Texan, most of the world sees someone like myself as both "ignorant" and an "ass".
If I cared what they or you thought, I would consider it a compliment, but I really don't care, so I guess the point is moot.
See? It's those nasty "free market" solutions that are to blame.
In other words, the lies have become transparent.
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