Farce or Europe

What purpose does Europe’s political union serve? For years, in all the polls, the French and the other citizens of Europe have been saying en masse that we need to join our voices and combine our forces so that together we can defend our land and our common values in a dangerous world. Anyone still in doubt had only to ponder the scale of the shocking tragedy of 11 September and the terrorist threats of the beginning of this century. This is why the European leaders met on 14 September to work out a joint response to this unprecedented challenge.

Alas! On the morning of 15 September, everyone was back home, back to their normal routine and their national media, so eager to hear the local leader’s views on these world-shattering events. Britain’s Blair, Germany’s Schröder, Italy’s Berlusconi, Spain’s Aznar, the Belgian Prime Minister and, of course, the Chirac-Jospin double act, criss-crossed the world, lavished advice, rubbed shoulders in Washington, pushed each other out of the way to get to the Pakistani Prime Minister, the former king Zaher Shah and Yasser Arafat, caused uproar at the UN, were delighted to let slip the promise of national military participation, as courageous as it was secret … No more than gestures. Everyone for himself. The height of absurdity was reached on the November evening when Tony Blair organised a three-way dinner with his French and German counterparts to talk about Afghanistan, and their Italian, Spanish, Belgian and Dutch colleagues literally had to gatecrash.

Worse is to come, however. If only this revealing experience could provide a lesson in how better to prepare for the future. Unfortunately, ‘everyone for himself’ continues to be the rule for the arms policy on which our ability to cope with future conflicts rests. France hopes to dazzle the world with its brand new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Everyone knows that a single aircraft carrier is of limited use because of its long periods of maintenance, but a second is to be ordered. For ten years’ time. The Italians and Spanish have only one each, but they are afloat. The British make do with more modest aircraft carriers but, envious of our Charles-de-Gaulle, they are about to order two even larger aircraft carriers. For fifteen years’ time.

For what types of crisis, against what threats, in which theatres of operation, with what political aim does each of our countries maintain these immense, costly and extremely vulnerable leviathans? Shush! Official secret? No, secret prestige. At the same time, Italy and Germany are questioning whether they should continue to take part in the major joint arms programme, the Airbus 400M transport plane. You cannot have both the star performer of the last war and the up-and-coming arms of the next.

Powerless, yesterday, in Yugoslavia, ignored in the Near East, nowhere to be found in Africa, no more than a ghostly presence in Afghanistan, the former major European powers now know that they have only one way of avoiding derision and ridicule: building a diplomatic and military Europe, just as we have built our monetary Europe. Now.

Alain Lamassoure, 8 November 2001