Fifteen months after the referendum on the European Constitution, we are still waiting for the famous ‘plan B’, the alternative project which Laurent Fabius promised us in the event of a ‘no’ vote. Yet the political consequences of its rejection, which were easy to predict, have already come to pass: France has lost influence and credibility in a stalled Europe. Because it became impossible to change the operating rules of the Union and adapt them to twice the number of Member States, we observe, month after month, week after week, the impotence of exclusively national action in many areas and the paralysis of Europe in situations where we most need it to act.
Take just three areas, of which even the most fervent champions of national sovereignty do not deny the European dimension.
The fight against terrorism? Every decision in Brussels has to be taken by a Council consisting of all the Foreign and Justice Ministers of the Member States: fifty Excellencies who can only decide unanimously! Result: since 11 September 2001, now that America has learned to protect itself from Allah’s madmen, our countries have become their main targets. In 2004 Madrid suffered the horror of Atocha station, which was followed by London the year after; and in the summer of 2006 Germany had a miraculous escape from a triple attack on its railways, while Britain was appalled to discover that an operation was being prepared on its soil which would have been even more spectacular and more murderous than the destruction of the World Trade Center.
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