Let’s accelerate right now the political integration of the Euroland!

A small sample of the reaction to the article written by Jean Quatremer, entitled "A Too German Europe ?”, shaping the picture of all those awards granted in Germany and following Germany’s wise reaction of withdrawal regarding any negotiations in Brussels for the commissioners posts. Thus it did not appear on the front of the stage when, according to us, the politico-democratic destiny of Europe was at stake.
 

Moreover, Angela Merkel was right, because, let’s face it, the commissioners are not making the law in Brussels after all. They are nothing but the flagpoles of their countries within an institution where everything is decided in the shadow of some offices, General Directions, committees and teams of delegate officials. The latter are, in fact, the al-mighty ones handling the files, negotiating with different lobbies and commissions or committees, and they are the ones editing their texts as well as their translations, implementing the political guidelines decided not by the commissioners, but by the European Council. While all eyes were focused on the European Parliament’s performance, which is far from being even the anti-chamber of democracy, for it does not hold the power strings, and eyes were focused also on the pathetic auditions of the future members of Juncker’s Commission, backstage and totally hidden, some games were being played. Even Renzi, Prime Minister of Italy, currently holding the EU presidency, attacks this opacity by making ​​public (and this is a first) the letter of the actual and continuing president of the European Commission, Mr Barroso, the one admonishing Italy on its budget control (see EUobserver, "Renzi stirs up EU row ahead of eurozone meeting " and Libération: "Italy: the tone rises between Brussels and Rome on its draft budget for 2015 ").

 

Thus, as noted today by Quatremer. "The Commission President’s office is ruled by a German Christian-democrat, Martin Selmayr. Even though the teams are not final yet, there are already five heads of offices and five deputies, as opposed to only one French "chef'cab" (Olivier Bailly in Pierre Moscovici’s office) and one deputy (Eric Mamère in Günter Oettinger,the German commissioner’s office). In addition, among the ordinary councilors, the imbalance is the same. In the administration, the German weight is also felt: eight general directions are in the hands of the Germans, as opposed to the four French ones. Even better: the next head of the legal department will be German, and it is not impossible that the future General Secretary of the Commission - the real tower of control of the Community Executive may also be German. France must have fought hard to keep the management of the European External Action Service, to which the Chancellor had agreed to appoint on August 30 the Italian Federica Mogherini as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Union. Within the other institutions, the "German leadership is the same" ... "
 

As already emphasized by Franck Biancheri in 2011, and as it is today also stated by Jean Quatremer, this German leadership, which Germany doesn’t necessarily wish, contrary to all expressed ideas, "is not only the result of its economic success, but also of the political deficit from its European partners, and especially from France with its Atlanticist president", at the time Nicolas Sarkozy was president. Despite the political change in France, which placed a socialist, Francois Hollande, as President of France, there was still this gang of Atlanticist pawns (spies) starting with its Foreign Affairs and Commerce Ministers, who failed or didn’t know how to form a cooperation with Germany in order to meet the challenge of history and lead the euro zone "toward the creation of a quasi-European state outside the British influence in Brussels: the Euroland. "(see Franck Biancheri in "A German Europe ?", a title which might have inspired Mr Jean Quatremer?).
 

Since his election, the "Americanist" friends in France, Europe and in the United States, have done everything to stop all efforts coming from President Hollande and his government, and they stifled the voice of France in all European and Eurozone debates. The French media, which do not understand a single thing of the Europran political strategic business, have played a significant role in leading to a good end every anti-Hollande campaign, which discredited the French President and the country along with him on the international scene, or at least on the European one. Who can still believe that today the internal affairs of a European country have no echo in Europe’s secret cabinets? Unfortunately, it is not over, yet. This continues with the British who have been rattling France for fifteen days now, buoyed by the Americans as both are betting against it (see Les Echos: "The buzz of the United States: a star of Wall Street bets on the collapse of France "

 

At this point, I would also like to remind you that the rescue of the Euro and the Eurozone (i.e. its states) was well accomplished under the impulse of Germany, supported by France, and followed by other euro states, in May 2010, thereby tracing the course to sovereignty in the Eurozone and decoupling the EU / Euroland areas.

 

Everything is done to leave Europe bloodless in terms of integrated policy vision, except for sharing the classic re-heated dishes like models of “federal state” or “federation of states" that are totally worthless now. "We need a new distribution of political competencies" Wolfgang Schäuble said in March 2011 (see Franck Biancheri in "Towards a sovereignty of the Euro zone "). So, to save Europe there is only one solution: to urgently accelerate the political integration of the Euroland.

 

Two countries could have relayed this idea: France and mostly Italy (which supports France as it is facing the currently operated bashing - see Spectator.UK: "Italy’s in terminal decline, and no one has the guts to stop it "), a great project for the latter, which is chairing and will have to place both transparency and democracy in the foreground. A French-Italian couple can join in order to revive the Euroland, and why not? But these two countries do not develop their budgets well, and this couple would require an exemplary economic behaviour, especially if they wish to join Germany.

What about today’s Germany? Angela Merkel is the embodied picture of that: this East German, Chancellor of the new Germany, has long digested the fall of the Berlin Wall, after 1989. New Germany, new generation, new challenges. After the reunification challenges, there she is, 25 years later (a generation’s time), ready to move forward in this world, with new ambitions, combining rigor and responsibility.

This very Germany could bring new visions for the Eurozone. Euroland definitely needs rigor, as breaking rules, bad habits, budget manipulations and exceptions must now remain far behind. An advancing and more integrated Euroland requires strict, respected, but also controlled rules, all in a democratic way. It is therefore unacceptable that France and Italy willingly monetize once more their own deficits, especially since we demanded the weaker and more fragile countries to be under the same regulation. The responsibility facing the challenges of the world, of Europe’s border, but mostly facing their citizens through transparency (Renzi’s motto) and democracy. And finally the ambition, following the image of New power and new responsibilities (see SWP: Neue Macht, Neue Verantwortung ), taking undoubtedly the theme of the Newropeans 2000 founding congress "New Europe, new challenges, new generations " and of its programme for the 2009 elections.

 

It is no longer about knowing who the leader is of what and how. "The only relevant question about the leadership crisis which is currently affecting the EU should not be" where to find the legitimate European leader? "but rather" how to generate a good European leadership? ", Biancheri wrote in his "Euroland Summit : the only way forward to European leadership."

 

With Newropeans we are convinced that the answer to this question could be found within the think tank formed of the European Small and Medium Size Political parties; only by being pro-democracy, not anti-European or anti-Euro, are they closer to the Euro-citizen, the best forum for trans-European debates and the best tool in order to impose on the euro zone a leadership. They are democratic bearers and guarantors of all that.

 

This is really urgent and must be done now. The priority is not the climate or the energy policy of Europe, especially since Juncker’s Commission is not even functional, and since Barroso’s Commission is still trying to impose its last betrayals regarding the European project (tomorrow we may learn that he had already signed the TTIP project), but the democratic governance of the economic, political, social, fiscal and monetary life of over 300 million citizens who share the same currency, if we do not want to see tomorrow all our European model explode under the big hand of applauses of all the anti-euro populists tearing apart the nation-states.

 

At a time when we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and also the advent of democracy in more than ten countries of Eastern Europe – an event that only a few people such as Franck Biancheri and the young Europeans (at the time IDE Initiative pour une Démocratie Européenne , the very first trans-European political party) had anticipated. On November 8th/9th in Brussels, the AAFB network organizes a series of meeting for the SMPs (Small and Medium Political Parties in Europe) to discuss the political emergencies regarding the governance of the Euroland and of Europe: "Crisis of the Euro, Ukraine, TTIP: what’s left of our democracies? How to rebuild them? ". A manifesto for the acceleration of the euro zone’s political integration and for the insurance of the democratic process, could alone answer the question of creating the conditions for a new leadership in Europe and in the world. This meeting is open to all of you.

Marianne Ranke-Cormier
President of Newropeans

 

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Franck Biancheri born in 1961, died in October 2012, was the founder of AEGEE Europe, IDE, Prometheus-Europe, Europe 2020, LEAP (European Laboratory of Political Anticipation) Newropeans, and one of the founders of the program ERASMUS. You can find all its archives on the dedicated website: http://www.franck-biancheri.eu/