So When Does The EU Go Fascist?

by John Hawkins | April 16, 2003 9:55 pm

So When Does The EU Go Fascist?: Here is a quote from Margaret Thatcher about the EU that I wholeheartedly agree with…

(On The European Union) “What we should grasp, however, from the lessons of European history is that, first, there is nothing necessarily benevolent about programmes of European integration; second, the desire to achieve grand utopian plans often poses a grave threat to freedom; and third, European unity has been tried before, and the outcome was far from happy.”

There are many people across the ocean who want to unite Europe under an EU flag so they can challenge the US for global supremacy. They’ve been working on that piece by inefficient piece for decades. But slowly and surely, it’s coming together. Much of Europe now has a common currency, they’re putting together a united army and now they’re looking to elect a President[1].

Their choice is an obvious one. Tony Blair is the man who can bring the reluctant Brits into the EU’s clutches and Tony seems to be eyeing that potential EU presidency awfully hard…

“TONY Blair yesterday increased speculation that he wants to become the president of Europe when he claimed that the European Union must speak with a single voice on foreign policy.

…In the wake of the splits over the war in Iraq, Mr Blair told an EU summit in Athens that an enlarged union of 25-member states needed a more powerful voice on the world stage.

He said that voice should be provided by a full-time EU president, responsible to the member governments, giving “strategic direction”.

Mr Blair attempted to use the informal summit in the Greek capital to put the damaging political disputes over Iraq to one side. He insisted that the EU now needed a figurehead, or, as a Whitehall official put it, “someone the White House can call”.

The Conservatives claimed Mr Blair’s suggestion amounted to a “sell-out” of Britain’s interests. Michael Ancram, the shadow foreign secretary, said that the divisions over Iraq had exposed the idea of a single foreign policy as a fantasy.

“It is a sad reflection on the Prime Minister that after the courage he has shown on Iraq, he is prepared to sell out fundamental British interests in order to rebuild relations with Europe,” he said. “To cap it all, the betrayal is compounded by his ambition to create a job for himself as president of Europe.”

Mr Blair’s idea received a mixed reaction at the summit – with Romano Prodi, the commission’s president, clearly fearing the move could undermine his own role.

…But there were still difficulties over the idea of a “president of Europe”.

However, there was almost unanimous agreement that the EU should have what amounts to a “foreign minister” – a single foreign policy supremo, combining the jobs held by Chris Patten, the external relations commissioner, and by Javier Solana, the EU’s high representative for foreign and security policy, effectively working under the control of EU governments.

The Athens summit did not resolve whether the new foreign minister would report to the commission or the member states – another example of the battle still ahead over who has real political control in the EU.

…”We need a figurehead to provide strategic direction to the EU,” he said. “The current system was fine when there were just six member states, and even works currently with 15. But it will not work when we are 25.”

Were I European, the phrase, “someone the White House can call” would scare the Hell out of me. That’s because the White House already has people it can call, the leaders of individual nations. If the idea is that we’re going to call up the EU President and for the most part, he’s going to decide what all of Europe does as our President does, that should frighten Europeans to death.

Now I know the response to this, “But Hawkins, there will be checks built in to make sure that doesn’t happen. The EU President won’t be THAT powerful.” Of course the President won’t be strong…at first. But what good is a President with 25 people he has to answer too? Eventually, when that is found to be horribly inefficient (and it will be), they President will be given more power. That’s how you do it…one step at a time, all in the name of a “United Europe”.

I know many Europeans believe that they can create a “United States of Europe” and compete with the US, but they should remember that means entire nations will play the role of states in America. For example, my state has no say about things like Federal taxes, Federal regulations, & whether we go to war or not. If you’re let’s say a Pole, how are you going to feel about having a French President sending your men off to fight and die somewhere? If your Irish, how comfortable are you going to feel with a German making a change to tax rates that may benefit his country while hurting yours? Furthermore, what happens when some states decide to pull out? In America, we settled that issue with the Civil War. You might think that couldn’t happen in Europe…again…but if things get far enough along, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it happen a decade or two from now. Europe is too diverse to live under a single banner and I fear how all this may one day end for the Europeans…

Endnotes:
  1. a President: http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=443752003

Source URL: https://rightwingnews.com/uncategorized/so-when-does-the-eu-go-fascist/