The French have overwhelmingly voted against ratifying the EU Constitution in its present form. After the spaniards voted rather closely, ratifying the treaty, the french were the cat on the wall.
I was so hoping the french would say Oui. I must admit that I am a great fan of the EU experiment. And you know why. It reminds me of India. Europe today so much resembles the different states that make up today's India. And the EU is nothing but a European form of the Indian experience. Readers would be tempted to compare the formation of the EU with that of the U.States. But I disagree. The thirteen colonies that joined together to declare independence and create the U.States were no where close to being as heterogeneous as the EU or India for that matter.
Anyways, when I read about the French non, I was deeply disappointed. How could this have happened. Was'nt the advantages of a stronger EU quite apparent to the voters in France ?
Who better to answer this than the french themselves. So I set of to put this question before a french colleague in office. I ask him - "So you guys voted No ? Why ?".
He looks at me and says - "Its crazy". Puzzled, I say - "Explain". And he gives me his version.
He believes that its best for the French to the join the EU. He whole heartedly supports a stronger EU. And he believes that a stronger united EU would serve as a balance to the U.States. And he tells me, that the present generation of the french have voted for the constitution and it was the previous generation that pulled it down. I could see visible disappointment in his face.
I was so tempted to slip in the next question, which I did !
Perhaps the old generation is worried that france would loose its identity, I say. The french identity could get diluted in a larger possibly emerging european nationalism.
He looks at me and says "screw it". If you want to survive, you should be willing to accept change else be left behind. The world is moving towards globalization and so france should also adjust accordingly.
I felt guilty for provoking him into saying this, so I change the line. Moving on, perhaps UK may not vote at all, I mention. And with the mention of UK, he turns ballistic. I will leave it to the readers imagination on this one.
Anyways, at the end of the conversation, I walked off with the satisfied feeling that the EU experiment was not floundering. That the present generation does recognize the pitfalls of being divided instead being united both economically and politically.
This round goes to the eurosceptics but the match is not over yet.
5 comments:
I must admit that I am a great fan of the EU experiment. And you know why. It reminds me of India. Europe today so much resembles the different states that make up today's India. And the EU is nothing but a European form of the Indian experience.
Think it is not right to compare the EU experiment and the Indian framework - because in India the states dont have much of an authority and it is the Centre which calls most of the shots! But in EU, the centre is weak and states(read individual countries in EU) have awesome powers with them!
I think only a strong centre can drive a country and EU can never drive the states because it hardly has a centre!
To me, EU resembles a stronger version UN!
Vicen,
I believe that integration of europe is a matter of time. But how many countries make up the initial EU, what economic and social model they adopt is a matter that should be decided partly collectively and partly as individual nation states. That would obviously mean that if a sizeable population wish for a economic model slanting on a social model than a capitalistic model, so be it.
But what probably could be pulled from the american and indian experiment is 2 things :
1. The individual states in the US enjoy lot of individual freedom which the federal govt cannot over rule
2. Similarly in india, the cultural identity of each state is different and in the indian system is preserved for each state. For them unity in diversity is enshrined in the constitution.
But as a no voter from spain and from what I read from your comments, you seem to be more for a slower and balanced integration. I also see a concern that the EU might finally end up like the US.
the french saying no is a big triumph to democracy!!!
agreed india and europe are as diverse. there exists this indian identity, however weak,forged during the independence struggle, but a european identity is non existnet, western and eastern europe have differences. this means that the european experiment is doomed from the start. rather than haveing a united EU being collasping, its better that it didnt take off!!
the americans are primarily of few nationalities, they killed the natives to minimise diversity
The indian identity was forged because of a common threat and goal. If UK had not taken over india, india too would have had various nation states largest perhaps being the mughals followed closely by the maratha's and the Sikhs.
And perhaps later in the 20th century the various nation states would have merged or confederated to form some sort of a super state, adjusting to the challenges of an ever changing world.
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