The language used in this Beacon, which is perhaps slightly tongue in cheek, aims to shed a bit of light on what we are doing on the eve of another new year and may also come in handy as ‘defensive points’ in certain situations. I think we can all agree that we agree on the following.
Ah, those annoying little soundbites! The ‘concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity’ that were first referred to by Father Schuman in the Salon de l’Horloge in the Quai d’Orsay, Paris, on 9 May 1950 and were later enshrined in the preamble to the Treaty of Paris. Solidarity! Such a corny word, like something out of the lexicon of the trade union movements. And he didn’t mean a theoretical or verbal solidarity – no, his was a practical, solid kind of solidarity, between all Europeans: he dreamt in colour, our Schuman. But now, with 9 May 2020 approaching, we need to brace ourselves for the inevitable calls for solidarity by a handful of idealists or zealots to mark the 70th anniversary of this original call for solidarity. The solidarity of the citizens is an article of faith: we, the realists, the managers, lost our faith long ago. And we can prove it!
And the other one, the curious Monsieur Monnet, the epigraph to whose Memoirs includes the pretentious phrase ‘We are not forming coalitions between States, but union among people’, taken from a speech he made in Washington in 1952. How very offensive to the States! As if the States, which by their very nature unite people, didn’t unite them even more through their coalitions! And when it comes to coalitions, we seem to know what we’re doing! The number and variety of our coalitions are superb indicators of the unity of the citizens of Europe. What’s more, without States there could be no European integration: our successive treaties have proven that beyond doubt.
Talking of the treaties – and here I might be sticking my neck out – isn’t it time to scrap certain recurrent statements of naiveté? From Rome (1957) to Lisbon (2007), the constant refrain has been ‘an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe’. Those whose signatures are upon them have at times declared themselves ‘determined’ and, at other times, ‘resolved’ to establish this, to make it a reality. How could we have let ourselves go like that? The government of the United Kingdom, at least, could see it for what it was and asked for this empty promise to be stricken from the text. And its highly enlightened citizens shattered the myth and headed off towards the sunlit uplands (see EUROPE 11580/1). We, the realists, the managers, who stand on the bridge controlling the rudder, need to learn the lesson and heed the message: the people have their own identities and there is no point trying to unite them, least of all in an ever closer union. Smash the melting pot and cease the inter-mingling! It’s fine for trade, but everyone for themselves in their own culture and their own interpretation of the concept of the rule of law. And there, are least, the scribes and signatories of the treaties did help us out: article 7 TEU is inapplicable.
We are moving towards the year 2020 with confidence. Having defended our own respective interests, a calculator in hand from dawn to dusk (and throughout the night, if necessary), we will succeed in signing off on an ‘à minima’ agreement on the new multi-annual financial framework which, for seven years and come what may in the wider world or at home, will keep the annual budgets of the EU within very strict limits (because at the end of the day, it’s our money!) so as to avoid too many new ‘concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity’, and especially to avoid the terrifying downward spiral into a federation (see EUROPE 12393/4).
We will reinforce the external borders of the Union, particularly its southern flank, to protect the European way of life to be promoted by the Commission.
We will continue to do what we do best: reactive management, for instance keeping a stranglehold on the major climate action objectives. We will make sure that the Conference on the Future of Europe – which some people would like to launch on 9 May – stays within a very specific framework, so that the voice of the citizens doesn’t cause our ailing institutions any problems and to preclude the dreadful precedent of any form of direct democracy (see EUROPE 12394/12). We’ll have no debates between ourselves and we won’t make any public statements to the media about what the EU will be in ten years’ time, as the ‘Green Deal’ is more than enough to respond to the current requirements of the vision of the future (see EUROPE 12388/1). No point in worrying people.
And as we love our strategies so much, we’ll take stock of the EU Strategy 2020, which was adopted by the Barroso II Commission using a highly memorable ‘top-down’ method, and which included specific targets. Unlike the exercises in rhetoric referred to above, numbers don’t lie. We can therefore check whether 20 million people have been lifted out of poverty and social exclusion over the last decade, for instance.
Our actions throughout the world will continue to be based first and foremost on trade, funds and a declamatory diplomatic style. Special attention will be paid to the neighbourhood policy, under which heading negotiations for a new agreement with the United Kingdom is likely to be particularly exciting. This will provide the opportunity for us to show our people that the only ‘ever closer union’ that actually works is that of our states, standing together in defence of their commercial interests.
Renaud Denuit