Chancellor Schröder defends the European social model. Great Britain and France have occasionally been somewhat ambiguous, but by and large, they have been reasonably clear in their vision of the future of Europe, which brings to the fore the differences of opinion, which the Community reflection on this subject will have to face up to (see this column in recent copies of our bulletin). But there are other stances, which are equally worthy of note.
Chancellor Schröder did not appreciate having been, to all intents and purposes, lumped by Tony Blair into the group of those responsible for Europe's stagnation, due to their attachment to "old-style" common policies and their support for a costly and ineffective social model. He claimed for his country the merit of being in the vanguard in Europe in terms of research and innovation, noting that Germany is already spending 2.5% of its national product in these areas (compared to 1.8% in the United Kingdom), and vigorously defending the central role of industrial production in the European economy (the production of goods remains the solid basis for Europe's prosperity, whereas an economy based on financial activities offers no guarantees of security and sustainability). How can we forget that Germany is, once more, the world's largest exporter, and that, by dint of courage and determination, it has already accomplished a not inconsiderable chunk of the economic and social reforms called for by the "Lisbon strategy"? On the European social model, Mr Schröder published his stance, which appeared in many different newspapers in various countries of the Union in July (our translation): " at European level, we must keep the social model which has been developed specifically on our continent, which has its roots in the values of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution and which has proved, in the six decades since the end of the Second World War, that it is a winning model (...). Some people would like to destroy this model. I believe that they are wrong and that they are going against the wishes and rights of future generations". The Chancellor also said that the deadlock over the Constitution is blocking Europe's efforts to become more competitive and to lend efficiency and dynamism to the European model of society.
Central and eastern Europe wants things set in stone. For their part, the Member States from Central and Eastern Europe largely welcomed Tony Blair's speech before the European Parliament, echoing his calls for European policies to be modernised. Alongside this generic support, however, they lost no time in reiterating their fundamental requirements, which the Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski summed up as follows: "Poland and the other new Member States need to build motorways, protect the environment and modernise agriculture". This, clearly, has little in common with the vision of London and the other capitals which want to make drastic cuts to European funding for the agriculture policy and the Structural Funds. This, moreover, is the reason why the new Member States, of common accord, said that they were even prepared to accept a certain reduction in the funding paid to them, had the "financial perspectives" 2007-2013 been approved in full before the end of July, along the lines of the recent Juncker compromise. Having started to see the concrete benefits and positive effects of the first payments under the CAP and the Structural Funds, and having assessed the prospects opened up by the trans-European networks, which are designed to connect their territory with the rest of the Community territory, are starting to realise that the current structure of the Community budget is not quite so absurd as some of the reformers claim, and to see just how vital it is to them. What is more, several MEPs from these countries made this very point during the debate which followed Tony Blair's speech. Vitautas Landsbergis of Lithuania pointed out that the British Prime Minister had said nothing about how the budgetary question should be resolved, stressing that "the new Member States expect the financial promises made to them for 2007 to be kept" (and which have now been seriously compromised, at least in part, for the first year). And the Polish President recently expressed his disappointment at the silence persisting around the reflection announced (see our bulletin 9019).
An enthusiast. It is also worth stressing that among his fellow prime ministers, Tony Blair has several fervent supporters, the most enthusiastic of whom is Silvio Berlusconi, who has said that he agrees with him about everything, including the accusation levelled at Europe that it is destroying the developing countries with its subsidies to agriculture, with particular reference to sugar. After this, the Rome government logically continued to defend Italian agricultural products at Community level, including sugar beet production. This goes some way to justifying suspicions of superficiality and populism harboured by some about a certain of Mr Berlusconi's comments.
(F.R.)
European Parliament plenary session