SPIEGEL ONLINE - June 24, 2005, 10:49 AM URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,361919,00.html EU Interview -- Frederick Taylor on the Gerhard's Gripe with Tony "Schroeder Has Lost His Nerve"
The name calling between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has intensified as each defends his vision of the European Union. SPIEGEL ONLINE spoke to British historian Frederick Taylor about Germany's fear of liberalism, English skepticism of Europe and the need for a new European vision. SPIEGEL ONLINE: German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have been at each other's throats lately. But it wasn't all that long ago that the two seemed to be on the same page when it came to the European Union. What happened? Taylor: Schroeder has lost his nerve. The domestic reaction to his reform program and to some of his European Union policies has made him pull in his horns. He has said that Blair let him down by going too far. But Blair now feels that Schroeder no longer has the ability to break free of the kind of social model which Blair feels needs to be modified. And there was also the last election when Schroeder used his opposition to the Iraq War to his benefit which sowed a certain amount of distrust between the two of them. The difficulties have been developing over time. SPIEGEL ONLINE: So you think Schroeder has moved further away from Blair than the other way around? Taylor: Not necessarily. Blair had hoped he could move Schroeder further than he could do and further than Schroeder was prepared to go. The reforms in Germany are seen as relatively modest from a British perspective -- I mean even after the reforms Germany seems like paradise to most English people when compared to the social system here. SPIEGEL ONLINE: Why is Germany so afraid of the English model? Taylor: Much of it has to do with their reaction to the appalling economic conditions of the 1930s. Britain had a depression at about the same time and it was extremely difficult, but it wasn't politically catastrophic as it was for the Germans with the collapse of the Weimar Republic, the advent of Nazism and the catastrophe of World War II. So it is clear that the British don't look back to this period of economic upheaval with the same horror that the Germans think about it. There is a genuine fear in Germany when people start talking about taking away from their social model. SPIEGEL ONLINE: Which is why the Germans are reacting so strongly to Blair's neo-liberal vision of Europe? Taylor: Blair is far from a neo-liberal. There are political reasons for the exaggeration of Blair's position in Germany. Blair and (Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon) Brown together have actually considerably modified the Thatcher project and have taken the country in a more social democratic direction. I don't think Blair supports a more American, devil-take-the-hindmost capitalist model. SPIEGEL ONLINE: Where does British Euro-skepticism come from? Taylor: You have to look at geography for a start; Britain is a large offshore island which for hundreds of years has lived off the sea and off of foreign trade. But we do feel ourselves to be European -- or at least the younger generation does. Having said that, if one had 400 million people in the world who spoke German as their first language and another huge group who spoke it fluently as their second language -- in other words if the Germans were in a comparable situation to the English -- then the Germans would be a bit less Euro- centric as well. It doesn't mean the English are hostile to Europe. It just means the need to belong isn't so great. SPIEGEL ONLINE: Are British interests -- with their traditional balance between Europe, the US and the commonwealth -- so radically different from the rest of Europe? British historian Frederick Taylor: "The British rebate is ridiculous." Taylor: Blair feels that Britain can act as a mediator between a United States, with its wealth of money and guns, and the Third World, which is very poor. That may be one of the reasons -- in addition to seeing it as an inefficient waste of money -- that he wants to reform the EU agricultural subsidies. They do damage to the Third World economy. SPIEGEL ONLINE: What about the British rebate? Taylor: The British rebate is ridiculous. Blair bargained hard during the budget negotiations last week but once it was over he changed his tone somewhat. He sees the rebate as a bargaining chip. Britain is a rich country and there a number of other countries that need that money. SPIEGEL ONLINE: And the constitution? Is it dead as UK parliamentarian Gisela Stuart said in an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE yesterday? Taylor: Blair wasn't quite as excited to see the constitution referenda fail in France and Holland as some of his colleagues. We will at some point in the future again see something that approximates a constitution. But they mustn't call it a constitution - - it'll be something else, toned down, not written by a Frenchman and with another name. That's my guess (laughs). SPIEGEL ONLINE: How does the current crisis stack up with the many other sharp debates in the history of the European Union? Taylor: When you look at the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, we are slowly seeing the disappearance of the generation that remembers the war -- which means that one of the primary motivations for the creation of the EU is fading. The current crisis is all part of that. We now have to really want it and we have to decide what the EU is for. Otherwise there is a risk that it may start to decay. We may not be able to achieve the kind of economic and political union we once thought was possible and which is so desired by Germany and others on the continent. But most people want a positive Europe looking toward the future. Interview conducted by Charles Hawley *** sustineti [romania_eu_list] prin 1% din impozitul pe 2005 - detalii la http://www.europe.org.ro/euroatlantic_club/unulasuta.php *** Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romania_eu_list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
