TUESDAY,
MAY 9, 2006
PARIS "We've said no once, and
we can say no again." Matthieu Bronner, a French truck driver, voted against the
European constitution last year and vows to vote against expanding the European
Union into the Balkans or Turkey.
One week before the European Commission is due to report on the progress of Romania and Bulgaria toward joining the EU in 2007, Bronner's words speak loudly of enlargement fatigue in France, the first member state to vote down the charter.
Like many people interviewed on the streets of Paris in recent days, Bronner is happy for Romania and Bulgaria to squeeze in - but wants the doors firmly closed behind them.
And Bronner will get his vote: A result of the May 29 referendum last year was that France changed its Constitution to require a popular vote on any future expansion of the EU beyond Romania and Bulgaria.
Polls suggest that Bronner is not alone. The proportion of those in France wishing to expand the EU has slumped to 32 percent, compared with 39 percent in 2004, according to a Sofres survey for the European Commission published in December. Sixty-one percent of respondents see globalization as having "negative" connotations and 59 percent associate it with job losses, compared with 38 percent in the EU as a whole.
It was in France that the myth of the Polish plumber was born following the entry of 10 mainly East European countries in the EU in May 2004. And it was here that the debate last year about membership talks with Turkey was perhaps the most virulent.
"What has the enlargement two years ago done for us?" Bronner asked as he unloaded a box of Spanish asparagus outside a Parisian vegetable shop. "Companies are moving their factories to Eastern Europe and the euro has made everything more expensive."
Not everyone is so negative. Monique-Agathe Bernard, 83, who was visiting the capital from eastern France, says a larger EU is the only hope of the Continent to face up to emerging giants like China and India on the world stage - and to France's more traditional competitor, the United States.
"A bigger Europe is our only hope," she said. Bernard, who vividly remembers World War II, when France and Germany were bitter enemies, recounts proudly that part of her family now lives in Munich. "That's what Europe is all about."
Michael Bernard, a student of international law, also favors enlargement. He says expansion allowed him to explore Eastern Europe on budget airlines. A visit to Prague last year so enchanted him that he is going back this July to take a summer seminar - on the notion of "European citizenship."
"Europe works," said Bernard, 24. "There are crises, battles, problems - but that's just how life is."
Anseau Delassalle, a freelance graphic designer, was more prudent.
"I'm in favor of Bulgaria and Rumania joining because we've promised them membership a long time ago," he said. "But after that we should take time to digest all this. What good is a larger Europe if its citizens are not behind it? There is a risk of fracturing the union if people are not on board."
One week before the European Commission is due to report on the progress of Romania and Bulgaria toward joining the EU in 2007, Bronner's words speak loudly of enlargement fatigue in France, the first member state to vote down the charter.
Like many people interviewed on the streets of Paris in recent days, Bronner is happy for Romania and Bulgaria to squeeze in - but wants the doors firmly closed behind them.
And Bronner will get his vote: A result of the May 29 referendum last year was that France changed its Constitution to require a popular vote on any future expansion of the EU beyond Romania and Bulgaria.
Polls suggest that Bronner is not alone. The proportion of those in France wishing to expand the EU has slumped to 32 percent, compared with 39 percent in 2004, according to a Sofres survey for the European Commission published in December. Sixty-one percent of respondents see globalization as having "negative" connotations and 59 percent associate it with job losses, compared with 38 percent in the EU as a whole.
It was in France that the myth of the Polish plumber was born following the entry of 10 mainly East European countries in the EU in May 2004. And it was here that the debate last year about membership talks with Turkey was perhaps the most virulent.
"What has the enlargement two years ago done for us?" Bronner asked as he unloaded a box of Spanish asparagus outside a Parisian vegetable shop. "Companies are moving their factories to Eastern Europe and the euro has made everything more expensive."
Not everyone is so negative. Monique-Agathe Bernard, 83, who was visiting the capital from eastern France, says a larger EU is the only hope of the Continent to face up to emerging giants like China and India on the world stage - and to France's more traditional competitor, the United States.
"A bigger Europe is our only hope," she said. Bernard, who vividly remembers World War II, when France and Germany were bitter enemies, recounts proudly that part of her family now lives in Munich. "That's what Europe is all about."
Michael Bernard, a student of international law, also favors enlargement. He says expansion allowed him to explore Eastern Europe on budget airlines. A visit to Prague last year so enchanted him that he is going back this July to take a summer seminar - on the notion of "European citizenship."
"Europe works," said Bernard, 24. "There are crises, battles, problems - but that's just how life is."
Anseau Delassalle, a freelance graphic designer, was more prudent.
"I'm in favor of Bulgaria and Rumania joining because we've promised them membership a long time ago," he said. "But after that we should take time to digest all this. What good is a larger Europe if its citizens are not behind it? There is a risk of fracturing the union if people are not on board."
Copyright © 2006 the International Herald
Tribune
----------------------------
Vali
An aristocratic title is not enough to ensure a noble behaviour. A person's greatness comes from acknowledging the mistakes and agreeing to correct them.
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." (Jimi Hendrix)
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