10 February 2013

Paul N Goldschmidt: The Brussels budgetary compromise - A British triumph, a European disaster!

The score at half time is unambiguous: United Kingdom 1 – Europe 0.

Let us be fair play and congratulate David Cameron. Not only did he dominate his opponents head and shoulders, but, benefiting from an electorally-motivated “assist” from the German Chancellor, he was able to demonstrate that the fabled Franco-German tandem was anything but reality.

In so doing, he humiliated the French President who had to retreat from all his prepared positions, outlined three days earlier in Strasbourg, barely rescuing the essentials of the CAP. This is all the more damageable that it put an additional – if not final – nail in the coffin of European initiatives in favour of investment, research and employment. François Hollande will no longer be able to maintain the pretence that he was able to successfully renegotiate last June the budgetary Treaty, a clearly forfeited electoral commitment, billed unambiguously as the precondition for ratification!

It is not only France who is a loser but, rather, the entire EU, including, in due course, the United Kingdom. Having reached an agreement “unanimously”, which freezes the budgetary framework for the next seven years, the Heads of State and Government have shut out any possibility of revitalising or re-enchanting the European project in the minds of its citizens. How can it be that not a single one of the 27 actors had the political courage to exercise his veto, particularly among smaller Member States, if only, cynically, to benefit from some cheap media buzz?

Let us put things in perspective: the total amount of the European budget amounts barely to 1 per cent of the Union GNP and – hopefully – significantly less in seven years time if the recovery takes hold. The media coverage of the Summit is largely misleading, putting the main emphasis on the existence of an agreement (even a bad one) and counting the punches given or received by the players.

In reality, the budgetary cuts are derisory but carry, nevertheless, a strong symbolic message that underscores the leaders' total lack of vision and ambition for the European project. One must therefore conclude that it is this symbol that justifies the hours devoted by these “Excellencies” to these carpetbaggers’ negotiations.

However, all is not lost: next month Europe will draft the B team for the second halftime!

For the first time since the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament will convey in order to validate the financial perspectives. For several reasons, it is to be hoped that the budget agreement will be rejected, restarting the process from scratch and forcing the Commission to draft a new set of proposals. The initial declarations by the leaders of the main political groups of the EP suggest the possibility of such an outcome and are most encouraging.

The main reason to refuse the deal is that it is a bad one which, in addition, takes not the slightest account of the EP’s previously expressed views.

The second reason raises the question of the Parliament’s own credibility: if a majority of MEPs surrenders to pressure exercised by their respective national governments, it will be proof enough of their incapacity to assume their newly acquired powers and to demonstrate their independence.  It would be a fatal blow to the prestige of the EP, and is most likely to further encourage aloofness of voters in the forthcoming crucial 2014 elections.

The third reason lies in the fact that rejection would mean the automatic reinstatement of the latest approved budget (therefore greater resources).  The loss of the German rebate at the end of 2013 will not bring tears to the eyes of the majority of Europeans, even if it hinders the electoral prospects of the Chancellor; French interests within the CAP will be protected; Cameron would be held in check.

The gauntlet thrown down by Daniel Cohn-Bendit to the French President in Strasbourg has clearly been ignored. The same challenge must now be put at the feet of each and every MEP. They are faced with a historic responsibility which will determine significantly the future of the Union and the place of the United Kingdom within it. Now is not the time to retreat!

Paul N Goldschmidt, Director, European Commission (ret); Member of the Advisory Board of the Thomas More Institute

Tel: +32 (02) 6475310 / +33 (04) 94732015 / Mob: +32 (0497) 549259

E-mail: paul.goldschmidt@skynet.be / Web: www.paulngoldschmidt.eu

© Paul Goldschmidt