The family of Europe - traditional thought patterns behind apparent political innovation

1. The family of Europe - traditional thought patterns behind apparent political innovation Andreas Musolff, Durham University, UK

2. Europe as a family • Family obligations • The nurturing Euro-family • The euro child • The Euro-couple • Britain’s flirt with Europe • Conclusions

3. Europe as a family ... Europe's future stability and prosperity will depend on how Western Europe's grown-up democracies treat the foundling-states appearing on their eastern doorstep (The Economist, 7 December 1991)

4. Europe as a family Poland and its neighbours were part of a natural European family - and should be recognised as such (The Independent, 25 August 1998)

5. Europe as a family The accession of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia restores the once captive nations of the Soviet empire to their place as full members of Europe’s political family after half a century of exclusion. (The Daily Telegraph, 1 May 2004)

6. Family obligations [Prime Minister] Major will find that membership of a wider European family imposes certain constraints. (The Economist, 12 January 1991)

7. Family obligations ... broad support for ... the specific warning that racist policies would not be tolerated within the European family of nations. (The Times, 16 February 2000)

8. The nurturing Euro-family Anybody who [nowadays] talks about ‘catching the Euro-train’ is instantly revealed as a relic from the 1960s. Try referring to ‘the European family’ instead. Think caring, think nurture, think soft linen suits in natural shades. (The Independent, 2 July 1995)

9. The nurturing Euro-family The critical figure ... is the mother, a conciliator who feeds, arbitrates, redistributes and keeps a rough emotional balance in the family. In Europe-as-family the Commission played the role of mama, the great dispenser of favours. (The Times, 17 March 1999)

10. The dominant fathers the great dream of the founding fathers of the original European communities — a United States of Europe (The Independent, 14 April 1990) ... the founding fathers of the Community (Marxism Today, 1 February 1991) The great visions of the founding fathers of Europe (The Guardian, 19 January 1999)

11. The dominant fathers ... the founding fathers .... wished to bind France and Germany together in a way that made another war between them unthinkable (The Observer, 6 February 2005)

12. The dominant fathers Helmut Kohl, the father of the euro is an historic figure (The Guardian, 19 February 1998) Former prime minister Ted Heath, praised by ECB president Wim Duisenberg as one of the founding fathers of the EU (The Guardian, 1 July 1998)

13. The euro-child When the hard ecu, Britain’s alternative to the Delors plan ..., was first presented to its prospective godparents last June it was an unappealingly premature baby. All 11 of them treated the infant with the mixture of embarrassment and derision accorded to nature’s regrettable errors. ... the prospects for this new 13th currency surviving long enough to be christened were judged minimal (The Guardian , 9 January 1991)

14. The euro-child A former head of the French treasury used to say the ecu is an orphan born in the street in search of parents. Just like the ecu, the idea of Economic and Monetary Union ... is supported more strongly by some countries than by others. .... last October, Britain was the only country to vote against creating a European Central Bank. (The Guardian , 5 February 1991)

15. The euro-child In the long gestation of Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union — conceived in Maastricht 1991, to be delivered in Frankfurt 1999 — it suddenly seems likely this week that the anxious parents, Germany and France, are expecting a soft baby euro. The pangs of pregnancy have never coincided so painfully in both countries. (The Guardian, 30 May 1997)

16. The EU couple [Chirac] said that the ‘Franco-German couple’ [was] the ‘heart of the European Union. (The Guardian, 18 May 1995) crucial talks [between the French and German governments] are ... aimed at re-energising the Franco-German relationship (The Guardian, 1 December 1998)

17. The EU couple Like a couple whose relationship is on the wane, [France and Germany] feel that they have to reassert their love for each other ever more frequently (The Times, 8 September 1994)

18. The EU couple ... France and Germany will continue with their bumpy relationship, more than ever a marriage of convenience (The Guardian, 27 September 1995)

19. The EU ménage à trois Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting ... Schröder, ... argued in favour of a menagé [sic] à trois, involving London, Paris and Bonn. (The Independent, 17 June 1997) Mr Schröder has been trying to open up the Franco-German marriage to include Britain in a ménage à trois. (The Guardian, 1 December 1998)

20. The EU ménage à trois Was a political Viagra pill taken this week in Potsdam to give the ageing relationship a new fizz? Maybe, maybe not. Talk of a possible new Paris-Bonn-London triangle in Europe is nothing new: every time, over the past decade, that a new president or prime minister has taken over in France, he briefly — and in the end unsatisfactorily — flirts with the Eurosceptical British, only to fall back in relief on the old liaison with Germany. (The Economist, 5 December 1998)

21. The EU ménage à trois The British prime minister’s overtures in this area are welcome in Paris but officials are still hesitant about getting into bed with such a fickle suitor. Ménageà trois may spice up a relationship but Paris and Bonn, in spite of bedroom spats to come, are still faithful partners (The European, 7 December 1998)

22. The EU ménage à trois Britain seeks to make the Franco-German couple a threesome (The Economist, 31 January 2004) The prime minister is ... keen on the idea of muscling in on the Franco-German couple (The Guardian, 16 February 2004)

23. The EU ménage à trois Do we want to get into bed with two countries whose recent record has been so retrograde ...? (The Daily Telegraph, 19 February 2004)

24. The EU ménage à trois An adviser to Chirac says the Franco-German marriage remains fundamental to French European policy; many Germans agree. So long as they stick to the marriage metaphor, this makes Tony Blair either lover or mistress. That’s a good reason for abandoning the metaphor, not the threesome. (The Guardian, 19 February 2004, author: Timothy Garton Ash)

25. Britain’s flirt with Europe Major’s Bonn declaration that post-Thatcherite would work at the very heart of Europe has left supporters and critics of Euro-federalism claiming he had signalled a decisive shift in their direction. ... Sir Geoffrey Howe sounded quietly pleased. ‘We are creating a partnership, not a divorce,’ he said. (The Guardian, 13 March 1991)

26. Britain’s flirt with Europe The pound’s shotgun separation from the exchange rate mechanism is proving painful for both Britain and the rest of Europe. The two-year marriage itself was unhappy, but sterling’s subsequent battering on the foreign exchanges has put the future of the ERM in jeopardy. As in most marriage breakdowns, there have been faults on both sides. (The Guardian, 2 February 1993)

27. Britain’s flirt with Europe Sleeping with America when we should be courting Europe. (The Guardian, 1 March 1994) The Prime Minister ... confirmed what newspapers had been hinting at for months -that in spite of an apparently happy union for more than five years -, his relationship with Europe had been little more than a sham designed to protect his image in the eyes of the public. (The Guardian, 13 March 1996)

28. Britain’s flirt with Europe The Government’s honeymoon with Brussels came to an abrupt end yesterday when the Agriculture Minister, Jack Cunningham, issued a surprise ultimatum threatening to ban beef imports (The Guardian, 6 June 1997) Tories like Malcolm Rifkind always knew that, if Labour won, it would be allowed a Euro-honeymoon. (The Guardian, 17 June 1997)

29. Britain’s flirt with Europe The Government’s hopes of a prolonged honeymoon in Europe were dashed last night as the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, fought ... against exclusion from the new single currency policy-setting group. ‘The euro is a monetary marriage, and in a marriage you do not allow others into the bedroom,’ said the French finance minister, ... (The Guardian, 2 December 1997)

30. Britain’s flirt with Europe Labour’s honeymoon with Europe was under strain last night after France and Germany demanded and end to Britain’s and other countries’ veto on European tax decisions. (The Times, 2 December 1998)

31. Britain’s flirt with Europe Britain’s last flirtation with currency union — membership of the exchange rate mechanism — failed arguably because the decision to join was taken on “should”, not “could” grounds. (The Guardian, 19 October 1999)

32. Britain’s flirt with Europe In Belgium he [= Blair] peddled the nonsense that Britain had dropped a clanger by not leaping into bed with Europe. His words exposed his true feelings for Europe-he's so in love with it he's blind to the truth. (Sun, 5 February 2000)

33. Britain’s flirt with Europe For years, we assumed that Britain was the great catch, with Europe the pushy suitor for our hand. The Eurosceptic case rested on a British arrogance which saw our participation in the EU as a kind of favour to those grasping, desperate continentals. (The Guardian, 4 April 2001)

34. Conclusions Family preferences: solidarity, equality, mutuality, faithfulness Family realities: hierarchy, marriage of convenience, adultery, ménage à trois Family projects: children Family, Nation and Confederation

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