Tories' Treachery Over EU Allies

Terry Moore in Brussels
Published in Tribune Magazine 21 May 2010 www.tribunemagazine.co.uk

In a highly cynical manoeuvre, the Tories in the European Parliament are going to collapse their right-wing grouping before it falls apart. They then intend to present this as a sign of maturity in Government and as a devious signal to their new coalition allies the Lib Dems that the Tories can do compromise.

In reality, The Tories have spent an inordinate amount of political capital after Cameron took over the Tory party leadership, establishing a new right-wing group in the European Parliament called the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) . However as a leader of one of their strategic allies in the European Parliament (the Czech Civil Democrats, ODS party) points out they utterly failed to create a sustainable grouping that could have any influence in the EU Parliament.

Furthermore, the ODS leader, Miroslav Ouzký believes that the Tories are untrustworthy partners and are preparing to sabotage the group in pursuit of their own self-interest. Ouzky's distrust is telling as the ODS are the only sensible members of the ECR which is otherwise made up of Religious fundamentalists , far-right Baltic State MEPs both with a smattering of anti-semitism and blatant homophobia and maverick independents as well as the ODS and the Tories.

The Tories left the main centre-right grouping the European Peoples' Party (EPP) and incurred the wrath of mainstream centre-right leaders such as Merkel and Sarkozy. Cameron now looks like he is going to jump before he is pushed and apply to rejoin the EPP (allegedly from a position of strength when it is in fact from a position of great weakness).

The ECR group is so fragile that it only needs two members from their 54 member grouping to walk out and it will no longer be viable and would lose all funding from the European Parliament and its rump would be looked upon as renegade independents, not to be trusted.

The current leader of the Czech ODS party in the European Parliament,  Miroslav Ouzký, has outlined his fears about Tory treachery in a recent interview. “The faction is very fragile from the inside, since it only has the minimum number of required delegations, therefore the walkout of only 2 members can dissolve it. Sufficient would be that Cameron stops convincing some of its unsettled individuals to stay at ECR- which I could imagine he will do.”

“He also despairs at the commitment of his Tory allies., “When the topics come to the cars, Czech chemical industry, water, we always discuss with Germans, the Tories are not interested in our problems at all.” The full interview can be found (in Czech) at:-

 http://www.ods.cz/eu/prispevek.php?ID=12200&page=34 .

FRANCE AND GERMANY SEEM FURTHER APART THAN EVER

From a source in Brussels

              Throughout the Cold War, Germany was the steadfast trans-Atlantic ally and France the perpetual sceptic. Paris snubbed NATO, booted allied soldiers off its soil and sought a privileged relationship with Moscow. Then one night the Berlin Wall fell _and 20 years later, the roles subtly have shifted. Nicolas Sarkozy is seeking to be a NATO stalwart, bringing his country back into the alliance's military command.

              As a result, France received two NATO command posts. At the same time, Angela Merkel while reaching out to the United States is pursuing closer ties with Russia that have left Washington unsettled. This evolution in France and Germany's relationships with the Cold War superpowers is altering the shape of their own relationship, which both countries long considered the «motor» of the EU. Sarkozy and Merkel will send yet another powerful sign of their countries' friendship Wednesday at the Arc de Triomphe, when for the first time French and German leaders jointly mark the anniversary of the Nov. 11 armistice that ended World War One.

              Symbols aside, as much as Sarkozy and Merkel might like to emphasize the privileged nature of the Franco-German couple, ties between the countries are no longer what they used to be _and pushing the restart button over and over again does not guarantee a smooth ride. «Both sides' sense of the relationship has been lost,» said Josef Janning, senior director of the Bertelsmann Foundation. The two countries used to be at «the core of bargaining» in the EU, but «currently, nobody really knows what the purpose» of the relationship is, Janning said. Germany and France spent the decades after World War II in a long, painful period of «reconciliation» as Germany atoned for the Holocaust and its occupation of France.

GERMANY LOOKS EAST  

              After the Berlin Wall came down, Germany found it had to atone yet again, this time with Poland and Russia, both of which suffered greatly under Nazi invasions. Despite deep historical wariness all around, Poland and Russia also offered tremendous economic and even diplomatic opportunities for Germany to expand its influence eastward and thereby reduced Berlin's need to rely only on Paris as its major partner on the continent.

LAPSUS LINGUAE?

              In her first speech Wednesday to the German parliament since winning a second term as chancellor, Merkel said she wanted to pursue a broad security dialogue with Russia. She did not mention France or the Franco-German relationship in the speech. Germany's determination to make its relationship with Russia a top priority took off under Merkel's predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, who made a strategic decision to tether his nation firmly to Russia's immense energy wealth. Unlike Schroeder, Merkel has avoided fawning on Russia: She has moved to improve relations with Poland and has pledged to stand shoulder to shoulder with the United States in Afghanistan. But she has continued to deepen ties with Moscow through business and diplomatic initiatives.

BERLIN IGNORES PARIS COURTSHIP

              Conscious of its slipping profile in Germany, the French government in recent months has multiplied efforts to revive the relationship. The courtship includes high-profile political gestures, as well as numerous conferences devoted to the French-German relationship. In July, a new Franco-German military brigade marched down the Champs-Elysees on Bastille Day with Sarkozy looking on. The French Foreign Ministry on Monday spearheaded a huge light show and concert on the Place de la Concorde, celebrations billed as a «present» to the German people on the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's fall. And on Wednesday, Merkel joins Sarkozy to commemorate the 91st anniversary of the armistice. In the long run, however, in the absence of concrete steps to reassert joint French-German leadership in Europe, these gestures may not have great meaning. «If you kiss,» Janning said, «it doesn't mean that much because it is part of the in and out of global diplomacy.»

SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY?

   While France loves the big gestures, the Germans are in a pragmatic mood these days, French-German specialists say. It shows in some of the business deals Germany has struck in recent months. Earlier this year, German industrial conglomerate giant Siemens pulled out of a nuclear power plant joint venture with France's Areva and then turned around to engage in talks on forming a nuclear energy venture with Russia's Rosatom. Siemens built the new high-speed train between Moscow and St. Petersburg for a line expected to open later this year. «The style fundamentally has changed,» Hans Stark, who chairs research into France and Germany at the French Institute for International Affairs, told a gathering of diplomats, analysts and journalists this week.