07/06/2012
Compare and contrast the photographs picked by
Die Welt (above) and the
Failygraph - and then ponder how easy it is to manipulate sentiment.
Bizarrely, the seraphic Angela is telling the world, "We need more Europe" (the title of this piece), in which context she supports a "two-speed Europe", with the "core group" in the eurozone pressing ahead with deeper integration. The UK and others, she says, will be relegated to "Europe's margins".
These views were delivered in an interview with ARD television, and have already hit
the agencies. Thus, the cat is out of the bag, with Merkel saying: "We need more Europe, we need not only a monetary union, but we also need a so-called fiscal union, in other words more joint budget policy". She adds: "And we need most of all a political union, that means we need to gradually give competencies to Europe and give Europe control".
This is what is on the agenda for the European Council at the end of this month, which puts little Cameron seriously on the back foot. He cannot possibly follow the core group and commit to further integration, yet the idea of being a second-class European citizen, consigned to the outer margins, will be seen as deeply unattractive.
At the very least, this makes a complete mockery of any pretensions of the UK to be "at the heart of Europe" and, as for Hague's fatuous slogan: "in Europe but not ruled by Europe", we are set to become "On the margins, but ruled by Europe".
Ostensibly, though, this does not change the reality of Britain's membership of the EU. However, an IGC would seem necessary as the changes mooted would seem to lie outside the scope of enhanced co-operation.
That might afford the UK an opportunity to seek modifications to existing treaties, although there will be no enthusiasm for such discussions amongst the bulk of the "colleagues".
As the situation develops, however, it raises yet again the prospect of a referendum, and we now have pretend eurosceptic
Lord Owen predicting that such a plebiscite is "inevitable". With the preposterous Osborne also
weighing in, talking of the "referendum lock" (which would hardly apply if any treaty amendments took effect only in the eurozone), the ground seems to be shifting with extraordinary rapidity.
If the eurozone is determined to press for a new treaty, this becomes a game-changer. Presenting the British public with a choice between an existence on the margins of Europe, and forging ahead in new directions, outside the EU, begins to make sense â as long as that was the choice offered.
However, one needs also a quick reality check. It is by no means a given that an "inner core" treaty can be agreed and even then, it might not be ratified. Holland, Ireland, and possibly France, might hold their own referendums. We could see any new treaty crash and burn.
Then, with the eurocrisis developing with frightening rapidity, there is hardly time for the necessarily prolonged process of treaty negotiation and ratification. By the time any treaty managed to struggle through the process, the game could already be over.
What stands now, therefore, might no apply even in a few weeks' time. Events are unfolding faster than I can reasonably analyse and sensibly write about them.
COMMENT THREAD
