The shouted and whispered words open a treasure cave, as in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. They act as our “Open Sesame”, giving us access to most valuable insights.
Even if media attention has shifted to new subjects, it is worthwhile to recall the discussions and to assess their meaning for the EU, using “Romagate” as a learning experience.
Long before Grahnlaw showed president Nicolas Sarkozy a red card (or two), the Euroblog of Fabien l’Européen sent off the UMP spokesperson Chantal Brunel for the following remark:
« la France est une nation souveraine ; on n’a pas des leçons de morale à recevoir d’une commissaire qui représente un petit pays [le Luxembourg] de 350 000 habitants. Nous sommes un grand pays de 57 millions d’habitants ».
If we start from the end, Fabien Cazenave points out that France has 65 million inhabitants.
I find it fascinating that the spokesperson for the government party in an EU member state is unaware of the size of the population in her own country. According to Eurostat figures for 2010, the French population is 64,713,762, which we can round off to the 65 million Cazenave mentions.
Proportionately, the error concerning Luxembourg was even greater, since Eurostat reports a population of 502,066.
However, these misstated facts are just minor imperfections compared to the legal and political ignorance Brunel managed to show in two short sentences.
Commissioner Viviane Reding is from Luxembourg, admittedly a small member state, but she does not represent her country.
On 3 May the members of the European Commission, including commissioner Reding, made the following solemn declaration before the Court of Justice of the European Union, pursuant to Article 17 of the Treaty on European Union and Article 245 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union:
Having been appointed as a Member of the European Commission by the European Council, following the vote of consent by the European Parliament
I solemnly undertake:
• to respect the Treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in the fulfilment of all my duties;
• to be completely independent in carrying out my responsibilities, in the general interest of the Union;
• in the performance of my tasks, neither to seek nor to take instructions from any Government or from any other institution, body, office or entity;
• to refrain from any action incompatible with my duties or the performance of my tasks.
I formally note the undertaking of each Member State to respect this principle and not to seek to influence Members of the Commission in the performance of their tasks.
I further undertake to respect, both during and after my term of office, the obligation arising therefrom, and in particular the duty to behave with integrity and discretion as regards the acceptance, after I have ceased to hold office, of certain appointments or benefits.
Even if the solemn oath can be seen as an arcane detail, known only to EU buffs, I would expect those with major responsibilities among members of national parliaments to be reasonably aware of basics concerning the European Union.
According to Article 17 TEU, the Commission shall promote the general interest of the European Union. It shall also ensure the application of the Treaties and EU law, under the control of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Member states shall respect the independence of the members of the Commission and shall not seek to influence them in the performance of their tasks (Article 245 TFEU).
If a member state fails to fulfil an obligation under the Treaties, the Commission can initiate an infringement procedure (Article 258 TFEU).
When Chantal Brunel defends a government caught red-handed and its ministers misrepresenting the facts, she forgets that France has voluntarily pooled parts of its sovereignty in favour of the rules based system of the European Union.
When Brunel attacks commissioner Reding, she seems to be unaware of the fact that the Commission speaks for the general interest of 501 million EU citizens, not the particular interests of the country of origin of each member of the college.
The European Union shall respect the equality of member states before the Treaties (Article 4 TEU), so the population size of the country does not even enter into the equation of adherence to the rules. Morally, one could argue, a founding member could be expected to lead by example.
In just two sentences, Chantal Brunel has taught us many valuable lessons.
Among the several reactions from the UMP government majority, the Euroblog of Euros du Village was even ready to declare Brunel the “winner”, in: France : les ravages du déshonneur.
Ralf Grahn
Posts
Thank you.
ReplyDeleteFrom the point of view of someone who hates the EU it is useful to know what our treacherous representatives sign up to in order to pick up their 30 pieces of silver.
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteYou freely, although anonymously, admit to hating the European Union.
You cram a lot of negative value judgments into a short sentence.
All member states of the European Union have joined voluntarily, according to their own constitutional requirements.
They have acquired rights and assumed obligations under the Treaties.
"Treachery" and "30 pieces of silver" seem to be figments of your mind, thus hardly curable by means of political education or discourse.
Ah, 'political education', we've seen plenty of that in the last century.
ReplyDeleteWhat rights my government have acquired and what obligations they have assumed are their business. They didn't ask me.
All three of the main parties in the UK did offer me a referendum on the Ref/Con/Lisbon treaty; I can't remember what happened there but I certainly didn't get a vote.
Wow, the Irish had two votes, I suppose they must be grateful for small mercies.
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteYou may have heard about representative democracy. You know, when the people elect parliamentarians and the government is accountable to parliament.
I have not been asked directly about taxes, the budget, international treaties or other matters, but exceptionally about joining the European Union.
However, each member state is free to leave the EU, if it so decides according to its own constitutional rules.
Oh, yes please.
ReplyDeleteWould we be able to do so tomorrow?
Or would we be subject to the same fear-mongering, tax-funded propaganda as the Irish were subjected to.
I see no point in continuing this conversation, you are obviously of the corporatist-statist mindset, Mussolini would have described it as fascist, and he would have known.
You seem like a very nice man and I bear you no animosity, I just don't want to belong to your club, would you please just leave me alone to be a UK patriot.
I mean, you fight for the rights of Roma to be Roma but you do not want me to have the right to be British. Sort of stinks of hypocrisy, doesn't it?
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteIf your 'Oh, yes please' refers to the UK leaving the European Union, it is an internal problem for British democracy.
So, by all means, be as British and patriotic as you want.
However, your description of my opinions show that you have understood very little in this respect.
Corporatist, statist and fascist ideas, embodied by Mussolini, are more closely linked to more extreme forms of nationalism, with which you seem to be comfortable.
I am actually for a citizens' union at European level, built on fully functioning representative democracy.