Will the European Council meeting of 21-22 June go down in history as a “new beginning” after the draft Constitution failure in France and the Netherlands? I am sure it will not.
Even if, on Friday, EU leaders manage to strike a deal on a “roadmap” to a new Treaty, what the summit will be remembered for is the unshameful politicking of men and women pretending to be “political leaders” in an effort to undo the first citizens’ resistance to an elite-led European project. The way Chancellor Merkel and her spin doctors have been trying to revive the Constitution without daring to speak its name and to make sure that never again people will be asked in referenda to express their feelings about the EU project, is likely to go into history as the “great constitution swindle”.
And then again, whatever happens, I do not think it will bring the Union much relief. Within the negotiating process, so many differences of opinion and of values have turned up that this EU can hardly be called a “Europe of values” anymore. It is only a matter of months or years before the new deal will also be unravelled.
As we have said in earlier posts, this EU is at its end and needs to re-engineer itself. Of course this will not happen with 27 members. Some of them are not ready for the new big vision. But those who really believe that the 21st century challenges need more global cooperation will have to find ways of getting out under the old ruins and start building the new eco-house. Who takes the lead? My money is on the Dutch 
More interesting comments on the summit:
- EU Referendum: A gigantic, ocean-going con
- EU Referendum: We aren’t idiots
The Times has published the “full text of Mrs Merkel’s Blueprint for Europe”
