Part 72: EUreka!
Part LXXII
EUreka!
*BONG* The sound of Big Ben sang through the television report, of a special late night edition of the BBC News.
“And there it is from midnight tonight, the 1st of May, 2007, the Euro is the official currency of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and it’s farewell to the pound It can no longer be spent in shops. After nearly 4 years of political tussling, the battle over the Eurozone entry is over. Britain is in.” – Jeremy Vine
The PM beamed, as he always did in moments like this, as he stood beside the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alan Milburn. Each withdrew bright red €10 notes from the cashier, and stood with them, as cameras snapped the scene. It had been an uphill fight, the referendum, which the government had barely survived had only been the beginning.
(Left to right) PM Tony Blair, Big Ben, Chancellor Milburn
There had been a fight in parliament and in public over every little procedure, the ascension treaty, the exchange rate mechanism, the central bank adjustment., battles kicked into high gear by the loud faction of Eurosceptics who after the referendum defeat stayed firmly pinned to the masthead of ‘saving sterling".
First, there were the Labour party skeptics who after the referendum most had stuck their heads below the sand, but a few renegades, the ‘usual suspects’ according to the Guardian like Dagenam MP Jon Cruddas or Islington’s Jeremy Corbyn who couldn’t help but snipe from the backbenches, offering a motion to ‘delay entry’ until the EU’s monitory policy aligned with Britain’s more closely. The Conservatives, though the party as a whole under Theresa May accepted the result, backed further rounds of negotiation before the final trigger was pulled, and some party members like Hensley MP Boris Johnson were happy to entertain all manner of schemes to keep the Pound, for instance retaining it as an alternate ‘duel currency’, an idea mocked as unworkable by Milburn.
He was part of the vocal faction of the party that had always been vocally opposed to Europe and grew more frustrated with the leadership of their own party for their refusal to not focus on the EU in campaigning and made up a significant clique of members who sought to entirely role back UK-EU relations, “We wish our negotiations every success, but unless government officials make serious compromises which doesn’t seem likely, there is a growing voice that is demanding our party stand up for British values” said MP Liam Fox in a Telegraph article.
Then there was the far-right, made up of three camps that varied in their extremity, the UKIP (UK independents party) under Robert Kilroy Silk, was singularly focused on the Euro becoming a single-issue party, known for their consistent picketing of government ministers, to the frustration of the more broadly Eurosceptics like Nigel Farage who left UKIP to create a new ‘more respectable centrist’ British Liberty party, which attracted the support of Tory turncoats (though no sitting MPs) who sought to fight further EU expansion, demanding a second referendum on the Euro and the European constitution to no avail. And then there were the fascists, Nick Griffins British National Party “Brownshirts in business suits” as the Home Secretary called them, who had throughout the Euro battle thrived achieving small but significant victories in local and European elections, the group had hardly shed its militancy, still sporting youth ‘clubs’ and demanded the deportation of “anyone who is a threat to Western Civilization”.
But by a country mile, the focus of the tabloids was the ‘invisible opposition’ within the Labour Party helmed supposedly by former Chancellor Gordon Brown, whose exit from government after the 2005 election could manifest headlines about his ‘growing dissatisfaction’ with the Prime Minister, each story decorated with another headshot of the eternally scowling Scotsman.
If you didn’t know any better it was as if Britain had become a One-Party state with the Conservatives often sidelined as Blair sought to rout his right flank with a tough-on-crime, anti-social behaviour policy, the so-called “war on ASBOs”, a signature Blairite policy that combined social-democratic spending with paternalistic populism. His third term marked a complete break with the Brownites, who had all exited or been shuffled out of the cabinet by ‘King Tony’ as he was more often portrayed in the press.
(Top to bottom. Left to right) Labour MP Jon Cruddas, Conservative leader Theresa May, and MP Boris Johnson
Leaders of right-wing parties Robert Kilroy-Silk, Nigel Farage, and Nick Griffin
Former Chancellor Gordon Brown
Tony Blair after 11 years was already the longest-serving Labour Prime Minister in UK history, and if he served out the remainder of this term would surpass Margeret Thatcher as the longest-serving PM of the modern era, and by the looks of things Blair had no intentions of stepping aside yet and plans of a 4th term were making their way through parliamentary back channels, the New Labour Revolution would power on.
To secure victory in the referendum, Blair and his team had pitched to the electorate that entry would make Britain a truly competitive player in Europe, “a leader on the European stage” all language that suggested the Euro would be accommodating for the UK not the other way around, and so negotiations began with every member state hopeful of bringing the UK into the single currency without caving into British demands
Despite the bumpy road through Euro ascension Blair had always remained personally popular, especially when compared to the opposition but he had still accrued baggage, the biggest blow being struck when in 2006 the “cash for honours” scandal kicked off when it was revealed that men nominated for appointment to the House of Lords were major Labour party fundraisers, sparking a criminal investigation that was pushed into high gear when the PM was questioned by the Police over the affair.
The other major scandal was directly related to the Euro referendum, amid persistent claims from the Vote-No campaign that the government had spent unaccounted-for cash in the campaign, used illegal advertising tactics, and most scandalous of all alleged that a ‘dodgy dossier’ had been written by No.10 Downing Street to force the Treasuries hand into endorsing the Euro, claiming that a campaign helmed by the PM’s chief spin-doctors like Alistair Cambell and cabinet ministers like Peter Mandelson had been unleashed to browbeat the media and major financial institutions into backing the Euro effort, spawning opposition calls into an investigation into the government’s efforts, efforts that interrupted the delicate talks.
Things were up and down amid the negotiations and the scandal, as Downing Street welcomed EU bureaucrats, chancellors, and heads of state from nearly 2 dozen countries to manage a workable agreement finally reaching one after over 18 months of banging heads into walls finally ratified the completed agreement. “We have emerged from this process into a new era, a new generation for Britain, a new consensus in hand”. He said at a party conference speech the first since to be absent of Brown.
One by one, the Euro adversaries fell by the wayside and laid down their swords, the English pubs and cabbies that pledged not to accept the currency surrendered to the inevitable and removed their window stickers. In the immediacy, the reaction was largely positive, traders in London cheered the changeover and stocks rose, and the lower exchange rate loosened markets and fuelled a spending spree, though sceptics insisted that it was a monetary bubble destined to burst, the average consumer didn’t care, for now at least.
With his domestic politics reassured, Blair joyously returned to the sphere of global politics, an elder statesman by now he held considerable sway and was an outspoken advocate for humanitarian interventionism in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Darfur, forged close bonds with three American Presidents and bolstered Britain as a key player in the world stage, and had often positioned himself as even more hawkish than America when it came to confronting the Taleban, Sudan, Iraq and other autocrats who he claimed “undermined the international community” like the Ayatollah, Mugabe, Assad or Ghaddafi who had lumped together into as members of the “Dictators Club”.
But Tony still had battles he wanted to fight, the civil war in Iraq presented the Prime Minister an opportunity to bring down a tyrant he despised, once and for all, as he too joined a growing chorus of those advocating to support the Iraqi opposition, through the direct use of Anti-Terror Coalition aircraft to attack Saddam’s forces, an agenda now shared by legislators inside the United States like Democratic Senators Joe Lieberman and Joe Biden as well as Senator and Presidential candidate John McCain who said that “America should always stand with the free Iraqi people, who are being butchered by Saddam” and agreed that the United States should push for Saddam’s immediate removal from power following the especially bloody spring fighting.
(Left to right) UK 1 Euro coin, PM Blair
France
One man who tried to recreate the Blairite revolution on the European continent was Lionel Jospin, the President of France. A hardnosed French socialist, who snatched the Presidency in 2002 with a stubbornly doctrinaire vision of French ‘reformed socialism’, defined by holding back the private markets, increasing equality, and raising employment, triumphing against a scandal-prone Chirac amidst a rising tide of voter apathy.
Jospin’s Presidency kicked off with a scare when during a Bastille Day celebration radical far-right gunman attempted to shoot the President with a concealed rifle but missed and struck a policeman (who survived) The would-be killer Maxime Brunere had been a member of a radical far right group, and before the attempted assassination posted on the internet that he would “Kill the communist Zog”.
Jospin faced an extremely fractured political scene and tried to stand his ground in the center, promising to break with orthodox socialism through similar economic reforms as the UK and Germany. Following legislative elections, a left-wing coalition was able to claim the majority appointing Prime Minister Francois Hollande a strong ally of Jospin’s, to lead the government and manage the government's occasionally erratic left-wingers like Laurent Fabius and Jean-Luc Melançon by providing cabinet appointments to the ‘plural left’, a broad swath that included Greens and Communists to expand the coalition. However, time proved that Jospin was poor at coalition management and the government quickly began to leak like a sieve, as it wrestled with inter-cabinet rivalry which spilled out onto the front pages, distracting from Jospin’s actual (and economists argued successfully implemented) agenda.
(Left to right) PM Holland and President Jospin, Magazine cover showing Maxime Brunere and Jospin government
His vision of ‘Realism de Guache’, left-wing realism, worked well when he was in partnership with Chirac as his conservative foil, but now he was facing off against the proudly rebellious French left, who were far more conscious of the market-oriented solutions, continued privatization and liberal public sector reforms that Jospin backed. Chiefly one of his government's greatest squabbles was reforming the French pension system. In 2004 Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Khan charged forward the government's initiative “Unemployment is falling, interest rates down and growth steady, it’s time to balance our system to provide more reassurance to the elderly … to ensure our retirement system will remain solvent”. It meant touching the third rail of French politics, raising the retirement age.
The announcement that public sector retirement would be raised to match the private sector set up a battle between the government and the well-organized unions who were quick to set off nationwide demonstrations, protests, and strikes, from both government workers and many in the private sector joined in a display of solidarity. Jospin attempted to open a ‘dialogue’ with the unions to explain the reason for the change and show off its offsets, like better benefits for early retirees but he was shouted down wherever the Presidential entourage tried to travel, being literally pelted with rotten fruit while visiting a university, while the CGT union leader Berard Thibault warned that “Any government minister should be warned that no form of protest is excluded” As public transport became intermittently paralyzed by strikes.
The government's embarrassment was only compounded when the Communist ministers Jean Gaysotte and Robert Hue vowed to oppose the government on the issue in a dramatic television address, resigning from the cabinet and withdrawing from the coalition. Only by dealing with the right-wing parties, could the reforms finally get gavelled through.
It wasn’t helped by Jospin’s dismal handle of the personal side of politics, visually uneasy with any interaction outside of an office setting, his defense of the reforms came down purely to an economic one, as opposed to the emotional appeals of the picketers. And though personal scandals did not come into play in his administration, his manner of speech was more akin to a university lecturer and thrilled no one, all while his government became embroiled in round after round of left-wing infighting over taxes, vacation days, housing, his foreign policy and somehow following the announcement into an investigation into former President Chirac’s finances, the government fought over whether the charges warranted prosecution.
His government often seemed too timid, too inward-looking, and too at odds with the public, when it came to the question of the European Union Constitution in 2004 though articulately in favor believing it would lead to a “socially liberal Europe”, it earned the fury the anti-Europe left, who spawned demonstrations equal or bigger than even those of the far-right against “the vastly expanding ultra-capitalist Europe” read a Trotskyist party leaflet, Jospin again held firm against his left-flank and ratified the agreement through the congress, to the raucous boos of some members, who participated in an “alter-globalist march” joined by Jose Bove, and Melanchamp who departed from the Socialists to assist in an opposing Presidential campaign.
(Top to bottom, left to right) Crowded Paris train amid strikes, President Jospin being heckled,
Anti-Europe protesters, Pro-EU protesters
The saving grace of Jospin’s government was that the economy remained in a general upward direction and the unemployment rate continued to slide downward, despite the intermittent strikes and work stoppages, and somehow the French right remained just as divided as the left. The downfall of Chirac left his electoral alliance the Union en Mouvement (Union on the Move) splintered between its factions, the Christian Democrats under Phillipe Douse-Blazy, the Gaullists the most pro-Chirac faction under Alain Juppe and Alain Madelins Liberal Democrats who failed to merge into a firm electoral bloc, and after a poor performance in parliamentary elections many severed connections with the party, the final nail being driven by a feud between Juppe and the parties Presidential candidate Villepin and the more right-wing Nicolas Sarkozy over the parties direction.
By the time of the election 18 candidates had qualified for the first ballot, guaranteeing a mess like in 2002. The most important being Jospin, running for re-election, Dominique Villepin of Union on the Move, Sarkozy who ran with a dissident faction of the Union en Movement under the tagline ‘A Strong France’, François Bayrou of the centrist Union for French Democracy, Marine Le Pen the daughter of the far- right National Fronts long-time leader Jean Marie Le Pen, Jose Bove of the Leftist ‘Alter-Globalist’ platform and Olivier Besancenot of the Trotskyist ‘Revolutionary Communist’ branch, all trailed by a cavalcade of Communists, Syndicalists, Neo-Agrarians, Libertarians, Catholics, Greens, Anti-Le Pen Nationalists, Utopianists, Tax Protesters, and a few independent vanity candidates who somehow found cobbled together necessary endorsements to confuse things further.
There was no escape now, it was going to be a mess, with the many fringe parties in the race, all drawing votes from the mainstream candidates before the runoff, Jospin remained consistently ahead (reaching around least 20%) in the first round polling, but who he would be facing, was an open question.
(Top to bottom left to right) Leading Presidential candidates: Jospin, Villepin, Sarkozy
Bayrou, Le Pen, Bove and Besancenot
The candidates clashed over everything, as Jospin tried to run on his economic record, his campaign found itself taunted by the unions who were committed to registering their betrayal in the first round, while his spending policies still corralled opponents on the center and right, from Villepin and Bayrou for his “absolute failure” to keep public debt in order, to Sarkozy who came out in full-throttled attack against his labor policies as still “too weak” and heavily highlighted socialist plans to raise taxes.
Jospin was bullied by the opposing candidates for his position on Europe, his perceived weakness in the face of Brussels, as Le Pen and Bove both tore into the “subjugation of the French people” to the European constitution. And his bending to the British and the Americans over international issues,
Immigration policy became a favorite topic of the right candidates, Marine Le Pen who inherited the party from her father, who at the age 78, opted not to run a 5th time [1] but it didn’t stop him from campaigning heavily for her. The elder Le Pen would hammer openly and colorfully about how Muslims were “Spoiling the integrity of France” while the younger would soften her language and take the more reasonable view that immigrants needed to “embrace the French identity”.
A major focus of the election was the issue of refugee’s and asylum centers, where when a visit by Jean-Marie visit (following a pledge to bulldoze the centers) provoked a clash between migrants and NF supporters and touched off protests among African and Muslim communities in Paris.
A specially arranged candidates debate devolved into a shouting match, where the President was somehow sidelined from the proceedings, supporters claimed that he “looked above the fray” but others were left wondering “It looked like a member of the production staff had mistakenly stood there”.
When French ballots were finally cast in the first round, the result was going to be close and it was likely that last-minute shifts could shift the entire election as campaigners urged members to consider voting tactically.
Jospin kept his lead, by the skin of his teeth with only 18% of the vote, the rest of the left vote scattered amongst all the shades of red. But rather than either of the UNM candidates Villepin or Sarkozy, the centrist Francois Bayrou gathered the necessary 17% to enter the second round, a delightful shock of the establishment as Villepin came third followed by Le Pen, then Sarkozy and then Bove with all the rest clustered at the back of the pack.
The runoff proved to be a cooling saucer to the fiery first round, as President Jospin and Bayrou were able to manage a coherent campaign against one another, that didn’t make the average Frenchman tear their eyes out (though it might put them to sleep) and did no favors as to inspire the growing number of the politically disengaged.
Quickly Bayrou emerged ahead in the polls, the left was in no mood to rescue Jospin and none of the left-wing parties endorsed him (and the Greens even passively endorsed Bayrou owing to his agricultural promises) as most pledged not to vote at all, while the right-wing including Sarkozy and Villepin did not endorse either candidate to the point that many UMP candidates endorsed not voting in the election. While Bayrou gained a steady set of endorsements from the other centrist and single-issue candidates, the toxicity of the election only heightened the appeal of his ‘post-partisan’ agenda.
By the time the final votes were cast, the polls had already predicted the ‘Orange tide’, Jospin and the Socialists tried to point out his lack of firm policy stances “He floats” said Hollande “There are no ideas here”, but despite the lowest turnout in normally politically attentive France, Bayrou romped to victory with 60% of the vote, and delivered his victory cry that a new paradigm of government had arrived, separate from the ordinary left and right bickering, to deliver a “project of hope” for France.
(Top) President Jospin Concedes
(Centre) 2007 French Election Wiki Box
(Bottom) President-elect Bayrou
Netherlands
Of course, the real circus show of Europe was the Netherlands, following Dutch elections in 2004, a coalition government came to power composed of two parties, Prime Minister Maxime Verhagen and his Christian Democrats, the professional, straight-laced, confident Pro-Europe conservatives, and Pim Fortuyn of the ‘Livable Netherlands Party’ a far-right populist, boisterous amateur rabble, few had held political office at all prior to their electoral victory, wrangled from media backgrounds or local campaigners, in lockstep behind their leader Fortuyn, a blend of Italy’s Berlusconi and Germanies Stoiber with a penchant for outrageous attacks on his opponents and crude statements on immigrants.
The partnership between Verhagen and Fortuyn quickly turned toxic given that Fortuyn despite entering into the coalition in “the greatest spirit of harmony” was not averse to criticizing government ministers and even the Prime Minister on occasion, seemingly unable to keep himself quiet, he attacked his own governments spending policies on cutting funding for public transport, and continued to highlight immigrant and particular Muslim crime in the Netherlands in interviews and columns he continued to write, as part of coalition demanding control over the Justice ministry, as was helmed by Herman Heibbsbroek who opened an extensive investigation into the Leo Van Gough murder to upturn what he called a “Jihad network” inside the Dutch Muslim community.
Fortuyn drew international attention and outrage when in ‘solidarity’ with the writers of the cartoon South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone over the depiction of the prophet Muhammed airing a public screening of the offending episode and sent the video to his followers, which drew massive condemnation from the Muslim world and sparked a violent confrontation with police in Amsterdam and forced Verhagen to issue an apology, which Fortuyn declined to support “We have freedom of speech in the Netherlands, and though emotions were flared, I see no reason to apologize”
(left) PM Verhagen, (right) Deputy PM Fortuyn
The breaking point was Europe, though Fortuyn was malleable on plenty of issues, allowing the Christian Democrats to control the bulk of legislation, one thing that his party couldn’t abide was an expansion of Europe, he had railed against the country joining the Euro in 2002 and warned against the expansion of the E.U. to the Balkans, Turkey or Eastern Europe, and when the battle of the European constitution reared its head in 2005. Fortuyn demanded a referendum on the issue (as other groups failed to achieve in the UK [2], France, and Denmark) and quickly fronted the No campaign as an opportunity to “Hammer the nail into the EU advance” and said that without serious renegotiations concerning national sovereignty and “Dutch values” it must be opposed.
The referendum was a strange time for the Netherlands, the country hadn’t experienced one in 200 years, and every major party opposed the maneuver as unconstitutional, it was clear that Verhagen was making a painful concession to Fortuyn to avoid a government collapse, when the proposal was agreed to.
The ratification of the European constitution had so far proven entirely uncontroversial, only solidly opposed by hard-line Eurosceptics, and viewed with either total apathy or passive approval by the public at large. Once states began ratifying one by one without much of a passing glance, it was viewed as a matter of if and not when the process would be complete. Passed by large majorities through national parliaments, in Germany, France, and Italy, and even the UK passed the procedure without much of a fight (with little appetite for a second referendum on the European issue). Even those countries that did consult the public, Spain, Luxemburg, and Portugal were waved through by a large margin. The final hurdles were expected to be Ireland (which required a referendum on the issue according to the constitution) and the Czech Republic where President Václav Klaus was an avowed skeptic, not polite Holland.
The campaign was unlike anything in the history of the Netherlands, election campaigns were normally subdued affairs, and people didn’t leaflet or call people's homes “When you walk around giving out leaflets, most people think you are trying to sell a religion” said a No campaigner, but the stakes were suddenly high, with polls narrowing all of Europe had journalists traipsing tulip fields in search of more Dutchmen to interview.
The government went into crisis mode, Verhagen had only put forward the referendum to assuage his chaotic coalition ally, and now it stood to seriously wound his premiership. Verhagen began to make statements that affirmed that “The referendum is simply consultive … without an unambiguous answer, the decision is ultimately that of the government of the day … either way, we hope to see our Union brought closer”. What exactly ‘unambiguous’ meant was a mystery to everyone and the Pro-EU opposition parties were divided over strategy, whether to stay away from the polls to deny its legitimacy or tilt the campaign in their favor
The campaigning grew nasty and the tactics varied, Pro-EU opposition liberals struggled to unite with the conservatives, and the No campaign brought out leaflets subsequently banned by the police for ‘racist rhetoric’ when it depicted Turks, Africans, and Ethnic Russians preparing to enter the EU, and the government was raked over the coals for an advert that featured footage of the Bosnian genocide as a reason to be in favor of the constriction.
The campaign between the Prime Minister and his Chief Coalition Partner the Netherlands ended in a shocking thunderclap with a No vote, by a 56% margin provoking delight from Fortuyn, (despite the low turnout of less than 50%) where following a furious rally with Fortuyn he declared that “The elites will not crush us, we the people have won, and not be forced into this superstate”.
(Left to right) Cows wearing Vote Yes posters, Vote No graffiti
In a more muted speech by the PM, Verhagen and the CDA announced accepted that the government needed to consult with the public, but again cast doubt on the government’s future plans, stating that he would meet with European leaders and consult on a new course of action.
Only days later, citing an irreconcilable difference in policy, the government finally shattered, and a new grand coalition was forged between the Labor party, Christian Democrats, and the liberal VVD, with Fortuyn’s gang once again locked out from the government but left stubbornly as the official opposition to the government.
The Netherlands vote prompted the ‘NEE Crisis’ in Europe. Nations that had been expected to quickly ratify including Poland, Denmark, and Sweden postponed their votes, and Verhagen as head of the new ‘round-table government’ travelled to Brussels to consult with the EU chiefs and council over the Union's course of action.
After tense sessions of confrontation between the “wise men of Europe”, in June and again in October 2006 the members came forward in a joint decision that they would continue to pursue the constitution with the proviso that amendments would be added after ratification that would adopt more conciliatory language to the admission of new members and respect for ‘national values’ and other procedural adjustments. These reforms were derided by the skeptics as “grossly inadequate, this is a touch up at best, lipstick on the pig” wrote British Conservative William Hague “Europe deserves better”.But these concerns were supposedly enough to “Satisfy the concerns of the Dutch people” according to Verhagen as he and the unity cabinet pledged to ratify the agreement without another referendum.
Verhagen did his best to play into the political theatre, he stormed out of meetings and demanded hardlines about an expansion of Europe, attempting to rephrase the referendum from a hardline NEE as the Fortuyn gang pronounced it, into a No-but, according to him the Dutch had logged their frustration with the constitution and had successfully achieved hard-won reforms citing polling which said satisfied most, (including the Irish who voted in favor in their own referendum) and the Czech President who despite his “displeasure” didn’t want to leave the Czechs as the final holdouts on the issue.
However, to the Eurosceptics, who had won a hard-fought victory, this would be the great ‘stab in the back’, the purest evidence of the anti-democratic nature of the ever-consuming beast of Brussels. As Fortuyn roared from the opposition podium, Verhagen would forever be branded ‘The Rat’ who had betrayed the Dutch. And when King Gustaf of Sweden put the final pen to paper in December 2007 and ratified the agreement, to go into effect, and as the blue and yellow fireworks shone up the skies, a purifying flame burned in the hearts of those opposed, time would tell if it would temper.
Fireworks over Berlin
EU Anthem
[1] Jean Marie's failure to reach the 2nd round in 2002 leaves him to hand over leadership sooner
[2] The UK was the tipping point here. When Blair announced a referendum on the constitution many others followed suit, however, since he won his Euro battle he didn't need a repeat.
EUreka!
*BONG* The sound of Big Ben sang through the television report, of a special late night edition of the BBC News.
“And there it is from midnight tonight, the 1st of May, 2007, the Euro is the official currency of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and it’s farewell to the pound It can no longer be spent in shops. After nearly 4 years of political tussling, the battle over the Eurozone entry is over. Britain is in.” – Jeremy Vine
The PM beamed, as he always did in moments like this, as he stood beside the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alan Milburn. Each withdrew bright red €10 notes from the cashier, and stood with them, as cameras snapped the scene. It had been an uphill fight, the referendum, which the government had barely survived had only been the beginning.
(Left to right) PM Tony Blair, Big Ben, Chancellor Milburn
There had been a fight in parliament and in public over every little procedure, the ascension treaty, the exchange rate mechanism, the central bank adjustment., battles kicked into high gear by the loud faction of Eurosceptics who after the referendum defeat stayed firmly pinned to the masthead of ‘saving sterling".
First, there were the Labour party skeptics who after the referendum most had stuck their heads below the sand, but a few renegades, the ‘usual suspects’ according to the Guardian like Dagenam MP Jon Cruddas or Islington’s Jeremy Corbyn who couldn’t help but snipe from the backbenches, offering a motion to ‘delay entry’ until the EU’s monitory policy aligned with Britain’s more closely. The Conservatives, though the party as a whole under Theresa May accepted the result, backed further rounds of negotiation before the final trigger was pulled, and some party members like Hensley MP Boris Johnson were happy to entertain all manner of schemes to keep the Pound, for instance retaining it as an alternate ‘duel currency’, an idea mocked as unworkable by Milburn.
He was part of the vocal faction of the party that had always been vocally opposed to Europe and grew more frustrated with the leadership of their own party for their refusal to not focus on the EU in campaigning and made up a significant clique of members who sought to entirely role back UK-EU relations, “We wish our negotiations every success, but unless government officials make serious compromises which doesn’t seem likely, there is a growing voice that is demanding our party stand up for British values” said MP Liam Fox in a Telegraph article.
Then there was the far-right, made up of three camps that varied in their extremity, the UKIP (UK independents party) under Robert Kilroy Silk, was singularly focused on the Euro becoming a single-issue party, known for their consistent picketing of government ministers, to the frustration of the more broadly Eurosceptics like Nigel Farage who left UKIP to create a new ‘more respectable centrist’ British Liberty party, which attracted the support of Tory turncoats (though no sitting MPs) who sought to fight further EU expansion, demanding a second referendum on the Euro and the European constitution to no avail. And then there were the fascists, Nick Griffins British National Party “Brownshirts in business suits” as the Home Secretary called them, who had throughout the Euro battle thrived achieving small but significant victories in local and European elections, the group had hardly shed its militancy, still sporting youth ‘clubs’ and demanded the deportation of “anyone who is a threat to Western Civilization”.
But by a country mile, the focus of the tabloids was the ‘invisible opposition’ within the Labour Party helmed supposedly by former Chancellor Gordon Brown, whose exit from government after the 2005 election could manifest headlines about his ‘growing dissatisfaction’ with the Prime Minister, each story decorated with another headshot of the eternally scowling Scotsman.
If you didn’t know any better it was as if Britain had become a One-Party state with the Conservatives often sidelined as Blair sought to rout his right flank with a tough-on-crime, anti-social behaviour policy, the so-called “war on ASBOs”, a signature Blairite policy that combined social-democratic spending with paternalistic populism. His third term marked a complete break with the Brownites, who had all exited or been shuffled out of the cabinet by ‘King Tony’ as he was more often portrayed in the press.
(Top to bottom. Left to right) Labour MP Jon Cruddas, Conservative leader Theresa May, and MP Boris Johnson
Leaders of right-wing parties Robert Kilroy-Silk, Nigel Farage, and Nick Griffin
Former Chancellor Gordon Brown
Tony Blair after 11 years was already the longest-serving Labour Prime Minister in UK history, and if he served out the remainder of this term would surpass Margeret Thatcher as the longest-serving PM of the modern era, and by the looks of things Blair had no intentions of stepping aside yet and plans of a 4th term were making their way through parliamentary back channels, the New Labour Revolution would power on.
To secure victory in the referendum, Blair and his team had pitched to the electorate that entry would make Britain a truly competitive player in Europe, “a leader on the European stage” all language that suggested the Euro would be accommodating for the UK not the other way around, and so negotiations began with every member state hopeful of bringing the UK into the single currency without caving into British demands
Despite the bumpy road through Euro ascension Blair had always remained personally popular, especially when compared to the opposition but he had still accrued baggage, the biggest blow being struck when in 2006 the “cash for honours” scandal kicked off when it was revealed that men nominated for appointment to the House of Lords were major Labour party fundraisers, sparking a criminal investigation that was pushed into high gear when the PM was questioned by the Police over the affair.
The other major scandal was directly related to the Euro referendum, amid persistent claims from the Vote-No campaign that the government had spent unaccounted-for cash in the campaign, used illegal advertising tactics, and most scandalous of all alleged that a ‘dodgy dossier’ had been written by No.10 Downing Street to force the Treasuries hand into endorsing the Euro, claiming that a campaign helmed by the PM’s chief spin-doctors like Alistair Cambell and cabinet ministers like Peter Mandelson had been unleashed to browbeat the media and major financial institutions into backing the Euro effort, spawning opposition calls into an investigation into the government’s efforts, efforts that interrupted the delicate talks.
Things were up and down amid the negotiations and the scandal, as Downing Street welcomed EU bureaucrats, chancellors, and heads of state from nearly 2 dozen countries to manage a workable agreement finally reaching one after over 18 months of banging heads into walls finally ratified the completed agreement. “We have emerged from this process into a new era, a new generation for Britain, a new consensus in hand”. He said at a party conference speech the first since to be absent of Brown.
One by one, the Euro adversaries fell by the wayside and laid down their swords, the English pubs and cabbies that pledged not to accept the currency surrendered to the inevitable and removed their window stickers. In the immediacy, the reaction was largely positive, traders in London cheered the changeover and stocks rose, and the lower exchange rate loosened markets and fuelled a spending spree, though sceptics insisted that it was a monetary bubble destined to burst, the average consumer didn’t care, for now at least.
With his domestic politics reassured, Blair joyously returned to the sphere of global politics, an elder statesman by now he held considerable sway and was an outspoken advocate for humanitarian interventionism in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Darfur, forged close bonds with three American Presidents and bolstered Britain as a key player in the world stage, and had often positioned himself as even more hawkish than America when it came to confronting the Taleban, Sudan, Iraq and other autocrats who he claimed “undermined the international community” like the Ayatollah, Mugabe, Assad or Ghaddafi who had lumped together into as members of the “Dictators Club”.
But Tony still had battles he wanted to fight, the civil war in Iraq presented the Prime Minister an opportunity to bring down a tyrant he despised, once and for all, as he too joined a growing chorus of those advocating to support the Iraqi opposition, through the direct use of Anti-Terror Coalition aircraft to attack Saddam’s forces, an agenda now shared by legislators inside the United States like Democratic Senators Joe Lieberman and Joe Biden as well as Senator and Presidential candidate John McCain who said that “America should always stand with the free Iraqi people, who are being butchered by Saddam” and agreed that the United States should push for Saddam’s immediate removal from power following the especially bloody spring fighting.
(Left to right) UK 1 Euro coin, PM Blair
France
One man who tried to recreate the Blairite revolution on the European continent was Lionel Jospin, the President of France. A hardnosed French socialist, who snatched the Presidency in 2002 with a stubbornly doctrinaire vision of French ‘reformed socialism’, defined by holding back the private markets, increasing equality, and raising employment, triumphing against a scandal-prone Chirac amidst a rising tide of voter apathy.
Jospin’s Presidency kicked off with a scare when during a Bastille Day celebration radical far-right gunman attempted to shoot the President with a concealed rifle but missed and struck a policeman (who survived) The would-be killer Maxime Brunere had been a member of a radical far right group, and before the attempted assassination posted on the internet that he would “Kill the communist Zog”.
Jospin faced an extremely fractured political scene and tried to stand his ground in the center, promising to break with orthodox socialism through similar economic reforms as the UK and Germany. Following legislative elections, a left-wing coalition was able to claim the majority appointing Prime Minister Francois Hollande a strong ally of Jospin’s, to lead the government and manage the government's occasionally erratic left-wingers like Laurent Fabius and Jean-Luc Melançon by providing cabinet appointments to the ‘plural left’, a broad swath that included Greens and Communists to expand the coalition. However, time proved that Jospin was poor at coalition management and the government quickly began to leak like a sieve, as it wrestled with inter-cabinet rivalry which spilled out onto the front pages, distracting from Jospin’s actual (and economists argued successfully implemented) agenda.
(Left to right) PM Holland and President Jospin, Magazine cover showing Maxime Brunere and Jospin government
His vision of ‘Realism de Guache’, left-wing realism, worked well when he was in partnership with Chirac as his conservative foil, but now he was facing off against the proudly rebellious French left, who were far more conscious of the market-oriented solutions, continued privatization and liberal public sector reforms that Jospin backed. Chiefly one of his government's greatest squabbles was reforming the French pension system. In 2004 Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Khan charged forward the government's initiative “Unemployment is falling, interest rates down and growth steady, it’s time to balance our system to provide more reassurance to the elderly … to ensure our retirement system will remain solvent”. It meant touching the third rail of French politics, raising the retirement age.
The announcement that public sector retirement would be raised to match the private sector set up a battle between the government and the well-organized unions who were quick to set off nationwide demonstrations, protests, and strikes, from both government workers and many in the private sector joined in a display of solidarity. Jospin attempted to open a ‘dialogue’ with the unions to explain the reason for the change and show off its offsets, like better benefits for early retirees but he was shouted down wherever the Presidential entourage tried to travel, being literally pelted with rotten fruit while visiting a university, while the CGT union leader Berard Thibault warned that “Any government minister should be warned that no form of protest is excluded” As public transport became intermittently paralyzed by strikes.
The government's embarrassment was only compounded when the Communist ministers Jean Gaysotte and Robert Hue vowed to oppose the government on the issue in a dramatic television address, resigning from the cabinet and withdrawing from the coalition. Only by dealing with the right-wing parties, could the reforms finally get gavelled through.
It wasn’t helped by Jospin’s dismal handle of the personal side of politics, visually uneasy with any interaction outside of an office setting, his defense of the reforms came down purely to an economic one, as opposed to the emotional appeals of the picketers. And though personal scandals did not come into play in his administration, his manner of speech was more akin to a university lecturer and thrilled no one, all while his government became embroiled in round after round of left-wing infighting over taxes, vacation days, housing, his foreign policy and somehow following the announcement into an investigation into former President Chirac’s finances, the government fought over whether the charges warranted prosecution.
His government often seemed too timid, too inward-looking, and too at odds with the public, when it came to the question of the European Union Constitution in 2004 though articulately in favor believing it would lead to a “socially liberal Europe”, it earned the fury the anti-Europe left, who spawned demonstrations equal or bigger than even those of the far-right against “the vastly expanding ultra-capitalist Europe” read a Trotskyist party leaflet, Jospin again held firm against his left-flank and ratified the agreement through the congress, to the raucous boos of some members, who participated in an “alter-globalist march” joined by Jose Bove, and Melanchamp who departed from the Socialists to assist in an opposing Presidential campaign.
(Top to bottom, left to right) Crowded Paris train amid strikes, President Jospin being heckled,
Anti-Europe protesters, Pro-EU protesters
The saving grace of Jospin’s government was that the economy remained in a general upward direction and the unemployment rate continued to slide downward, despite the intermittent strikes and work stoppages, and somehow the French right remained just as divided as the left. The downfall of Chirac left his electoral alliance the Union en Mouvement (Union on the Move) splintered between its factions, the Christian Democrats under Phillipe Douse-Blazy, the Gaullists the most pro-Chirac faction under Alain Juppe and Alain Madelins Liberal Democrats who failed to merge into a firm electoral bloc, and after a poor performance in parliamentary elections many severed connections with the party, the final nail being driven by a feud between Juppe and the parties Presidential candidate Villepin and the more right-wing Nicolas Sarkozy over the parties direction.
By the time of the election 18 candidates had qualified for the first ballot, guaranteeing a mess like in 2002. The most important being Jospin, running for re-election, Dominique Villepin of Union on the Move, Sarkozy who ran with a dissident faction of the Union en Movement under the tagline ‘A Strong France’, François Bayrou of the centrist Union for French Democracy, Marine Le Pen the daughter of the far- right National Fronts long-time leader Jean Marie Le Pen, Jose Bove of the Leftist ‘Alter-Globalist’ platform and Olivier Besancenot of the Trotskyist ‘Revolutionary Communist’ branch, all trailed by a cavalcade of Communists, Syndicalists, Neo-Agrarians, Libertarians, Catholics, Greens, Anti-Le Pen Nationalists, Utopianists, Tax Protesters, and a few independent vanity candidates who somehow found cobbled together necessary endorsements to confuse things further.
There was no escape now, it was going to be a mess, with the many fringe parties in the race, all drawing votes from the mainstream candidates before the runoff, Jospin remained consistently ahead (reaching around least 20%) in the first round polling, but who he would be facing, was an open question.
(Top to bottom left to right) Leading Presidential candidates: Jospin, Villepin, Sarkozy
Bayrou, Le Pen, Bove and Besancenot
The candidates clashed over everything, as Jospin tried to run on his economic record, his campaign found itself taunted by the unions who were committed to registering their betrayal in the first round, while his spending policies still corralled opponents on the center and right, from Villepin and Bayrou for his “absolute failure” to keep public debt in order, to Sarkozy who came out in full-throttled attack against his labor policies as still “too weak” and heavily highlighted socialist plans to raise taxes.
Jospin was bullied by the opposing candidates for his position on Europe, his perceived weakness in the face of Brussels, as Le Pen and Bove both tore into the “subjugation of the French people” to the European constitution. And his bending to the British and the Americans over international issues,
Immigration policy became a favorite topic of the right candidates, Marine Le Pen who inherited the party from her father, who at the age 78, opted not to run a 5th time [1] but it didn’t stop him from campaigning heavily for her. The elder Le Pen would hammer openly and colorfully about how Muslims were “Spoiling the integrity of France” while the younger would soften her language and take the more reasonable view that immigrants needed to “embrace the French identity”.
A major focus of the election was the issue of refugee’s and asylum centers, where when a visit by Jean-Marie visit (following a pledge to bulldoze the centers) provoked a clash between migrants and NF supporters and touched off protests among African and Muslim communities in Paris.
A specially arranged candidates debate devolved into a shouting match, where the President was somehow sidelined from the proceedings, supporters claimed that he “looked above the fray” but others were left wondering “It looked like a member of the production staff had mistakenly stood there”.
When French ballots were finally cast in the first round, the result was going to be close and it was likely that last-minute shifts could shift the entire election as campaigners urged members to consider voting tactically.
Jospin kept his lead, by the skin of his teeth with only 18% of the vote, the rest of the left vote scattered amongst all the shades of red. But rather than either of the UNM candidates Villepin or Sarkozy, the centrist Francois Bayrou gathered the necessary 17% to enter the second round, a delightful shock of the establishment as Villepin came third followed by Le Pen, then Sarkozy and then Bove with all the rest clustered at the back of the pack.
The runoff proved to be a cooling saucer to the fiery first round, as President Jospin and Bayrou were able to manage a coherent campaign against one another, that didn’t make the average Frenchman tear their eyes out (though it might put them to sleep) and did no favors as to inspire the growing number of the politically disengaged.
Quickly Bayrou emerged ahead in the polls, the left was in no mood to rescue Jospin and none of the left-wing parties endorsed him (and the Greens even passively endorsed Bayrou owing to his agricultural promises) as most pledged not to vote at all, while the right-wing including Sarkozy and Villepin did not endorse either candidate to the point that many UMP candidates endorsed not voting in the election. While Bayrou gained a steady set of endorsements from the other centrist and single-issue candidates, the toxicity of the election only heightened the appeal of his ‘post-partisan’ agenda.
By the time the final votes were cast, the polls had already predicted the ‘Orange tide’, Jospin and the Socialists tried to point out his lack of firm policy stances “He floats” said Hollande “There are no ideas here”, but despite the lowest turnout in normally politically attentive France, Bayrou romped to victory with 60% of the vote, and delivered his victory cry that a new paradigm of government had arrived, separate from the ordinary left and right bickering, to deliver a “project of hope” for France.
(Top) President Jospin Concedes
(Centre) 2007 French Election Wiki Box
(Bottom) President-elect Bayrou
Netherlands
Of course, the real circus show of Europe was the Netherlands, following Dutch elections in 2004, a coalition government came to power composed of two parties, Prime Minister Maxime Verhagen and his Christian Democrats, the professional, straight-laced, confident Pro-Europe conservatives, and Pim Fortuyn of the ‘Livable Netherlands Party’ a far-right populist, boisterous amateur rabble, few had held political office at all prior to their electoral victory, wrangled from media backgrounds or local campaigners, in lockstep behind their leader Fortuyn, a blend of Italy’s Berlusconi and Germanies Stoiber with a penchant for outrageous attacks on his opponents and crude statements on immigrants.
The partnership between Verhagen and Fortuyn quickly turned toxic given that Fortuyn despite entering into the coalition in “the greatest spirit of harmony” was not averse to criticizing government ministers and even the Prime Minister on occasion, seemingly unable to keep himself quiet, he attacked his own governments spending policies on cutting funding for public transport, and continued to highlight immigrant and particular Muslim crime in the Netherlands in interviews and columns he continued to write, as part of coalition demanding control over the Justice ministry, as was helmed by Herman Heibbsbroek who opened an extensive investigation into the Leo Van Gough murder to upturn what he called a “Jihad network” inside the Dutch Muslim community.
Fortuyn drew international attention and outrage when in ‘solidarity’ with the writers of the cartoon South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone over the depiction of the prophet Muhammed airing a public screening of the offending episode and sent the video to his followers, which drew massive condemnation from the Muslim world and sparked a violent confrontation with police in Amsterdam and forced Verhagen to issue an apology, which Fortuyn declined to support “We have freedom of speech in the Netherlands, and though emotions were flared, I see no reason to apologize”
(left) PM Verhagen, (right) Deputy PM Fortuyn
The breaking point was Europe, though Fortuyn was malleable on plenty of issues, allowing the Christian Democrats to control the bulk of legislation, one thing that his party couldn’t abide was an expansion of Europe, he had railed against the country joining the Euro in 2002 and warned against the expansion of the E.U. to the Balkans, Turkey or Eastern Europe, and when the battle of the European constitution reared its head in 2005. Fortuyn demanded a referendum on the issue (as other groups failed to achieve in the UK [2], France, and Denmark) and quickly fronted the No campaign as an opportunity to “Hammer the nail into the EU advance” and said that without serious renegotiations concerning national sovereignty and “Dutch values” it must be opposed.
The referendum was a strange time for the Netherlands, the country hadn’t experienced one in 200 years, and every major party opposed the maneuver as unconstitutional, it was clear that Verhagen was making a painful concession to Fortuyn to avoid a government collapse, when the proposal was agreed to.
The ratification of the European constitution had so far proven entirely uncontroversial, only solidly opposed by hard-line Eurosceptics, and viewed with either total apathy or passive approval by the public at large. Once states began ratifying one by one without much of a passing glance, it was viewed as a matter of if and not when the process would be complete. Passed by large majorities through national parliaments, in Germany, France, and Italy, and even the UK passed the procedure without much of a fight (with little appetite for a second referendum on the European issue). Even those countries that did consult the public, Spain, Luxemburg, and Portugal were waved through by a large margin. The final hurdles were expected to be Ireland (which required a referendum on the issue according to the constitution) and the Czech Republic where President Václav Klaus was an avowed skeptic, not polite Holland.
The campaign was unlike anything in the history of the Netherlands, election campaigns were normally subdued affairs, and people didn’t leaflet or call people's homes “When you walk around giving out leaflets, most people think you are trying to sell a religion” said a No campaigner, but the stakes were suddenly high, with polls narrowing all of Europe had journalists traipsing tulip fields in search of more Dutchmen to interview.
The government went into crisis mode, Verhagen had only put forward the referendum to assuage his chaotic coalition ally, and now it stood to seriously wound his premiership. Verhagen began to make statements that affirmed that “The referendum is simply consultive … without an unambiguous answer, the decision is ultimately that of the government of the day … either way, we hope to see our Union brought closer”. What exactly ‘unambiguous’ meant was a mystery to everyone and the Pro-EU opposition parties were divided over strategy, whether to stay away from the polls to deny its legitimacy or tilt the campaign in their favor
The campaigning grew nasty and the tactics varied, Pro-EU opposition liberals struggled to unite with the conservatives, and the No campaign brought out leaflets subsequently banned by the police for ‘racist rhetoric’ when it depicted Turks, Africans, and Ethnic Russians preparing to enter the EU, and the government was raked over the coals for an advert that featured footage of the Bosnian genocide as a reason to be in favor of the constriction.
The campaign between the Prime Minister and his Chief Coalition Partner the Netherlands ended in a shocking thunderclap with a No vote, by a 56% margin provoking delight from Fortuyn, (despite the low turnout of less than 50%) where following a furious rally with Fortuyn he declared that “The elites will not crush us, we the people have won, and not be forced into this superstate”.
(Left to right) Cows wearing Vote Yes posters, Vote No graffiti
In a more muted speech by the PM, Verhagen and the CDA announced accepted that the government needed to consult with the public, but again cast doubt on the government’s future plans, stating that he would meet with European leaders and consult on a new course of action.
Only days later, citing an irreconcilable difference in policy, the government finally shattered, and a new grand coalition was forged between the Labor party, Christian Democrats, and the liberal VVD, with Fortuyn’s gang once again locked out from the government but left stubbornly as the official opposition to the government.
The Netherlands vote prompted the ‘NEE Crisis’ in Europe. Nations that had been expected to quickly ratify including Poland, Denmark, and Sweden postponed their votes, and Verhagen as head of the new ‘round-table government’ travelled to Brussels to consult with the EU chiefs and council over the Union's course of action.
After tense sessions of confrontation between the “wise men of Europe”, in June and again in October 2006 the members came forward in a joint decision that they would continue to pursue the constitution with the proviso that amendments would be added after ratification that would adopt more conciliatory language to the admission of new members and respect for ‘national values’ and other procedural adjustments. These reforms were derided by the skeptics as “grossly inadequate, this is a touch up at best, lipstick on the pig” wrote British Conservative William Hague “Europe deserves better”.But these concerns were supposedly enough to “Satisfy the concerns of the Dutch people” according to Verhagen as he and the unity cabinet pledged to ratify the agreement without another referendum.
Verhagen did his best to play into the political theatre, he stormed out of meetings and demanded hardlines about an expansion of Europe, attempting to rephrase the referendum from a hardline NEE as the Fortuyn gang pronounced it, into a No-but, according to him the Dutch had logged their frustration with the constitution and had successfully achieved hard-won reforms citing polling which said satisfied most, (including the Irish who voted in favor in their own referendum) and the Czech President who despite his “displeasure” didn’t want to leave the Czechs as the final holdouts on the issue.
However, to the Eurosceptics, who had won a hard-fought victory, this would be the great ‘stab in the back’, the purest evidence of the anti-democratic nature of the ever-consuming beast of Brussels. As Fortuyn roared from the opposition podium, Verhagen would forever be branded ‘The Rat’ who had betrayed the Dutch. And when King Gustaf of Sweden put the final pen to paper in December 2007 and ratified the agreement, to go into effect, and as the blue and yellow fireworks shone up the skies, a purifying flame burned in the hearts of those opposed, time would tell if it would temper.
Fireworks over Berlin
[1] Jean Marie's failure to reach the 2nd round in 2002 leaves him to hand over leadership sooner
[2] The UK was the tipping point here. When Blair announced a referendum on the constitution many others followed suit, however, since he won his Euro battle he didn't need a repeat.
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