Fascinating conjecture from The Belmont Club, which, thanks to an Instalanche you’ve probably already read. But in case you missed it, here’s a key bit:
But if the EU is a really an attempt to turn the continent into a French colony it has once again run into Paul Johnson’s observation that a “colony is lost once the level of settlement in exceeded by the growth rate of the indigenous peoples” except now it is in the context of Eastern European entrants. At the heart of French electoral resistance to the EU Constitution is an unwillingness to accept the free-market policies that non-French members want.
…
Europe if not now then soon must accept that enlargement by itself can never fully compensate for the fundamental weakness of its demographics and economy. Even a ship as large as the Titanic eventually fills with water. French EU Foreign Minister Michel Barnier could not have spoken more eloquently of the dead-end French policy had become when he said the EU had no contingency plan in the event of a rejection. “We have no plan B. You cannot have a plan B. It is ‘Yes’ and that’s the only way to discuss this item, so we go 100 percent for that outcome”. If wishes were horses then beggars would ride.
While I think France has lost her glory, and while I also beleive the EU constitution is a disaster-in-the-making, I don’t wish Europe any ill. I say all that, even if Europe does contantly remind me of General Eisenhower’s quip: “War without allies is bad enough; with allies, it is hell.”
Like them or not, Europe is still a member of this wonderful thing called Western Civilization. We (and they) are better off with a stronger Europe than a weaker one.
And with that said, the more I read of Europe’s troubles, the more I fear a new (and however unlikely) new European War.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member