ANALYSIS

Fine Gael May Bring European CDs to Ireland

We know that the European left favors a strong EU because of its potential as a regulatory substitute for weak national states, as well as a challenge to America. Europe’s center-right, in contrast,  have a myriad of unrelated reasons for backing a more powerful Union. These reasons are as much about raison d’état and national interest as about a European dream or the common good. At the same time, the center-right is home to increasing unease about the power of the Union and its apparent assault on state, regional and local  interests. This is the backdrop to Fine Gael’s efforts at mobilizing its European allies in support of the Lisbon Treaty

 

Fine Gael’s plan, not yet finalized, to bring European Christian Democrat and center-right leaders to Ireland in the run-up to the Lisbon Treaty vote is a bold stroke. There is little doubt that the main purpose would be to boost the YES vote. On the other hand, the visitors will be told to “talk positive” rather than hectoring the (fickle – unspoken) Irish public.

Fine Gael should be rightly proud of its position within the center-right bloc. Nonetheless, there are some strange paradoxes and anomalies here. First, there is the social democrat tendency within Ireland’s nominally Christian Democrat Fine Gael. This group has been dominant since Garrett FitzGerald’s day. Even the leadership of the more conservative John Bruton was unable to put clear blue water between FG’s Christian Democracy and the closet Labourites in its ranks. . Indeed, many in Fine Gael are embarrassed at any supposed link between “Christian” identity and European politics. For them, injecting Christianity into the body politic is about intolerance, exclusivity, medievalism, obscuranticism and …. neo-fascism …. Well, they might concede that the last one is unfair! The only Christianity they might endorse is liberation theology or anti-clerical theological rebellion. Many European CDs, while much liberalized since the 1950s, are simply more at home with more traditional religious themes than Fine Gael. That a whole bloc of powerful Fine Gael figures still wishes they could be in the “social democrat” camp, or denies a contradiction between Christian Democracy and Social Democracy,  would really be alarming to the party’s European allies if they really listened to FG discourse. In this sense, Fine Gael has become strangely un-European.

Many Voices: Family Frictions and Family Fictions 

The other anomaly is within the European CD family itself. Each center-right party has its own, peculiarly national .. reason to endorse a stronger EU. Take the Germans, for instance. Postwar Germany could never assert its national interest in a robust fashion like any other state. To do so would provoke all kinds of backlash (just think of how Poland’s outgoing government was able to exploit that point). . Germany can only assert itself through the EU. So, as long as Germany is part of the double-headed EU leadership or a triumvirate, it can be as assertive as it likes. There is nothing wrong with this, of course. It has helped to anchor Germany, and her past victims, in a secure and stable Europe. The point here is that the German center-right has good reason to favour a strong EU.

 So too with France, although to a lesser extent. France has more freedom to express itself as an autonomous actor. It protects its overseas possessions and its nuclear force de frappe.  (Napoleon and 1870 are too far back to scare fellow Europeans). France also cherishes the claim of Grand Designer, or at least co-Designer for Europe. The old-style Gaullists saw this role as one way of fashioning an answer to the global power of the United States. M. Sarkozy claims to have abandoned his predecessor’s knee-jerk anti-Americanism. Yet, this project has been a long time abuilding and is deeply engrained in France’s strategic culture.

I could continue the argument for the other countries. Belgium? Belgium’s national identity is so fractured by the North-South split that the monarchy is its only remaining proof of existence. The other great colossus in its midst, the EU, right in the heart of Brussels, has become its real fulcrum of power.   

Ireland too must respond to the Lisbon Treaty in terms that meet its national interest.

If Enda Kenny brings his allies to Dublin, they should be listened to with respect. But, as we listen, let’s remember that they have their own very local and very parochial reasons for wanting Ireland to vote YES. And then we might ask – why does Fine Gael wish Ireland to support the Treaty? Could it be that Enda Kenny wants to cement his party’s role in the EPP bloc? Good for him, if he succeeds there. And for his MEPs. And for young and rising Fine Gael wannabees, grupees and otherwise employed. Of course, Fine Gael will still be in opposition. If Lisbon passes, it will be our European constitution…. or, fundamental law, if you prefer …. with all the consequences for a vast range of public policy issues. Not just now, but for a long time after Enda Kenny has left the arena. That is where our attention should be focused.

But that’s not all. For, within the European center-right – in the Czech Republic, in Bavaria and some of the other German länder, and elsewhere – there are stirrings of discontent about Lisbon and its aftermath. It is the Socialist and Social Democrat bloc in Europe that is now defining the character of  “our social Europe.” CD and EPP parties are fast abandoning many of their traditional policies to keep up.  They win power only by negotiating away their basic identity and fundamental principles – for example, in various rainbow coalitions. And so, a chasm is opening up between the EPP élites and the rank-and-file in the regions.

Consider this: many a Fine Gaeler in the rural midlands would also  articulate crude, Toryish criticisms of European Union power, policies and programs. Not within earshot of the bigwigs from Dublin, of course. It’s no surprise that, across the continent, the disconnect between official Europe and its people can be felt within the People’s Party family itself. When Fine Gael’s publicity machine has churned out the last paragraphs,   the rest of the story will also be told. But not on stage.