France Becomes Respectable Again

Sources are reporting that center-right French Presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has won the election by about ten points in France. The results mark the latest European government to make a rightward lurch in political orientation in the last several years.

Despite waging a dirty campaign that included a spam campaign suggesting riots and damnation should Sarkozy win, the voters came out in droves to elect Sarkozy. The attacks were reminiscent of campaigns in America, particularly dirty and deceptive campaigns against Barry Goldwater. Many people went to the airwaves to diagnose Sarkozy with mental illness, much like leftists in this country do against George W. Bush. Voters in France have rejected the fear-mongering campaign of the socialists, much like voters rejected similar attempts by Democrats to do the same in this country. Once again we see demonstrated that in the battle of ideas, socialists fight unarmed.

Sarkozy is most known for his previous post as interior minister by holding a tough law and order stand. The Paris riots by Muslim immigrants were considered stoked by Sarkozy who took a tough stand against such behavior. The fact that such a large turnout fell strongly behind Sarkozy indicates that France will not go silently into the night.

It is likely that France-U.S. relations will see a marked improvement with this election. Socialist candidate Royal not only ran a smear campaign, but was the latest socialist to run against George W. Bush and lose (a peculiar choice considering Bush wasn't on the French ballot). France for the past few years has been antagonistic towards the United States under Chirac including undermining the Iraq sanctions in the Oil-for-Food scandal which led to the ultimate renewal of conflict with Iraq. Sarkozy will likely end such antagonism and return to being a helpful international partner again.

The most telling part of the election results is that what is considered a bellwether bastion of socialism in Europe has overwhelmingly voted to reject socialist politics. Royal clearly made her platform of strong welfare policies and social platforms known and Sarkozy clearly indicated that he wanted to cut down on high unemployment by getting people to work. France follows Germany in moving to more conservative policies and governments.

This is little less than a revolution in France against an ideology that has become stagnant and a demonstrable failure. France's economy and society have been dragging behind the rest of the world and the French citizenry has decided they had enough. Likely pundits will shake their heads at voters deciding against "their own economic self-interest."

The lesson in France is that whenever conservatism is on the ballot (unhindered by corruption, bad implementation of policies, or personal problems) conservatism wins. Today France joins the world in adopting more sane economic and governmental policies.

May 6th, 2007 Posted by John Bambenek | Columns, European Union, International, Politics | no comments

Image of the Day

Fight to the Death!

July 15th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | European Union | 2 comments

The Death of Democracy in the EU

EU call to re-run treaty referendums

“The countries which have said No will have to ask themselves the question again. And if we don’t manage to find the right answer, the treaty will not enter into force,” he said in an interview with the Belgian Le Soir newspaper.

The EU Treaty is not going to pass the referenda in France on the 29th. (It will also probably fail in the Netherlands and later in the UK). There is a large amount of public apathy and disdain for the EU and the response is hardly enthusiastic in any country when it comes to the UN. Every poll has shown that the public doesn’t feel any connection to the EU and that the EU is not concerned for them, so in France they are going to reject it. Valéry Giscard d’Estaing who wrote the EU Constitution has said there can be no renegotiation of this treaty.

In a democracy, usually the government molds to the will of the people. If the EU were democractic it would mold to the will of the people. Instead the current President says that the poll should be re-run until the people answer correctly. It isn’t the EU that needs to change, it’s the people that need to change. That is no democracy.

The European Union Constitution is over 300 pages long, as opposed to the US Constitution which can fit in your pocket. People have no idea and no desire to read this entire document, they’ll reject it because it takes a lawyer to decipher. The EU could have drafted a small document and passed laws instead, which is what the people wanted, but instead the EU went their own way and blame the people for voting against it. The EU is dying and the project is on life-support. It may come back later, but that depends on whether the bureaucrats listen and recognize that they need to be the Union the people wants them to be, not that the citizens need to be the citizens the bureaucrats want them to be. Time will tell whether they embrace democracy, try to impose the EU despite the objections, or abandon it all together.

May 25th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | European Union | one comment

Quote on the EU Constitution

This 325 page behemoth is impossible to read and figure out. Imagine our own Constitution where phrases of sentences provide decades of debate. Now multiple that by 30. That’s the EU Constitution. This quote I think sums it up best and why France is poised to turn it down (in even higher numbers now that Chirac has come out and stumped for it).

“I believe that it is fundamentally undemocratic to propose a constitution that is so difficult to read,” Chouard writes.

From: Yahoo news - Weekly Standard

April 25th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | European Union | no comments

The EU Falling Apart

“No” vote on EU treaty could bring chaos-Mandelson

I’ve been doing research on the EU military for a class I’m taking and this has particular relevance and weighs heavily on what I’m doing. France (without a big change) is going to vote no on May 29. The Dutch, who vote on June 1st, are poised to vote no as well but will be largely impacted by the French vote. The constitution (325 pages) needs unanimous approval, but could probably end run a small country if needed. It can’t end-run France.

One of the interesting effects will be to watch the value of the Euro. Many have made much remarks that the Euro is outpacing the Dollar and soon going to replace it as the defacto standard. The Euro, however, is floating around it’s lowest levels of the year. If the French and/or Dutch reject the Constitution, that Euro is going to plummet hard.

April 22nd, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | European Union | no comments

EU MP Says Catholic Beliefs are Off The Wall

Senior Member of European Paliment calls Catholic teaching “way off the wall”

Urbana, IL (DMP), Feb 8th, 2005 - During a talk given by Senior MEP Glyn Ford at the University of Illinois Law School, Mr. Ford described Catholic teaching on homosexuality, abortion, and stem cell research “way off the wall”.

The talk, part of a multi-disciplanary seminar on EU-US relations, focused on the EU Constitution and European Union structure. He covered several points regarding the development of the ongoing integration of the European Union nations.

During the talk he made reference to Rocco Buttiglione, the Italian who was nominated for the position of EU Justice commissioner but later withdrawn when his views on Catholicism came under fire. A compromise to place Dr. Buttiglione in another position that did not involve discrimination cases also failed. Dr. Buttiglione had said during the course of his hearings that he viewed homosexuality as sin, in accordance with Catholic teaching.

When pressed for further comment on the matter, Mr. Ford claimed that Dr. Buttiglione, a close friend and confidant of the Pope, was “out of the mainstream” of Catholics, despite the fact Church teaching on homosexuality is clearly defined and precisely what Dr. Buttiglione referenced. He further stated that his opposition of embryonic stem cell research (as opposed to adult stem cell research which is viewed to have no ethical problems) prohibited him from holding the position, even the Justice would never touch on the issue of stem cell research.

Mr. Ford also later claimed that opposition to abortion and contraception in Catholic countries poses grave problems for those countries to be integrated into the European Union. These comments further support the idea that Christianity, and Catholicism in general, is viewed as discriminatory and unwelcome in the EU and devout Christians need not apply for any position of noteworthiness in the new government.

Mr. Ford was the leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party from 1989 - 1993, and is a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party. He is a full member of the European Parliament’s committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy. He is also a visiting lecturer at the University of Illinois at Chicago. For more information, please see his web site at http://glynford.com/default.asp.

February 8th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | European Union | one comment