How depressing is this article in the New York Times, which in very few words sums up how a huge number of Washington’s policy makers and particularly the Obama administration view Great Britain and her future – as a friend “[to be] ceded to American interests coldly assessed” as “on issues from Afghanistan to climate change, Obama wants Europe to step forward…a strong European Union with an effective British presence.” Wishful thinking perhaps from their view, slightly insulting from ours, and highly improbable from the point of view of realism.
I can see the American’s view, to a point. How convenient for them if all of those troublesome “Europeans” (an insulting term in my opinion, we wouldn’t dream of calling a Canadian an American) and their once war torn continent became one, and where that one was just like Britain – supportive, in agreement, happily second fiddle, Robin to their Batman – rather than a plurality of “Lilliputian European state[s]” with different views, different leaders and different languages. It would be as if Britain had subsumed its neighbours and the new entity remained unchanged; it might even be run by Tony Blair! Of course this point of view makes as much sense as gambling your entire worth at roulette on red number 27 – it’s a hugely unlikely gamble – but wishful thinking usually is. But if America does wish for a strong EU, it should remember the old saying of ‘be careful what you wish for’.
What the Europhiles forget is that in this strong EU they hope to shape there are many others also hoping to shape it very differently. “Britain must take a lead in developing a strong European foreign policy if it is to retain its influence around the world,” according to David Miliband, "To be frightened of European foreign policy is blinkered, fatalistic and wrong. Britain should embrace it, shape it and lead European foreign policy." But what are the odds of Britain remotely shaping it, let alone leading it? In all probability Britain’s voice – so often divergent from our Continental relatives – would be lost in the noise of 26 others. Maybe it is self-confidence verging on arrogance and delusion that fills some leaders with the belief that they can convince the World to their view, that they have some mystic power of persuasion, but they can’t and they don’t. In short the Europhiles may get their strong Europe, but no one knows what Europe it will be, and the odds of it being an Atlanticist, free-trading sidekick are very remote.
If America wants a strong EU, America has got it wrong.
