Post photo: French tricolor | © Pixabay
Christian Moss already has it in a blog post "open strategic autonomy" Let it be said that the French Republic is actually putting its Council Presidency under the motto "strategic autonomy for Europe".
The political realists will certainly play down this again, since our French neighbors are known to like to have the big say, but without being able to show the corresponding resources themselves. In this regard, I like to recall the planned European Defense Community (EDC) from the early years of European unification.
And since that time, Franco-German cooperation has essentially been shaped by the fact that we help our neighbors to help fulfill their very own dreams. So far, however, we have managed very diplomatically and at great financial expense not only to keep France in Europe, but also to bring it closer to NATO.
Apparently, however, these concessions were only ever temporary. And so, in the run-up to the official announcement of this program of the French EU Council Presidency, which bears the title "Upswing, Strength, Belonging", we succeeded in addressing the French great power claims, which they are now very happy to associate with a "European superstate". , to have a somewhat soothing effect.
So you will find only one more time in this program the "strengthening of a open Europe" — which must not be confused with an open society and, unlike the latter, is also not further defined — and a "open Trade policy', while 'open Europe' and its 'open trade policy' still have to be seen as threats to our key ally, the US. Furthermore, there is talk of “decision-making autonomy vis-à-vis the USA” and the “autonomy” or even “strategic autonomy of Europe” is still repeatedly mentioned. The whole thing then culminates in the demand for a "completely sovereign Europe".
However, there is now no longer any talk of “open strategic autonomy” — whatever that may be — but rather, somewhat reassuringly, our North American allies and the rest of us Europeans, that the “European defense complementary to NATO' is mentioned, and a strengthening of cooperation between the EU and NATO is to be supported - but this is anything but a French commitment to NATO!
The sad thing is that in the past few decades we have not been able to convince our French neighbors of a federal state or at least to free them from their purely national superpower airs, but we have repeatedly been able to do this ourselves through promises or concessions that can be misunderstood keep stoking; one could even assume that we ourselves would like to become “Greater German” again because of these French claims — a Grande Nation. It is even sadder that the "German-French friendship" so praised by all has not yet been able to achieve a united Europe, but "only" ensure that we no longer shoot at each other.
It should be clear to all of us that even a European federal state will never be able to become autonomous again. Especially not if we want to continue to adhere to our social standards and our noble values. Because we lack all the resources that we can no longer dispute with the other 95% of humanity — we do not have to achieve strategic autonomy, but the most comprehensive cooperation possible.
In plain English: Coalitions and cooperation, not confrontations, are required!
Here you can find the program of the French EU Council Presidency:
That a European federal state is not mentioned at all and this despite the recent German advance (coalition Agreement), will no longer surprise anyone.
Only the banking union is mentioned in it, which also comes as no surprise.
One can speak of pure election campaign noise both in the case of the German coalition agreement and the French program for the Council Presidency, both of which were written solely for their own national groups of voters.
If France had actually taken the German coalition agreement seriously, it would have responded to it. And if it should be a diplomatic answer to the German advance, then it would be unequivocal: "Fuck Europe!"
"Les États n'ont pas d'amis, ils n'ont que des intérêts."
Charles de Gaulle quoted in Eric Walther, la Tribune, Ecoutes: l'impérialisme américain 2.0 (July 1, 2013)
