United Europe? only when its good to France
Awhile ago, in a remark to my post “Carrefour don’t buy Danish” Catherine Fletcher suggested looking at the issue as French protectionism. Interestingly enough today’s Wall Street Journal, while covering the latest mergers of utilities companies in Europe, suggested similar observation:
“The efforts to fight off foreign buyers of publicly traded companies come amid a wave of cross-border takeovers in Europe and underscore how nationalism continues to thwart the integration of the Continent’s economy, The Wall Street Journal notes. The moves will test Europe’s commitment to enforcing a free flow of capital and whether Brussels has the means to face down protectionism in two of the European Union’s most powerful capitals, the Journal writes”
Interesting enough that France, one of the initiator of the EU model, is the one fighting to restrict its influence at home. I guess the French were all for it when it present a chance to increase French influence and support its own economy and are less open for European unity when other cultures and countries realizing the same advantage.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Add New Comment
Viewing 2 Comments
Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Italy. She is Athenian in beauty and Roman in
grandeur. Moreover, she is generous. She gives
herself. More often than other peoples, she knows the
mood of devotion and sacrifice. But it is a mood that
comes and goes; and this is the great danger for those
who seek to run when she is content to walk, and to
walk when she wishes to stay still. France has her
relapses into materialism, and at certain moments the
ideas which obstruct the working of her splendid mind
contain nothing that recalls her greatness but are
rather of the dimensions of Missouri or some other
southern state. What can be done about it? The
giantess plays the dwarf; great France has her
fantasies of smallness. That is all.
--Victor Hugo
So, yes, it could be French protectionsim. Or it
could be contrariness (even Hugo admits to this). Or
it could be both.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
It seems that France didn't realize ,when established the EU, that cultural and political influence can go both direction. As they realising that they might not achieve hegemony in Europe and might even be target to other countries influence they got scared.
Add New Comment
Trackbacks