Today is the day that Brown turns to the EU for applause in his
search for an election victory here at home.
Notwithstanding the europhile tendencies of this columnist who is
fully in the FT mould he has clearly noticed the clay feet in Brown;s
shoes and has not been impressed.
Of course, if he lays the flattery on with the same trowel he used in
Congress he'll get a standing ovation. Might help him in the search
for votes perhaps!
xxxxxxxxxx cs
===============================
FINANCIAL TIMES 24.3.09
Brown learns a familiar European lesson
By Philip Stephens
Among the striking epiphanies of the global economic crisis has been
Gordon Brown's discovery of Europe. In the long, albeit occasionally
disrupted, tradition of British prime ministers, Mr Brown's view of
the European Union has hitherto hovered between disdain and contempt.
No longer, it seems.
On Tuesday, Mr Brown is speaking to the European parliament. I am
told that he accepted with alacrity the invitation to address
parliamentarians of the 27 European Union states. Not too long ago he
would have done almost anything to avoid the short hop from London to
Strasbourg.
During his decade at the Treasury, Mr Brown's poor attendance at
meetings of EU finance ministers was a source of some pride. As far
as one can see, the Treasury mandarins remain faithful to a long-held
scorn of foreigners in general and Europeans in particular. The prime
minister, it seems, has moved on.
Those who have glimpsed the early drafts of his text say that Mr
Brown is lavish in his recognition of Europe's pivotal place in the
shifting constellations of global power. A cynic might conclude that,
having been applauded so loudly during his recent speech to the US
Congress, Mr Brown is bidding for the same acclaim from Europe's
parliamentarians.
Another conclusion might be that he took a message from his talks
with President Barack Obama. The new US administration wants to
remake the transatlantic alliance. It needs its "special partner" to
be a player rather than an outlier in Europe.
The official subject of Mr Brown's speech is the forthcoming summit
of the Group of 20 world leaders in London to confront the
international economic crisis. As host, Mr Brown has a lot riding on
the summit. Whatever the private motives and reasoning, he now seems
ready to assign an important role to the EU in calming the economic
maelstrom.
There have been some earlier pointers to this awakening. Word in
Brussels is that the prime minister has for some time been making a
passable effort to show that he is fully engaged during the ever more
frequent EU summits. No longer studiously aloof, he takes the trouble
to make small talk with fellow leaders. He has courted Germany's
Angela Merkel and France's Nicolas Sarkozy. The bond between the dour
Mr Brown and the irrepressible French president is described by close
observers as "unfathomable".
Some offer a very human explanation for the change in Mr Brown's
demeanour. They point to an incident last summer when Ireland voted
No to ratification of the Lisbon treaty. Many expected Britain to
suspend its ratification - and thus end any hopes that the treaty
might be rescued from Irish rejection.
Instead, Mr Brown said he would press ahead. This, as it happens, had
more to do with domestic politics than good Europeanism. No matter.
At a summit a few days later the prime minister was all but cheered
by his fellow European leaders as he entered the room. These things
count.
The substantive change, however, has come since the collapse of
Lehman Brothers plunged the global (and British) economies into crisis.
Before the storm, Mr Brown seemed to see the EU as a distraction at
best from Britain's engagement with the wider world. Globalisation
had rendered redundant a trade bloc designed for another era. The
sweeping away of national boundaries and the advance of open capital
markets and of global production chains had robbed the EU of its
role. Worse, it was an obstacle to British economic liberalism.
After recent events it is no longer quite so easy to put that last
argument: if only Britain had paid a bit more attention to the
cautionary warnings of Ms Merkel and others about unfettered
financial capitalism. Still, as Mr Brown announced the other day,
laisser faire had its day.
The real revelation on the road to the London summit, though, was
that, hard as it was to make Britain's voice heard above the din of
failing banks and collapsing output, it was utterly impossible unless
Mr Brown could show he had leverage elsewhere in Europe. Why should
India, China, Russia or anyone else pay attention to the British
prime minister if he cannot carry his closest partners?
That all this should have been obvious to Mr Brown some time ago goes
without saying. It would also be a mistake now to conclude that he
has discovered a deep emotional attachment to the theory of Europe.
My guess is that he will always take an instrumental view of Brussels.
Nor has being nice won Mr Brown all the arguments. Ms Merkel is as
suspicious as she ever was about expansive economic remedies.
That said, last week's Brussels meeting did provide the prime
minister with a document allowing a show of European unity in London.
Inglorious though it was, the outcome could have been a lot worse.
The real pity of all this is that it has taken so long. The polls
suggest that Mr Brown has only a year or so left in office. And David
Cameron, the Conservative leader, has positioned himself still
further from the European mainstream. The lesson, in other words,
will have to be relearnt yet again. What a waste. [Some would call
it "proress" - albeit s,all progress -cs].
Posts
