Samizdata

The hardening of the Frankenreich arteries is now so obvious that it cannot be ignored by even the likes of Will Hutton:

With all eyes fixed on the American presidential elections, the scale of the looming crisis in France and Germany has gone largely unremarked. But it may so change the political geography of Europe that British arguments for and against the EU will be made redundant. A pervasive sense of decline in both countries, only partially justified but none the less virulent, is destabilising not just the structures of the EU – but the political systems of France and Germany.

Only in the Guardian could someone express these views and still be welcomed in polite society. Having a column in that journal is like possessing a magic amulet. Say them anywhere else and you are ‘xenophobic, racist and right-wiiiiiinnnng‘.

It could all turn ugly; an unratified European Constitution, stagnating economies, new dark nationalist politics and a fragmenting European Union.

It all sounds most ominous. Britain should leave now while it still can, yes?

To imagine that Britain will be immune from this is absurd; what happens in mainland Europe will directly impact upon us as it has throughout our history. What is needed is an understanding that if European states don’t hang together they will hang separately – and that because the European Union is the best we have, we’d better make it work.

The citadel is crumbling and the best way to save ourselves is to stand beneath the battlements and wait resolutely for the boiling oil to be poured over our heads.

Mr Hutton may have a magic amulet but that does mean that he is of any use in a crisis situation.

Clearly not satisfied with mere temporal power, some of Europe’s ruling elite are now seeking divinity:

A campaign to sanctify the European Union through the beatification of its founding father, Robert Schuman, has run into stiff resistance from the Vatican and now appears likely to fail.

For 14 years investigators under the diocese of Metz have combed through the life of the French statesman to determine whether he merits the title “Blessed Robert”, the first step to sainthood.

The drive for his beatification and eventual canonisation was launched by a private group in Metz, the St Benoit Institute, but has acquired powerful backers, including President Jacques Chirac.

I can find no information about the St Benoit Institute but the reference to ‘powerful backers’ leads me to suspect that they are merely the low-profile conduits for a project which has been germinated at a far higher and more official level.

I seldom comment of matters of religious doctrine or practice because, as someone without any faith to speak of, I do not consider them to be any of my business. However, this is not really about the practices of the Roman Catholic Church or even about the status of the late Mr. Schuman but more about Europe’s elite seeking divine provenance for their transnational machine.

Is this how they now see themselves? As apostles of a blessed prophet working to establish a Church of Brussels? Would they prefer to be seen as the ‘Annointed’ rather than merely a political nomenklatura?

The presses of the European Fourth Estate may ring out furious daily denunciations of ‘American arrogance’ but I submit that it is next to impossible to find anything more wildly hubristic than a post hoc claim to the benediction of Holy Writ. Close your eyes for a moment and try to imagine the chorus of snorting, braying contempt that would be served up in response to George Bush seeking canonisation of, say, Thomas Jefferson.

I believe it was our friend David Farrer who first coined the term ‘Holy Belgian Empire’ to describe the European Union. He was joking, of course, and my how we laughed!