Modern Liberalism
(1982)–Frits Bolkestein–
Auteursrechtelijk beschermd
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Jean François M.J. Deniau
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Interview with Jean François Deniau1. Liberalism in FranceBolkestein: France liberalised her economy rather late. One wonders if that is the reason why large French companies are smaller in size than those in Great Britain, Germany or The Netherlands.
Deniau: For a very long time, France was an agricultural country with a strong protectionist tradition, not only in industry but also in her administration. It was the tradition of Colbert. One of the virtues of the Common Market has been to help to accustom France to a certain type of liberalism. In the beginning, the aim of the Common Market was to find a base for the construction of Europe and to develop European integration and solidarity. That aim was political. The means chosen, however, were economic; they were also liberal. They consisted of a customs union: protection against the outside world but, at least among the six countries involved, the abolition of duties and quota. If you look at records of the discussions in France around 1958, you will see that not only a substantial segment of French industry but also many of those who might be called the theoreticians were totally opposed to the Common Market, because they thought that the French economy, unaccustomed to that sort of international competition, would not be able to make a strong stand against it. The best minds, such as Pierre Mendès France, were proven wrong. The Common Market has been very useful in educating French enterprises - in showing them that they could take on international competition and even profit from it. It is true that we hit upon the idea of establishing a global field of action for enterprises much later than the Dutch, the British or the Germans. Around 1962, the French government was rather opposed to | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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American investment in Europe. I recall a discussion I had with a Dutchman who said: ‘Of course it would be bad if it is a one-way thing. But it is much less so if French companies begin to buy American ones. We Dutch are not afraid that the Americans will swallow us up because, even though we don't swallow them up, we have considerable interests in the United States and elsewhere.’ So the Common Market has been a sort of school and there are now French companies, both public and private, which have shown that they can without any doubt hold their own internationally. SNIAS has 25% of the American market for helicopters. Michelin has an extremely successful American affiliate. It is true, however, that the idea of an international division of labour of the size necessary to be effective and to meet competition at home has become part of our way of thinking much later than in other countries. It is also true that there has been a rather vague political reticence in this regard.
Bolkestein: Has economic liberalism now taken root in France for good?
Deniau: It is not as simple as that. All responsible people in France realize that the consequences of protectionism are bad: one gains perhaps a few years but in the end it is in no one's interest. Even when there are protectionist manifestations in sensitive sectors - take, for example, wine in the south of France - agricultural leaders know very well that an economic dispute with Italy would also hurt French interests because we sell them butter, spirits and meat. The fact that there is an interpenetration of commerce and that one cannot simply isolate oneself is now well understood by everyone who occupies a responsible position. Nevertheless, there still remains a vague idea in France that, really, we can make everything ourselves and we don't have to buy abroad. It is a theme which the Communist Party in particular has taken up several times. This is because it doesn't mind a certain isolation for France and also because it feels that the idea could have some ‘sex appeal’. Therefore, although our mentality has changed to a large extent, it has not yet been entirely transformed. Let me give you an example: when the Minister of Economic Affairs in the government of Raymond Barre, René Monory, abolished price control, which had been demanded by the commercial and industrial sectors for many years, this was considered | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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to be a revolution. It worried a good many people. And now, with the new government, the debate has started up again. Should one leave prices free to obey the laws of the market or not? In certain circles of the socialist party there are theoreticians who say, no, one shouldn't; one should go back to price control. That is why I say this battle has not yet been decisively won. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2. Industrial PolicyBolkestein: Can one carry out an industrial policy without a certain measure of protectionism?
Deniau: I think that an industrial policy indeed requires a certain degree of intervention by the state. In France, the word ‘liberalism’ has more than one meaning. Politically, it means a spirit of tolerance, the acceptance that there are various currents of opinion in a country, respect for the opinions of others. Economically, its connotation is not very favourable. The French take it somewhat as: ‘laisser faire, laisser passer’. One gives free rein to anonymous mechanisms with which professors of political economy are acquainted but which may result in social catastrophes to which the French profoundly object. Now when you want to create something new, if, for example, you want to develop an industry in a climate of absolute competition, this turns out to be extraordinarily difficult because the beginning of any industry is expensive. There is no profitability. If powerful economic factors are already operating, they will not let you find a place for it. In France, we have created one of the most important nuclear industries in the world. This was done by private companies together with state enterprises such as the electricity authority and the atomic energy commission. Developments were very much steered by the government and there was almost no competition. We have also tried to create an information industry, in which we were way behind, and we have done it through the combined efforts of private industries but also with the aid of and, frankly speaking, under the directives of the government.
Bolkestein: One may well ask whether an ‘économie concertée’ - to use the French term - and a certain degree of protectionism do not go hand in hand, as in Japan. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Deniau: I think a certain degree of protectionism may be necessary. The danger, of course, is that one slips into systematic protectionism. There are differences in social costs between one country and another. Perhaps competition takes place on an equal basis in Europe, where we are almost all in the same situation - which shows the importance of the Common Market - but with respect to other parts of the world the comparison becomes much more difficult. Protectionism is justified when it compensates for excessive differences in costs, especially salaries and social charges, but possibly also in other areas such as energy.
Bolkestein: The European Coal and Steel Community has been able to carry out a policy for the coal and steel industries because it had the legal instruments at hand to do so. Elsewhere there are no comparable means. How can one arrive at an industrial policy for Europe under those circumstances?
Deniau: That is an extremely difficult subject. What does an industrial policy mean? It means to have a common and agreed policy, possibly a common production, in the great industrial domains such as steel, aeronautics and information. In these great domains, however, companies have not limited themselves to Europe. There are Dutch companies which play a world role. Their activities in the United States or in Southeast Asia are at least as important as those in Europe. These multinational companies have always feared that a European policy would break up the world market and so militate against their interests. It is the old debate, which took place especially between the French and the Dutch about oil, in which area they have powerful interests. Should the environment, the arena of action, be national, European or global? I wanted it to be European, but I saw that our principal partners were not all that interested in Europe. For them it was either national or global. The European Commission has never been able to define an industrial policy, a certain number of ad hoc arrangements excepted, because the very idea that an industrial policy proper to Europe should be established was not admitted. Therein lies the real debate.
Bolkestein: Would an ‘Europe à deux vitesses’ facilitate a European industrial policy? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Deniau: ‘L'Europe à deux vitesses’ is an interesting idea but unfortunately not very practical because countries never feel able to go at the same speed in exactly the same areas. You can not therefore classify the countries of Europe, as Mr. Brandt reputedly wanted to do, into a group of countries that would progress more quickly and those that would advance more slowly; that is, to limit yourself to only those two categories. I am certain that the Italians would be ready to proceed towards a European political integration. Economically, however, they are not ready to endure the discipline and the constraints that integration would entail. Even in the domain of economics there are countries which are prepared to go further in certain respects and others which are not. That is why in my bookGa naar voetnoot* and elsewhere I have employed the expression: ‘a Europe of variable geometry’. There are four - essentially three - countries that are building the Airbus. We have made the Concorde with the British. In different fields we can try to promote the cooperation of as many European countries as possible, but they will not always be the same countries in every area. In the field of information they may be different from those that are concerned with aeronautics. If one restricted oneself to only two categories for all subjects, one would miss opportunities for European integration. The true example of an ‘Europe à deux vitesses’ is the European Monetary System because it is a form of general and permanent solidarity. One either is or is not ready for monetary solidarity. In the field of industry one can afford to be more flexible. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3. Economic NationalismBolkestein: Do you think that France will be more nationalistic in economic matters over the next seven years than she has been in the past?
Deniau: I am afraid so. I consider myself to be a patriot and I am convinced that nations remain the profound realities of our time. I recall a conversation General de Gaulle had with a Dutch ambassador who said: ‘The Netherlands is a small country.’ The General cut him short by | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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saying: ‘No, Mr. Ambassador! No adjective. The Netherlands is neither large nor small: it is a nation and that is what counts.’ Without reverting to the nationalism of the nineteenth century, one must recognise that there are certain realities which one cannot ignore. What I now fear is the openly declared aim of the new French regime to initiate a completely different society which would break with our liberal society. I don't think it is possible to carry out such a project without isolating France. In September 1981 I wrote three articles in Le Monde in which I maintained that all socialism, in order to have a chance of success - not even to succeed, but just to have a chance - needs isolation. That is the theory of the left wing of the Labour Party, the reason why it has always been against a united Europe. Integration means the loss of a number of means of action: custom duties, quota, agricultural prices, exchange control. Under those circumstances one cannot hope to construct a socialist society. A socialist society presupposes that one has all the instruments at one's disposal. It is an expensive experiment and if one does not have these instruments, international competition will ensure failure right from the start. Mitterand's aim is not simply to fight against the economic crisis and unemployment, but also to accomplish a transformation of French society in the direction of socialism, but a socialism that goes much further than the German, Swedish or Austrian social democracy. He has said himself that he would not be content with social democracy, that he has something much more ambitious in mind. That is why I fear that France will be obliged to isolate itself and that we shall go back to protectionism. Already a series of structural measures has been taken, such as nationalisations, which are not justified by the situation but stem from socialist doctrine. Some at least of these nationalisations are completely useless. What is the point of nationalising, when the French state certainy does not lack the means to control large companies? The Treasury and the Ministry of Industry are powerful, as you know. The state has no lack of trump cards. So these nationalisations really stem from their doctrine; they mark a break with society as it was. That is why I am worried. If they continue along that road they will be obliged to shield themselves from international competition and we shall be driven to protectionism. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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4. The Dilemmas of the Welfare StateBolkestein: There is a dynamic in the welfare state which leads to economic ruin but which proves difficult to escape. One sees it very clearly in Great Britain, Sweden and The Netherlands. In your book you wrote of our subjugation by the social security system. What will happen in France?
Deniau: That is indeed the fundamental problem of liberalism in the last quarter of this century. In our countries, people have a profound need for security in all respects: security on the job, security of income, security against illness. The welfare state is by its nature inclined continously to increase its interventions, to take charge of yet something else. And it is very difficult for a government to say no to this. Governments usually employ a budgetary criterion only. They say that something goes too far because it costs too much. That is not a good criterion. I should like liberals in all countries to think about this fundamental problem. There is a great temptation to say: it is the others who are responsible, the state will look after us. The wish for a general all-risk insurance in all fields is part of human nature, but only a part. The real problem is to separate those risks against which one should be protected from those against which one should not be protected. That goes for enterprises as well as for families, for the economic as well as for the social domain. It means laying on the table all the interventions by the state, in every field, and to forget for a moment the budgetary criterion. Absolute security is a prison, in a certain way: it results in the loss of creativity, of the sense of responsibility, I would even say of democracy. Absolute security means that there are no longer any questions to be raised. There is no democracy if there are no longer any questions. We should therefore study, in all fields, which risks should not be allowed and which should be maintained because they are essential for liberty and democracy.
Bolkestein: A liberal economy always comprises certain harsh aspects, which are not easily accepted by the people. The problem of definition which you pose is not easy to resolve.
Deniau: It is the true problem of the end of this century. When a firm | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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closes because of bad management or international competition, the workers feel strongly that the fault does not lie with them. The French worker would find it profoundly unjust if society would take no interest - if one said, for example: ‘Bad luck; you make shoes, but the Italians or the Spanish make shoes which are cheaper; so you are out of a job.’ They would find it unjust because it's not the workers who are responsible. We must, therefore, reinstate the concept of responsibility, which cannot simply mean leaving everybody to face the consequences of what they have had nothing to do with. We must retain the essential mechanisms of the liberal market economy because the truly dirigiste experiments have failed everywhere. That is beyond doubt. It is also clear that a deep need for security prevails at the national or international level. An excess of security, however, operates against the interests of the people. That is what we see in certain parts of the welfare state. In a period of growth, all goes well because there is enough money, but in times of crisis the moment of truth is dramatic. The costs become dramatic. We must not adopt the budgetary criterion. We must use human and moral criteria. That is our honour and our role.
Bolkestein: There are various internal contradictions inherent in the welfare state. In your book you wrote about the dialectic between security and freedom. Similarly, there is a dilemma between effectiveness and democratisation, or between planning and participation. That points to a second contradiction. A third contradiction is the one between effectiveness and equality. In these dilemmas the American ideal has opted for freedom and effectiveness. The socialist ideal tries to reconcile all the options, which is why it is not consistent.
Deniau: The American model has been very successful in a number of ways. The question is whether it can be adapted to Europe. And it has to be adapted - it cannot simply be transposed. For example, the French especially are much less inclined to accept mobility. The word ‘versatile’ in English has a favourable connotation; in French, it means: ‘fickle, inconstant, unstable.’ We still have roots in the countryside. The idea of changing one's place of residence or one's profession is still not well accepted at all. We have had strikes in France because the workers had to move to another place. They did not want to, even though they would | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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have been better housed and better paid. The idea of being forced to move is not considered civilised, not humane. One must be able to work where one has always lived. The feeling is that the economy must adapt itself to this need and not the other way round. We must, therefore, avoid both the excesses of the welfare state and the simple ‘laisser faire, laisser passer’ position. Again, for liberals, the problem is how to define what is a good risk and what isn't. Respect for the individual is a very important element in the economic life of our European countries. It is a moral idea that stems from the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages. Take the theory of the ‘iustum pretium’. One should not sell at the price at which one can sell; one should sell at the price at which one must sell. It is not the law of the market that counts, it is the moral law. In the same way lending money and charging interest was forbidden because it meant that with one's money one gained at the expense of those who had less money. This way of thinking has left a lasting impression on the mentality of a country like France. Certainly there are economic laws. Thanks to the Common Market, the French understand them better and know that one cannot ignore them. The economy is a stern judge. But at the same time, one cannot base a liberal vision simply on respect for economic laws. A social element must be added, which is this distinction between risks that are acceptable and that are not.
Bolkestein: According to Tocqueville, the more equal one becomes the more equality one wants.
Deniau: Yes, and Rousseau said that the most powerful engine in this world is the need for and the dream of equality between people. Indeed, the need for equality becomes intense precisely as one begins to reduce inequalities. Just after the death of Franco I had a conversation in Spain with a Spanish Socialist. Someone asked him at which moment the people of Spain had begun to see the mistakes of Franco's regime. His answer was very interesting: the mistakes were recognised when the regime began to succeed. It seems a paradox but it isn't. It is when the standard of living has gone up, when the level of education has improved, when the immediate needs are satisfied that inequality begins to irritate. Indeed, we now find ourselves caught in the dilemma between | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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equality and effectiveness. According to the analyses of certain sociologists, we are moving towards a society in which people are equal theoretically and because of the pressure of opinion but where a minority will be in a completely exceptional situation. That is what I fear. Their view is that we are growing into a very tertiary society: we shall sell more projects to underdeveloped countries and construct fewer ourselves. Perhaps 20% of the population will be unemployed. Certain sociologists will tell you that this is the way it will be: 20% of the population will not find a place in society and will be taken care of on a semi-permanent basis. Seventy percent of the people will have tertiary occupations which will perhaps not be all that interesting. The remaining top 10% will concentrate on reflection, on planning and on action, aided in particular by the progress made in data handling. That is a society that would worry me a good deal because it would perhaps have the appearance of a democracy but it would not be one. It would be very dangerous to have in one country two kinds of society, two kinds of language, two kinds of relationships: the official and the real. Let me give you two examples: Poland and Italy. Two parallel societies now exist in Italy: an official society with laws and regulations, some very advanced, in the social field and elsewhere; and a democracy. And then there is another Italy that lives alongside the first, where a certain number of industrial practices of the 19th century have been rediscovered because they brought effectiveness. These two worlds co-exist: the official world and the underground economy. There has always been a bit of that in our countries. I fear that the underground economy will grow relative to the official economy and that official language will be increasingly divorced from reality. One sees that very clearly under communism, where the apparatus of the party is complete with theories, vocabularies and consultations which have nothing to do with reality. In Poland, Solidarity has demonstrated that clearly. And then there is another way of life, at ground level, where the people try to make do by working at two or three jobs, some of which are more or less clandestine, with parallel circuits, which one could really call a black market, and in addition they rely on the postal cheques that their cousins in America send. There is a gap between official society and the way in which people really live. Now in our countries there are elements of this estrangement of the official from the real society. The growth of black market labour force | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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in France is a sort of natural human response, an expression of the need for effectiveness in the sense of the 19th century, to a social system which in the end is felt to be unsuitable because it is too heavy. We must avoid that because a democracy and the cohesion of society do not support this phenomenon of two parallel worlds which bear no relation to each other. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5. The Defence of EuropeBolkestein: In your book I read the following sentence: ‘In this world of ours, full of risks, we cannot do without a unity of decision and of command.’ You also wrote: ‘Except for the communist countries, the world has but one centre: Washington.’ From this it follows, it seems to me, that Washington must decide and command.
Deniau: What I wrote is that in the actual world of today there is only one principal centre of decision and that is Washington. Our American friends in particular use the argument that in this dangerous world, in the face of Russian expansionism, a unity of command is needed. While recognising the value of this argument, I have tried to develop the thesis that a better equilibrium in the world could be achieved if there were several centres of decision and that Europe should be one such centre, not because of hostility towards the Americans, but because each side, European and American, accepts that there are differences - not hostility but differences.
Bolkestein: In that case, Europe must equip itself with military means, for to have ideas but not the means to translate them into action is fairly useless.
Deniau: Exactly! That is why I have mentioned the problem of defence, because in the end one is responsible only when one is able to defend oneself. One may chose the form of one's society, vote for a certain bill, try to find a solution to a crisis or to social problems but, in the end, the fact that we prefer to be communists, socialists, liberals or something else - that very possibility of choice presupposes that we are free. When you live in the communist world, you can no longer choose. There comes a moment when one is faced with a sort of inescapable lo- | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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gic: if one wants to be responsible for oneself, i.e., for one's fundamental choices, one must be able to defend oneself, to defend the freedom to choose. If we want a Europe with weight, a Europe that can be a centre of decision and contribute to the equilibrium of the world, then we must discuss military problems. If we do not have a certain autonomy and a certain responsibility in the military field, in particular in the area of nuclear weapons, there will never be a political Europe. We should be clear about that.
Bolkestein: Does this mean a Franco-British cooperation? The Germans have forbidden themselves the use of nuclear weapons.
Deniau: That is one of the difficulties. If we want to have a serious military responsibility - and I don't mean a European cook on an American atomic submarine, as in the Multilateral Force, a project that has completely disappeared - the first problem is that of our relationship with the United States. The USA has never been favorably disposed towards independent nuclear forces in other parts of the world. We shall have to come to a preliminary agreement with the Americans, which will require very long discussions. We must agree with the Americans about the finality, i.e., about the usefulness of autonomous centres of political decisions. That is the first problem: how to convince the Americans that it is in everybody's interest to have several autonomous but friendly political centres of decision, well-disposed towards each other, in order to have a better equilibrium and a better division of labour. If agreement can be reached about the final idea of a united Europe and its justification, then there will be consequences in the military field, i.e., Europeans must feel themselves to be more responsible - and more responsible in a more autonomous manner. The American nuclear umbrella and military guarantee, which are in any event indispensable, have the tendency to foster a certain form of irresponsibility among Europeans. In certain countries of Northwest Europe there is a sort of neutralist wave: ‘Why bother? It is a matter between the Americans and the Russians. We are spectators, certainly not actors.’ I think that is very dangerous. It is the very opposite of the idea of a Europe that plays a certain role. As soon as one is no more than a voyeur, i.e., when one renounces one's possiblities to act and to be responsible, a united Europe no longer makes sense. I do not want the idea | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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of renewed discussions with the Americans to give rise to a movement of neutralism, which seems to me to be rather dangerous. On the contrary: every military force, even a neutral one, means an additional effort. The military budgets that are relatively the most important in Europe are those of Sweden and of Switzerland. They have drawn the logical conclusions from their political independence. They had to make a bigger military effort than other countries, which have the security of the Atlantic Alliance. It is a great responsibility, to take charge of one's own defence, but in my view it is a responsibility that ranks above all others. Even if we come to an agreement with the Americans about the basic political problem, there will remain practical problems which are also very difficult. We must not think that we are going to replace the Americans. We don't have the necessary means, nor is our size sufficient. We can do something serious in Europe, however. For years it was good form to poke fun at the French military effort in the nuclear field, because at that time the accepted idea was that there should be no independent effort. Nobody makes fun of the French nuclear weapons any longer. They are not, of course, on a par with the American or the Russian weapons but they are something appreciable, something to be reckoned with. What I want is that there should be something appreciable in Europe, something to be reckoned with. As far as the problem of Germany is concerned, which has forbidden itself - for it was a German decision - to possess nuclear weapons, I do not think that we should re-open that subject because the whole postwar equilibrium would be called into question. I think we can make progress towards a better consciousness in Europe of our own responsibility in defence matters. First of all we can do more in the way of coordinating the manufacturing of classical arms. In that respect there really is a lot to be done. Our arsenals and our manufacturers should try to coordinate their stocks and production better, as has been done in the field of aeronautics. In the nuclear field the responsibility for the finger on the trigger must remain with the nation concerned. To give joint diplomatic and political responsibility to five, six or ten countries is legally, psychologically or even materially not possible. But surely we can study the different cases for defence! While leaving the ultimate responsibility at the national level, we could define the conditions for use - not only for ourselves but also for the others - in consultation with our European neighbours. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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That there should be a minimum of consultation on this subject is surely a modest aim. I don't know what the result would be. What I wish, though, is that some first class minds would begin to think seriously about the problems of European defence. It is as with the problem of our currencies: if we don't tackle the subject one day, there will be no Europe.
Bolkestein: Nevertheless, a unity of command remains necessary. Government by committee is something which for psychological reasons does not exist. It is a single will that must find expression. Who will exercise that unity of command? The President of France?
Deniau: Not for the others. But for France, yes. In view of our constitutions no solution can be envisaged other than to leave to each head of state or government the responsibility for the use of nuclear weapons by that nation. What we can do is initiate a sort of diplomatic preparation in which the conditions for such use are defined. No government by committee. In which cases will they and in which cases will they not be used? As strategic thinkers put it, there is not only an escalation in weapon systems but also in messages designed to be used in case of crises. Precisely in order to avoid a global conflagration, nuclear weapons are considered a deterrent and the possibility of their use is linked to messages which specialists call gesticulations: messages to the other side which say: watch out, if you do this, I'll do that; a system of gradual steps. Well, that is the sort of discussion among Europeans which would leave the final decision and the unity of command unchanged but would be very useful.
Bolkestein: Do you think that the European Defence Community was a missed opportunity?
Deniau: It was a missed opportunity in the sense that it has caused considerable psychological damage. It meant a break right through the middel of the French Parliament. It caused a debate that has torn the whole country and all the French parties in two. I recall a conversation with Jean Monnet in which I told him: ‘We shall have to talk about the problem of defence.’ He replied: ‘As long as I'm here, never. It is a world apart.’ He remembered the failure of the EDC. He also said: ‘It is a | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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world where I understand nothing of the reasoning - it is completely different from what I know and what I can understand.’ The failure of the EDC left us with bad memories and since then we have tended to forget about the subject of defence. One began to feel that one should not talk about it anymore. It had caused too much damage among Europeans; it had divided everybody; so one should not talk about it. I must admit that it is an extremely difficult subject. Having said that, I should also say that I do not think that the EDC treaty was a very good one. It did not come at the right moment. Therefore I do not regret that it never came to anything, but I regret the damage it caused, which has turned European defence into a taboo subject for twenty years.
Bolkestein: France has withdrawn from the NATO command structure. What would you say if the Germans did the same thing?
Deniau: It is difficult, and irrelevant, to compare the two situations. France is in a category apart, as indeed is Great Britain, because it has nuclear weapons - which makes for the real difference. France has withdrawn from the unified NATO command, but it has remained a full member of the Alliance and has honoured all the obligations that stem from it. If France had withdrawn from NATO because of neutralism - that would have been serious. But that was not the case. Everybody knows that in moments of danger, for example, at the time of the Cuba crisis, General de Gaulle was the first to say to the Americans: ‘complete solidarity.’ That has never been in dispute. I think that it would be a rather disquieting manifestation of neutralism if Germany took such a step. It would be considered a break with the United States and that would be very dangerous. A properly European initiative at the military level would be a good development but it should not be ill-considered. Every country must realize that it would entail taking on greater responsibility. It could not have a smaller effort as a consequence.
Bolkestein: What do you think in fact would happen if the Americans withdrew their troops from Europe?
Deniau: It would be dangerous if they withdrew their troops, because that would be interpreted as a lack of interest in Europe. Therefore, if it | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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should come about, it must not have that effect at all. We need the American protection. The bare fact that the Americans exist is one of the conditions for our having freedom of choice. If the United States were no longer there, we would not have a choice. A possible withdrawal of the American troops must on no account give the impression of a sanction or a lack of interest with regard to Europe. The question I put in this regard - although the answer is rather dangerous - is this: if by chance, for internal American reasons, budgetary or otherwise, the Americans one day withdrew their troops, could that perhaps be the occasion for Europeans to become conscious of the necessity for taking action aimed at their own defence? I certainly would prefer such a movement in agreement with the United States and not as a manifestation of neglect or hostility.
Bolkestein: Would the Europeans become conscious of it?
Deniau: That is the danger. That is why I believe it would be better if the Americans did not do it unless it were certain that the Europeans were ready to take over. But I am not sure that the Europeans are ready to take over. I know a journalist who says: ‘There will be no Europe as long as there is no European defence. There will be no European defence because it is expensive, it is tiresome, people are rather pacifist by nature and they don't want to fight. They don't even like the idea that they might have to fight. As long as the situation remains as it is, there will be no European defence. Therefore, there will be no Europe. If one day, because of a bad mood or budgetary problems, the Americans withdrew their troops from Europe, then the Europeans would suddenly feel naked and they would react politically by saying: “Now we must make the effort to ensure our own defence.”’ But that is a little bit like playing Russian roulette. It would be very dangerous.
Bolkestein: You have written that Europeans have interests that are different from those of the Americans. That certainly goes for commercial and other short term interests. But are there differences in interest on a fundamental level and in the long term as well?
Deniau: No, I don't think so. I have said that fundamentally we belong to the same camp and agree in our conception of democracy, of human | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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rights and of freedom, quite apart from the gratitude which we - and especially the French, let me say that clearly - owe the Americans. But even though our fundamental interests are parallel, we may have different interests in the short run or in particular cases - commercial, economic or monetary - because our traditions and our obligations are somewhat different. Because we disagree on a customs duty or on a certain aspect of GATT or of agricultural policy, our American friends must not think that we are anti-American. We must take a relaxed, or at any rate dispassionate, view of these things. It is normal that there should be differences of opinion between allies, however close they may be. These differences must not become confrontations, or hostility, or defiance. It is normal that in a family people have different characters. We cannot automatically have the same attitude as the Americans toward everything that happens in the world. Let me go a step further. I come back to my theory about centres of decision. It may be of importance for the equilibrium of the world that different centres of decision with somewhat different conceptions, not of overall philosophy but of particular instances, can intervene in certain situations. We have seen that during the Carter presidency there was a certain American absence and we have seen the serious disadvantages to which that gave rise. During the time that President Nixon's hands were tied because of his own problems and then again under the Carter presidency, we have seen a certain expansionism by the Soviet Union. There was nobody who could take over. We were not organised because we were used to the fact that Washington did everything. So I think that if such a reorganisation were done well, it could be useful for the equilibrium of the world. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
6. Eastern EuropeBolkestein: One could say that reunion with Eastern Europe is a mission for Western Europe. You yourself have written of a Europe ‘from Brest to Brest Litovsk.’ One could also think that Finland is Finlandised and therefore to a large degree independent because Sweden, although armed, is neutral. If one follows this line of reasoning one could suppose that if Western Europe was armed but neutral, this might result in Eastern Europe becoming Finlandised. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Deniau: We should not misunderstand Finlandisation and the situation of Finland. Finland is not a model for us. I have said so to my Finnish friends and they agree completely. Finland is a sort of miracle. It has fought against the Soviet Union in 1939/1940. I recall the emotions caused by the attack on Finland by the Soviet Union and the heroic resistance of the Finns, a few millions against that colossus. At the end of the war the Soviet Union took over parts of Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Rumania but she has not annexed Finland except for a small part. She has left Finland to continue as an independent state, albeit with a considerable Soviet presence across the border and of course no possibility to express an international opinion which would be violently hostile to the Soviets. So Finland is not a model: it is a miracle. It would not have been very difficult for the Soviets to say in 1945: ‘Finland has fought against us; it is an ancient province of the Russian empire; and we will once again take possession of it.’ They annexed part of Czechoslovakia and nobody protested. It's a miracle. I don't think that the Soviets are ready to reduce their influence over their satellites. We see it every day. Now, Warsaw is Europe. So is Cracow and Bucarest and Prague and Budapest. That is perfectly evident. In the list of projects for Europe which I have quoted in my book and which goes back to the thirteenth century, Eastern Europe has contributed practically as much to the formation of the European spirit as Western Europe. Therefore it would be a pity to accept forever this division of Europe and the fact that the others are no more than satellites of the Soviet Union. But one should not dream. For the moment I don't see the Soviets being ready to reduce their influence. We have been able to develop individual relations with these countries in Eastern Europe. If there had not been twenty years of detente and of all sorts of commercial exchanges, I don't think Poland would have been able to get to the stage where it is now, i.e., where there are free voices, voices of protest, which find expression - even though all this is very fragile and could be destroyed from one day to the next. One therefore has to work for the very long term. If the Soviets agreed to let go of their satellites, what price would we have to pay? Would Eastern Europe be Finlandised or would Western Europe be Finlandised? That is the real problem. The Soviets would, of course, accept a Finlandisation of Western Europe. But I don't think that they would agree to give the status of Finland to their satellites if | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Western Europe remained strong, armed and attractive. One therefore has to be discrete on this subject. We must not lose sight of our objective, which is a great objective, of establishing again a certain level of contact with the countries of Eastern Europe, even though most of them have very little room to manoeuvre. If Poland had not had the strength of the Catholic church, the Russians would have normalised it long ago, as they have done in Czechoslovakia.Ga naar voetnoot*
Bolkestein: What could be done to help the Poles regain a bit of liberalism?
Deniau: We must help them economically as long as the Polish government allows a certain evolution of the regime. I have no illusion whatever that this cannot mean complete independence from the Soviet Union. But the evolution of Poland should continue. It may become a sort of compromise that does not go as far as the status of Finland. This is not easy. You know that with respect to Yugoslavia, which is outside the Soviet block although bordering on it, the Soviets have had a lot of problems. They have taken a long time to recognise that Yugoslavia could pursue an autonomous experiment. At first there were extraordinarily severe condemnations. I remember reading in l'Humanité an entire page of condemnations of Tito by the Kominform, which ended in this fantastic sentence: ‘In conclusion, we can say that Tito is one of those bits of refuse which mankind on the march periodically throws off into the wastebins of history.’ That was the official phrase. So they have had a lot of difficulty in recognising Yugoslavia as an autonomous entity. The Yugoslavs know that the future holds dangers and that too great a difference among themselves could offer a pretext for the Soviets to intervene. Now for the Soviets to recognise this in the case of Poland - which is inside the Soviet system and ensures communications with East Germany - one should not have too many illusions. One should very carefully, very steadily, assist the birth of another solution in Poland, which could not call into question the present system from one day to the next but which conserves for the future the possibilities of an evolution towards something more favourable for the Poles. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bolkestein: Do you think the USSR is a society that functions, albeit badly, and that it is stable enough to last a long time?
Deniau: All those appealing political refugees should not create the impression that suddenly there will be a revolt among the almost 300 million inhabitants of the Soviet Union, that there will be a reversal of the regime. That would be an illusion. Russia functions, with its advantages and its disadvantages. The weight of its institutions, its accomplishments, the progress it has made in certain areas - which one should recognise - the role of the police and of the party, all that makes in the end for a rather stable whole. For the present I don't see factors that could really change this situation. Now it is true that some Russian intellectuals are forced to go into exile or they may find themselves put away in psychiatric hospitals. This is a bad sign for a regime, even when it concerns an extremely small proportion of the population. It's as under the Czars. Without doubt it is a bad sign for the regime. It is also true that for a few years now the ethnic Russians have no longer been in the majority. They form 49% of the population of Russia today. The majority consists of the Ukrainians, the White Russians and all the other nationalities of different origin. But they are widely dispersed and none has sufficient weight to predominate in Russian society. The Soviet Union exists through the sheer weight of what it represents, with all the advances it has made, with its failures in some economic spheres and its more important failures in human rights. It is a very heavy administration, which is of course part of the Russian tradition. It has formidable means, military and political. But an important change which occurred some years ago is that I no longer think such a system represents for us, and for many people, any ideal. Not one French communist dares to say clearly and openly, as he would have 20 years ago, that the USSR is a model country for him. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
7. DecolonisationBolkestein: General Massu has won the battle of Algiers. The FLN has admitted it. They have said: ‘The battle of Algiers was our Dien Bien Phu.’ If the French had employed Russian methods, they would still be in Oran. There are no precedents for empires that dissolve voluntarily. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Was decolonisation a failure of the will?
Deniau: I know two cases of, let us say, semi-voluntary decolonisation. Retreats are never made unprompted by previous problems. Still, the British have at a certain moment decided, without having suffered any military defeats, that they had to leave the Indian sub-continent and give it independence. Of course, they left their successors to deal with very difficult conditions, because of the partition between India and Pakistan which caused the deaths of millions at the time and has obviously created tension in the region. Still, they left. The French have not done the same in Indochina or in Algeria. They have not done so in Algeria in particular because it concerned French departements and a very large French colony. The British in India were few in number, a few tens of thousands in a continent of several hundred millions, who practically played the role of what would now be technical advisors to an independent country. We have managed things better in black Africa, as you know, and have maintained close relations, on the whole, with those countries. I can mention several completely independent countries in black Africa where there are now more French then there where when they were colonies. So certain countries, seeing a situation evolve, knowing that there are problems and that those problems can be solved in no other way, have had the wit to say: ‘Empires are no longer appropriate - we must find a new sort of relationship which ought to be wholly amicable.’ This is now called cooperation with special ties. The British have developed that relationship in a certain number of countries and we have done so as well. As you say, the military engagements in Algeria have been won by France, nobody doubts that. But French opinion, in France, could not tolerate that colonial war. It lasted too long. At the same time there was considerable pressure from international opinion. A different solution would have meant - and I think at a certain time it was a thesis of Ben Gurion - a sort of Israel in Algeria. We would have had to regroup all the French, and those Arabs that wanted to work with the French, and concentrate them in one half of Algeria. We would have had to put up barbed wire and prepare ourselves for war and attempts at assassination over a period of twenty years. General de Gaulle did not want that, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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thinking that it would have hampered every action of France, both economic and political. It is also absolutely clear that the majority of the French did not want it. Now the Russians have never relinquished one centimeter of their territory. They are still in Tadjikistan, in Uzbekistan and in Azerbaïdjan. They have kept the empire they conquered at the end of the nineteenth century. I have heard communist leaders in Eastern Europe say: ‘Détente is for us simply a way to gain other countries, because history moves in the direction of communism and to the advantage of the Soviet Union. There can be no question of retreat. It is capitalism which must retreat and abandon its empire. Our empire has the future! It brings liberation to the peoples and therefore it is bound to extend itself to Angola, Ethiopia, Cambodia and Vietnam and so on.’ It is true that the West may give an impression of weakness in the face of the permanence and the continuity of Soviet power. But the important point for us to realise is whether in our democracies public opinion accepts the sort of presence that results in conflicts. We have seen that public opinion does not accept it if those conflicts last. In the case of the Dutch colonial empire, there was also considerable international pressure, especially from the Americans. At a certain time the Dutch were told: ‘Gentlemen, get out.’ The Americans now realise that they have perhaps gone too far in their refusal to accept this role for the European powers, which was an American theme. It has now changed somewhat, but ten or fifteen years ago, when I was in Africa, I knew Americans who were astonished to see how good relations between the French and the Africans were, even in those areas where we had fought one another. That really astounded them. After all, we have something in common with the Africans and there is no fundamental hostility between us. Would we have been able to act like the Soviets and say: ‘We are in Algiers; people may say what they want; there may be international pressure but we don't care; there may be people killed and a lot of expenses but we are going to stay as long as is necessary’ - as the Soviets are now doing in Afghanistan? You can only do that if you are not in a democracy and if you don't have to deal with public opinion. So my answer is: decolonisation is, when properly done, a success of the will and not a failure.
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Belgium at the time of the independence of the Congo. There, to put it mildly, the people are certainly no better off now than they were under the Belgians. It is a matter of psychology. In your book you have drawn attention to the fact that the feeling of being European has been lost. Is there a connection between these two phenomena?
Deniau: Yes, there is. I remain a supporter of decolonisation when it is done properly, as it was in black Africa, where it has been to the benefit of everybody. But this phenomenon can also contain an element of resignation, of not believing anymore in oneself and in one's vocation. Now, that is a very serious thing. If that is the case, it would mean that Europe, which had a world-wide calling, a global role with some good and some less good aspects, no longer believes it has a role to play, because Europeans no longer believe in themselves. That is a major psychological problem. As I wrote in my book, it is all very well to try and create Europe, but we shall first have to create Europeans. I am not against lowering import duties but the real question is whether there are still Europeans who feel themselves to be such and who are ready to act as such. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
8. EuropeBolkestein: Renan said that a nation consists of the remembrance of having achieved great things together and the will to achieve great things to come. One could apply this to Europe: has it the will to achieve great things together? At the moment, that will is not conspicuous.
Deniau: In the past we have not achieved great things together but rather against one another, so it is not easy! Europeans have killed other Europeans so much over the centuries that it is very difficult to know who in the end has won and who has lost, because we have all taken turns at being in either position and in every possible way. I remember a distinguished Englishman saying at a banquet of a Commonwealth association in Newcastle, at a time when Great Britain was opposed to the Common Market: ‘There is nothing for us in that association of vanquished peoples.’ I picked up that phrase in a declaration and said: ‘It is true: we are an association of vanguished peoples. But precisely because we have fought one another so much, we found | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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that enough was enough and that we had to think of something else.’ That is why the German-French understanding lies at the base of Europe. It was brought about by the deep motivation, apart from the economic aspects, to find a type of relationship between France and Germany which would prevent another European war and thus another world war. The great things which Europeans have achieved together have been done to combat a common danger. Let me give two examples: the battle of Lepanto for Southern Europe and the liberation of Vienna at the end of the 17th century for Central and Eastern Europe. Here a truly European consciousness arose, which lasted as long as the battle or the campaign lasted, in both cases against the Turkish danger of the time. What great things can we achieve together today, to take up Renan's definition? We could try to fight the economic crisis together, a bit more than we have done until now, but that is difficult because we do not harmonise the dates of our elections and even less their outcome. So our governments may have completely different ideas about the way one should fight in Europe against a world crisis. The French and the Germans came away from the Ottawa conference with different internal policies. The government of Mitterand decided to reflate on its own while the German government rather decided in favour of austerity. So one can see that it is not easy to arrive at a great European policy, perfectly coordinated, to combat unemployment and inflation. Then there is the problem of aid for the Third World, in respect of which Europe retains a particular calling and where Europeans are well thought of. As a member of the European Commission, I was responsible for our relations with developing countries. I was also President of the European Development Fund. I started the negotiations that led to the Lomé convention. I invented Stabex, of which I am very proud because I did it by myself. Stabex is based upon the idea that Europe should provide a sort of basic insurance against excessive variations in the revenues of poor countries that produce raw materials, either because of international speculation or because of climatic conditions, so that these countries derive at least a guaranteed minimum revenue from their natural resources. The idea of a particular European vocation with respect to the developing world in her search for a world equilibrium is a great one. Here Europe has already done something which is well regarded. The government of Giscard d'Estaing tried to start a North- | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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South dialogue. Everybody recognised that something had to be done in that field. At the same time there are limitations in global consultations: the more participants, the more the interests vary. Moreover, when everybody feels the crisis, national egoisms predominate. With you, I am searching for the grand design that one ought to hold out to the Europeans. For years they were told: build Europe! What I have tried to explain, with some regret, is that this grand design could not simply be: build Europe. One should say: we are going to build Europe in order to achieve this or that object. This notion takes it one stage further. It means a European programme. It means that when we have made some progress with the Six or the Nine or the Twelve - although perhaps not often with all twelve for all subjects - we are going to do this or that with Europe. If we don't, Europe remains a word, an empty shell.
Bolkestein: I do not think there is a precedent for nations with a long tradition of rivalry and warfare to unite voluntarily, even in the face of a common danger. The Greek city-states, for example, were unable to come to agreement, even when faced with the Macedonian enemy. In your book you have mentioned Switzerland and the United States, but their constituent parts did not have a tradition of rivalry and warfare. If I am correct, this does not bode well for unity in Europe.
Deniau: That is why my book is a bit pessimistic. It is true that it is very difficult to overcome one's rivalries, even in face of a common danger, although a common danger can be useful. In all the plans for European unity that have been made over the centuries, it is always a common danger that is emphasized because people feel that this is the only possibility for making progress. First it was the Arab and the Turkish danger and then, later, it was the threat of Russia, which was thought of as a menacing superpower. I recall that the Russian operation in Budapest in 1956 was a motivating force that psychologically pushed us along in the final negotiations of the Common Market. One felt it was ludicrous to continue to fight over percentage points of custom duties when one heard the dramatic news that arrived from Hungary and from Suez. Two old European powers, France and England, were blocked purely and simply by a veto of the superpowers, the USA and the USSR. We felt it would be ridicu- | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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lous to continue our traditional quarrels. Another factor was a very strong sentiment concerning the horrors of the world war which had come about because of our divisions. That is the actual problem of the future of Europe: the deepest stimulus, in those post-war years, was the memory of the horrors which had occurred in Europe through the divisions and rivalries among the European countries. It was a negative motive but quite a strong one. Added to this was the possibility of opening the window a bit economically, for which there was also a great need. But the fact is that these two motives are now much weaker. The younger generation has much vaguer memories of the World War. Economically we have achieved such a degree of freedom in international exchange that people are now more aware of the difficulties that must still be overcome than of the advantages they have achieved. One should bear in mind, however, that there is always the danger of a resurgence of nationalism and protectionism. The real problem is now that there is not sufficient motivation for Europe. We must find that motivation. We must find something new and positive. What I have tried to point out is that Europe should again be given a world role. That would not be a bad thing for the equilibrium of the world but it presupposes a rather profound transformation. And that is also why I want Europeans to give themselves a new common economic and social doctrine with which to face our current problems. Finally, that is why I believe that our fundamental aim must be to create anew a European civilisation, not only a European way of life but also a European culture. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
9. Again the Welfare StateBolkestein: Do you think that because most European states are now welfare states, with all the nationally determined laws and regulations inherent in such states, the work of unifying Europe has become more difficult and that it would have been easier to unify liberal economies?
Deniau: Certainly. It seems a paradox but it isn't. I have heard an illustrious Frenchman, none other than Mr. Mitterand, say: ‘Europe will be socialist or it will not be.’ Now all our experience shows that socialism in all its shapes - and there are several - tends to isolate a country, if only because it requires far more interventions and because each intervention takes shape within national borders. So socialism is not a factor that | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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promotes cohesion, unless it happened that everybody miraculously belonged at the same time to the left wing of the Labour Party or to one of the currents of the French Socialist Party. If that is not the case, everybody looks for his own solutions to his own problems with his own methods and his own habits, and that is not an obvious factor promoting European unification.
Bolkestein: Moreover, each intervention by the state calls for others.
Deniau: The more one intervenes, the more it becomes impossible not to intervene. When one has intervened for 85% of the population it becomes disgraceful not to intervene for 100%; and when one has intervened for 100% it becomes disgraceful not to go into the detail of each intervention. This proliferation of papers, circulars and regulations takes place as a sort of natural movement: it is not only the legal or the corporative spirit, it is that the more one intervenes, the further one is obliged to intervene, and to intervene in detail. If not, it becomes odious and unjust and it is not accepted.
Bolkestein: You are saying that some degree of abstention is called for. That is a very difficult thing for politicians because they want to show that they have done something.
Deniau: Of course. It is very difficult and it requires a lot of intellectual courage. It also requires the additional effort involved in thinking the doctrine through: should one intervene or are there certain areas where, on the contrary, one should plan not to intervene? Furthermore, if one does decide that it is necessary to intervene, in view of the real needs of society and the real interests of our countrymen, who should intervene? The state? Local corporations? Private associations? The family? In France, people have been grouped by age and we have made homes or asylums for old people. But we have discovered that this amounted to a type of segregation which was very expensive and which did not promote the happiness of the people concerned. Old people preferred to stay at home and not to find themselves exclusively among other old people, as in a ghetto. The system that we used to have but which has disappeared in most of our countries, in which it was usual for three generations to stay together, was really more humane. Young people | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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tend to reject that way of life and therefore the primary family is now reduced to a couple and its young children. The primary family that extended over three generations, with a sort of division of labour, has gone. It allowed old people to remain in a family environment and to feel themselves to be of use. It was also very handy to have the grandmother around to look after the children, rather than having to call upon paid staff, and it was also a justification for the grandmother herself. Now if one puts grandmother in an asylum, at the expense of the community, one has to put the young children of the family in a crèche. Therefore the state had to undertake an enormous programme of building crèches. Women want to be independent and those who work find that they cannot at the same time see to the education of their children and have a job. It is true that for working women it is a heavy burden to have young children to educate, but it is also true that nothing can replace education by the parents. The tendency has been to lower the age at which children enter school. Some years ago it was when the child was five years old and then, under pressure from the parents, classes were started for four-year-olds, then for children of three years, and often now for children of two years. This does give the parents time for something else but it also causes a certain irresponsibility on their part as well as a considerable expense for the state. I think that we should consider where we are going. Are we, perhaps without our real awareness, moving towards a quasi-Soviet type of society, i.e. where the state looks after everything and where the individual perhaps manages to regain a certain autonomy during his vacations and through reduction of his working hours? At the moment, the primary wish of our countrymen in Europe is for shorter working hours. For the worker, the whole year is justified not by what he does in his job, but by the month in which he takes his vacation, to which he looks forward for 5½ months and which he remembers for the other 5½ months. Is that the future of our society - to increase our free time while society looks after practically everything during the rest of our time - or can we create again conditions of work that give everyone more responsibility? The one thing I hope for is that we do not let ourselves be carried along by these snowballing interventions which, once begun, are practically impossible to stop because they feed upon themselves, like inflation. Can we stop that development? I believe that until now we haven't systematically thought about that in Europe. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bolkestein: Emancipation is a European ideal, a liberal ideal. Could one say that a society may be destroyed by its own ideals if they are carried too far, and that one aspect of liberalism may be to avoid exaggerating one's own ideals?
Deniau: Definitely. It is the control over oneself and over one's philosophy that lies at the end of philosophy. It means that one's thoughts should find their limitation in themselves. One day I was looking over the news of a rather well-known radio station for commentary and a journalist was passing news items to me. At one point, he said of one of these items: ‘This one won't interest you; it's about the number of cats and dogs that are abandoned just before the weekends.’ People who have cats or dogs sometimes want to leave the city for the weekend but they don't want to take the trouble of placing their pets somewhere, so they abandon them. Friday evenings you see a large number of abandoned cats and dogs. I told him: ‘Give me that item. I am going to read it out and I am going to comment on it.’ It used to happen to cats and dogs but now it happens to children and old people. It's horrible. They are not abandoned in the streets but they pretend to have developed influenza, a migraine or something else, and they are put in a hospital for two days. Yes, I am in favour of emancipation and freedom and vacations - but the philosophy of emancipation and of freedom must have its discipline. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
10. Power in the Modern StateBolkestein: MacMillan once said that a politician always seeks power. Then one day he becomes Prime Minister. He looks around for the power he has sought, but there isn't any. Do you think it is power that is lacking in our Western societies and that dictatorships are the only places where there is still power left?
Deniau: I once spent a long evening with Olof Palme, the Swedish Prime Minister, who is considered one of the socialist leaders in Europe, at my home in the countryside, and we talked about this very matter. When one is in power, how much power does one have in a democratic society? Both of us came to the conclusion that if one avoided revolutions and dictatorships, the quantum of action that the Prime Minister | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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of a democratic government disposes of is 5%. No more. By going to a lot of trouble, by having very clear aims and a lot of willpower, one could change 5% of those things one would like to change. All the rest is presented as established facts that are practically beyond reach, such as the trade balance, the level of investment, the demographic development, the usual income and the existing arsenal of laws, regulations and circulars. The power of any government in a democracy is thus diminished, if only by the accumulation of preceding interventions which give rise to established situations and rights, apart from international constraints. Knowing a bit about the problems of power - he as Prime Minister and I at a more modest level - we decided that the possibilities power gives for taking action, while avoiding revolutions and dictatorship and while taking into account and respecting public opinion, was a 5% influence on one's country and the lives of its inhabitants. Having made this pessimistic finding, we said to each other: but in reality that is enormous! It is the 5% that makes the difference between having freedom or not, between having responsibility or not. As in a company, it is what makes the difference between success or failure. It is what provides the link between events and what causes things to sway one way or the other. Therefore I consider it is worth our while to fight for that 5% because that is the price of responsibility and freedom. |