Re: US and EU

Tue, 25 Aug 1998 12:59:38 +0100
Richard K. Moore (rkmoore@iol.ie)

8/23/98, Eustace Frilingos wrote to philofhi:
>I have come to the
>conclusion that within the coming decade an economic and/or military
>confrontation should be expected between the US and the EU, and it will
>lead to the dissolution of the later. You do not seem to include this
>possibility in your projections, and I would like you at list to
>consider the possibility.

Dear Eustace,

I'd be interested in what analysis leads to such a conclusion. There is
some tension between US foreign policy (eg, Helms Burton) and EU interests,
but this tension is kept within manageable bounds -- NATO continues to
exhibit singular harmony. There is no inherent contradiction of interests
between dominant US and EU elites, and US foreign policy, despite domestic
rhetoric, is ultimately in support of their common globalization project.

In the public rhetoric around the EU there is indeed emphasis on "competing
with America and Japan", building up a "new world power", as if the old
competitive imperialist game were still being played. In fact, the
unificiation of European markets has been of as much benefit to American
and Japanese producers as it has been to European producers. And in the
era of TNC's, the identification of a producer with a nation is of dubious
significance in any case.

The true meaning of the EU can be understood by looking at the Maastricht
Treaty. In the political realm, the EU was set up as an undemocratic,
top-heavy bureaucracy, far more subject to elite domination than the
individual European governments it is gradually but relentlessly
superceding. In economics, Maastricht declared a neoliberal laissez-faire
agenda far beyond what prevailed at the time in Europe, and beyond what
most Europeans would have favored.

The clear evidence, both in Maastricht and in subsequent developments such
as the WTO, is that the EU is little more than an elite strategem to
accelerate Europe's acquiesence in the globalization project. From London
and Paris to Brussels sovereignty is to flow, and from there it vanishes
into the anonymous corporate global regime. The EU is being disempowered
even as it is being created, a pre-1945-style national-sand-castle being
built directly in the path of the incoming globalization wave. When the G7
gather, they spend most of their time promoting globalization, not
squabbling over competitive interests.

yours,
rkm