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With it seeming to be inevitable that Britain will leave the EU, the real power will shift again to the French-German axis.
While Spain, Italy and Poland are large countries, they are not in the same league and Ireland will have to pick its allies carefully on each issue.
Last week, I went to hear the French Minister of the Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire at the Institute of European and International Affairs.
He was speaking with the violent riots in Paris and elsewhere in France still fresh in peoples’ minds but also conscious of the rise of “populist” parties in many countries in the EU – particularly Italy and Hungary and, to an extent, in Poland and even Germany.
Paschal Donohoe, in his musings, continuously refers to the need for the centre to hold
Listening to him, he echoed much of what Minister Paschal Donohoe had articulated in pointing to the general globalisation of economies and the emergence of a large section of societies that feels left behind. It was this factor of course that was the key element in electing Donald Trump in the US.
Paschal Donohoe, in his musings, continuously refers to the need for the centre to hold.
For Minister Le Maire, Brexit was not the key question – for him, it was the EU and its future.
He, and France, wants to see a stronger euro with all the characteristics of a single currency.
It could be said that the Commission implements the law, it does not make it, so it is up to the national government to amend them as they see fit
He also asked do we want to see Chinese trains or European trains in Europe? I had never heard a senior minister attack the European Commission so vigorously for its recent decision to block the proposed French-German amalgamation of two large industrial groupings. But it could be said that the Commission implements the law, it does not make it, so it is up to the national government to amend them as they see fit.
I was intrigued that he backed the Irish position on how digital companies should be taxed in the future – that it should be done through the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD), rather than piecemeal, national measures though I suspect we will still see more one-off turnover type national taxes on digital earnings in individual countries. Part of the EU’s current problems stem from the perception that migration from outside Europe is badly handled.
Ultimately, the French minister is correct – the population surge in Africa is so great that only large-scale sustained efforts to develop African countries will curtail the attempted flight of young people to Europe.
Minister Le Maire’s address lifted the thoughts from our own immediate short-term priorities and brought into sharp focus why a strong Europe is so important for us in Ireland and, for what has historically been a war-torn and divided continent.
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