Gelles/ EMU/Popularism

[tmurphy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

John Gelles has written a masterly summing up.

Pertinent, incisive, and timely, he speaks to Europe's needs now.

However much I disagree with his vocabulary, I endorse the substance of
his insight. Our purose is modernization, an ability to compete. Europe
has decided. Our model (UE). Not yours (USA).

Instead of interpreting the EMU as a neo-liberal frabrication, I urge
understanding of the complexity of the effort. EMU is not neo-liberalism
run riot. EMU guarantees what John sees as threatened. That alone
explains why the UK backed away and opted out. We call the social
security and social guarantees by a special name--les acquis
communitaries.

    Our problem is policy mix. This ambiguity escapes ideoloques and
calls for pragmatic solution. The French and Italian examples are praise
worthy and merit attention and support.

    John comes to the heart to the matter. In France, the extreme left
(Pierre Bourdieu sells 300,000 of his short essays) and the extreme right
have a common cause. They are opposed to Europe, to progressive ideas.
What they want in common is chaos. The left. because it proves they were
right; the right because they seek power.

     What John rightly identifies, just as JMK would have identified, is
the threat of economic and social instablilty in Middle Europe.

   This is not an academic issue about regulation or deregulation.

    The working class in France votes neofascist. Le Pen's daughter also
won in a working class district north of Paris.

     Until the academics understand the challenge, drop the ideological
cover, and join in the struggle for culture, we are into the wall.

     That John tagged his piece, the containment of Germany intrigues me.
 I would suggest another title: the containment of popularism.
Nevertheless, I agree with John as opposed to his critic that popularism
in Germany is an important threat to stability in middle Europe.

    Listening to the Whit Sunday rituals of the CSU in Munich is
unsettling. Listening to recently elected prime minister of Hungary is
disquieting. Take note of the SDP refusal of Polish workers in Germany.
Take note of the adds in Danmark in the recent campaign over the
referredum on the Treaty of Amsterdam.  (Welcome 30 million polls) Racism
threatens Europe. That's not a comfortable fit with economic theory. But
it is a reality.

    Rather than apologizing, I would urge John and other participants to
reflect on how we integrate nationalism, security issues , and
macro-economics into the a progressive understanding of Europe.


Terence Murphy