Drift & rift
Hackett, Clifford
tion did not change its foreign policy. Bishop Casey gave permission for a peace vigil in his cathedral before the presi- dential visit. And though he would have been expected, as a member of the...
...Perhaps most striking for commentators of the Irish scene was the widespread grassroots feeling against Mr...
...Without institutional reform, the 1979 direct elections "would have been a ridiculous parody of democracy" in producing an assembly "charged with delivering opinions to a Council which, with every day that passes, is becoming less and less able to act...
...Their parents' generation finds this failure baffling for to them a united Europe was an ideal forged in two bloody world wars...
...Direct elections were supposed to bring vitality to the Community, which has largely failed to capture the interest of the younger Europeans...
...It revealed just how widespread is such opposition, and it showed just how much Ireland's traditional outlook on the world is changing...
...Many European leaders fear the issue has permanently soured relations between Britain and the continental members...
...A "United States" of Europe was the means to prevent another European civil war from igniting worldwide nuclear conflict...
...But it did reduce the bloated agricultural program which takes most of the Community's resources, Whether the drastic reform proposed has any chance may be seen by the voter turnout on June 17 when the citizens of Europe show how much faith remains in its common institu- tions...
...Reelection of the European Parliament may focus discon- tent about the drift of the idea of European unity which today 15 June 1984:359 seems reduced to accounts receivable...
...The past three European summits --in Stuttgart last June, in Athens in December, and in Brussels in March --have stalled on this increasingly bitter question...
...From the point of view of U.S...
...His disci- plined dedication to its growth and his relatively young age (54) give him a promising future, according to Brussels ob- servers...
...To this extent the idea of European unity has succeeded...
...In 1979, when the first direct election of the Parliament took place, 61 percent of the European Community's electorate voted...
...The original assembly of the 1957 Treaty of Rome establishing the Community institutions was composed of delegations from the national parliaments...
...European integration, which the report calls "necessary but paralyzed," must be rescued by the Parliament, for only such a popularly elected body can lead Europe out of its present "blind alley...
...The whole world in his hands, extermina- tion in the briefcase," it reads...
...If warm public attitudes towards the U.S...
...Reagan's visit was a non-starter...
...The report makes clear where the blame lies for this situa- tion: the member governments acting for national, not Euro- pean, interests...
...A sad reminder of the days when the Regan family of Ballyporeen were forced (through the unjust policies of a foreign power), to leave their home and motherland...
...Their view did not triumph in court, needless to say...
...interest in counteracting Irish opposition to aspects of its foreign policy, Mr...
...To their elders, today's "succes- sor" generation of Europeans lacks a sense of history...
...Since the report was written, another summit --the Brus- sels meeting in March --failed to solve the budget question...
...Furthermore, most of the places which Mr...
...The budget conflict involves Britain's insistence that it pays a disproportionate share of the European Community's costs...
...That meeting showed that the "emperor really did have no clothes...
...Women from all over Europe planned to set up ~ major peace camp for the duration of the visit...
...A stronger Parliament and weaker national governments are proposed in the report for Europe, which must either engage its citizens "in the work of strong, respon- sible, common political institutions.., or else everything that has been achieved is doomed to collapse...
...A poor voter turnout could confirm a mass boredom with the series of collapsed budget summits...
...The European Parliament recently approved a draft succes- sor treaty to the Treaty of Rome which would enhance parlia- mentary powers...
...Together with the smaller Christian parties in Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg, and with individual members in Denmark, Greece, France, and Ireland, they form the Chris- tian Democratic Group of the European Parliament, second in size only to the Socialists...
...Letters to the national media on the issue ran at five to one in favor of the protests...
...The newer generations may even accept the European Community which their parents created but they will not get excited about it...
...Today the Parliament only gives advisory opinions to the Council of Ministers...
...Anti-Reagan groups were organized in the small towns throughout the province of Munster in which Ballyporeen is situated, and public meetings attracted large audiences...
...Margaret Thatcher wants both a partial rebate of the 1983 British contribution and a formula which Will permanently reduce its share...
...From the historic moment in 1950 when French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman proposed building peace on joint control of coal and steel to the present struggle to avoid fiscal collapse, the movement for European unity has been a major priority of the Christian Democratic parties of Europe and of prominent Catholic laymen...
...Children of these Community supporters seem to look right through Europe into a wider world where nuclear disarma- ment, a cleaner environment, and justice for the third world are the supreme values...
...In Ballyporeen itself, hermetically sealed off on the day of the visit, most of the townspeople attended a showing of an anti- nuclear film in the parish hall and many expressed sympathy for the protests...
...The visit also prompted numerous publications...
...the European Council is not...
...Andriessen is responsible for rela- tions between the Parliament and the Commission, or execu- tive branch, of the European Community...
...Reagan was to visit, including Dublin, have been declared nuclear-free zones by their governing councils, ar- gued Irish CND...
...A group of leading Irish poets published an anthology entitled After the War Is Over to mark the president's visit...
...Today, the Christian Democratic parties of Italy and West Germany are again leaders in reviving the European Commu- nity...
...the inability to decide grew until we reached the keenly awaited European Council in Athens...
...From Council [of Ministers] to Council, the thorniest problems were referred to the European Council, and from European Council to European Council...
...The Irish Campaign against Reagan's Foreign P.olicy was able to organize a "primary" to test public opinion about the visit in every town in the country, the first time such a wide- spread mobilization of opinion on any protest issue has hap- pened...
...De Gasperi of Italy and Adenauer of Germany, two of those laymen from the defeated Axis countries of Europe, were typical of this amalgam of faith and politics...
...One of the leaders today in Community affairs is Dutch Commissioner Frans Andriessen, former head of the Catholic People's party of Holland...
...In mid-June, the Euro- pean Parliament will hold direct elections for the second time to select 434 representatives from the ten member coun- tries for a five-year term...
...But the Community institutions which concentrate on the tedious work of harmonizing the national trade practices have become identified with mercantile thinking, not political idealism...
...Reagan...
...He visited Washing- ton in May for Schuman Day, the Community's Independence Day, and told a Mid-Atlantic Club audience that 1984 is the year for the idea of Europe to develop or decline...
...The tone of the poems can be judged from such titles as "Calypso for Gre- nada," "Hey Gringo," "Preparations for Survival," and "Last Puff-Puff to Ballyporeen...
...These show photographs from Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the atom bombing in 1945, and others from El Salvador and the Philippines...
...Armed conflict today among Western European countries is unthinkable...
...investments in Ireland or to tourist prospects...
...A major problem is that only those who knew the Second World War are aware of how great the changes in Europe are...
...But participation five years ago was aided by the novelty of the world's first international elections and the Community's first directly elected assembly...
...And though he would have been expected, as a member of the college's governing board, to attend the degree-granting ceremony, Bishop Casey discovered that a confirmation would prevent his attending any ceremony Mr...
...CLIFFORD HACKETT (Clifford Hackett writes regularly about Europe from Wash- ington...
...Such conflicts are decided not in the European Parliament but in the Council of Ministers which represents the national governments within the Community...
...The Spinelli Report on the new treaty, named for the Italian deputy who coordinated the drafting within the Institutional Affairs Committee, is frank in describing the present Commu- nity...
...The Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, of which various government ministers are members, sought a court injunction to prevent Mr...
...When the Council of Ministers cannot agree, discussions move to the European Council, the formal name for the summits of heads of govern- ment who normally meet three times a year as the supreme political overseers of the European Community...
...could have been presumed by governments in both Dublin and Washington up to now, Mr...
...But the hope of institutional reformers is a more vigorous Parliament and this will be harder to achieve if the voters show little interest...
...The campaign argued that this would contravene the pro-life amendment added to the Irish constitution after a contentious referendum last September...
...Once again a new generation must be forgiven for not making their parents' concerns their own...
...Their badges and stickers for the visit made a play on a song which became the theme tune for Pope John Paul during his visit in 1979...
...Among the postcards issued to commemorate the visit was a set of six issued by the third-world group, Action from Ireland...
...No special publications appeared to welcome Mr...
...Sometime soon, probably just after that election, the European Community (which includes the Parliament) will have to agree on a budget or face bankruptcy...
...Reagan would attend...
...Vainly ministers and leaders of industry warned of the damage that could be done to U.S...
...Reagan bringing to Ireland the brief- case containing the button to launch a nuclear attack...
...Reagan...
...It can also dismiss the thirteen Commissioners but not replace them, a power never exercised...
...Lowest turnout was in the United Kingdom with 33 percent participation, while those countries with compulsory voting (like Italy, Belgium, and Luxembourg) had their tradi- tionally high rate of balloting...
...A strong commitment to European unity is characteristic of the Christian Democrats, while the Socialists are split on both European integration and many other issues...
...Posters, badges, and car stickers widely seen around Dublin proclaimed: "Reagan's foreign policy: Behind the smile is a killer...
...PEADAR KIRBY (Peadar Kirby writes regularly from Ireland for Com-monweal...
...Economic integration, which does, in fact, have a positive political value, proceeds so slowly that Community leaders fear that the long-range political goals have been for- gotten...
...European elections DRIFT & RIFT THE FALTERING OF EUROPEAN UNITY E UROPE IS FACING two major threats in its quest for unity, one scheduled and the other not...
...Commonweal: 360...
...Such arguments were quickly countered by opponents who pointed out that Ireland is already too dependent on American multinationals and who asked whether morality should be silenced for the sake of money...
...The Council of Ministers is a Community institution...
...The caption to a photograph of a group of Salvadoran refugees filing past an army patrol reads: "A family moves out as the military move in...
...Reagan's visit has shown that such is no longer the case...
...Seldom before has Ireland witnessed such a widespread movement of protest...
Vol. 111 • June 1984 • No. 12
