International

Last Friday saw the appearance of the long-awaited memorandum from Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans on the question of which areas of policy ought to be returned to national regulation and from which interference from Brussels should be excluded. The government posed in this note the question of why the European Commission has, in every area in which it has competence, also invariably the exclusive right to propose new legislation. This is a good question, yet the government failed to give an answer to it. It can’t do so, in fact, because this would necessitate an extreme make-over for Brussels, and Prime Minister Mark Rutte is opposed to any amendment to the Lisbon Treaty. That’s why, in this respect, the memorandum is an opportunity missed.

The European Commission is angry with the IMF because this week the Fund issued a report in which it actually stated quite simply that the approach to the crisis had been entirely wrong. What should have been done, according to the IMF, was the granting of a rapid debt write-off and the adoption of an approach which required the strongest parties to shoulder the heaviest burden. In times of recession, said the IMF, cuts should not be too deep, which is exactly what the SP has always argued. Evidently, for opinion-formers it would still have been a bridge too far to have admitted this, but this doesn’t affect the fact that it’s the truth.

This week French President Francois Hollande launched his plan for a European government. Yet another politician going all out for a federal Europe. Yet just a few weeks ago the EU’s statistical bureau Eurobarometer published the latest figures on the confidence people have in the European Union. What do we find? In France the percentage who say that they have no confidence in the EU has risen from 41% in 2007 to 59%. Hollande simply ignores this mistrust. This is dangerous and affects every one of us, because at June’s European Council he will undoubtedly attempt to persuade his fellow leaders of the correctness of his ideas. Before you know it we will be a step further on the road to a federal Europe.

Today, on Liberation Day, the anniversary of the end of the Nazi occupation of World War Two, the Netherlands is celebrating freedom. That’s important, but it strikes me that freedom is being interpreted in a quite restrictive way. No violence, no oppression, those are the key words. But are we truly free, if we look at the economy? How democratic is that, in reality? Banks that we really must help, even if they have long been guilty of irresponsible speculation; small businesses driven from the market by multinationals; workers who have little say over how their firm is run, even if they’ve worked there for years; and tenants who have to deal with commercial housing corporations. Is that freedom? Fortunately the discussion within the SP regarding the democratisation of the economy is well under way, because without democratisation there is no real freedom. Let’s pause to consider this. It’s a good day for such contemplation.