Der designierte deutsche Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz hat seine Absicht deutlich gemacht, einen föderalen europäischen Staat anzustreben. Das ist weit davon entfernt, die Mitgliedsländer der Europäischen Union näher zusammenzubringen. Sein Plan könnte eher die EU zerstören.
de.rt.com
Why Germany's new government coalition is a major threat to the EU
The designated German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has made his intention clear to strive for a single federal European state. That is far from bringing the member states of the European Union closer together. His plan could more likely destroy the EU.
Source: AFP © Michael Kappeler
(Symbolic picture): Olaf Scholz during a press conference in Berlin on November 18, 2021.
A comment by Paul A. Nuttall
Olaf Scholz, who will soon take office as Federal Chancellor, will lead a "traffic light coalition" consisting of his own party, the SPD, the Greens and the Free Democrats. The top positions are distributed among the respective party leaders. The three most powerful posts go: to the SPD leader Scholz as Chancellor; to Christian Lindner as Minister of Finance; and to the co-chair of the Greens, Annalena Baerbock, who will become Foreign Minister.
The basis of the coalition agreement was specified in a 178-page document with 52,000 words. In it, the coalition members dealt with a range of topics such as the economy, migration, cannabis and climate change.
One of the most interesting aspects, however, is the undisguised ambition of the new government to work towards "the development of a European federal state". Udo Bullmann, the European political negotiator of the SPD, even said: "The time is crying out" and "people are waiting for it." Hmmm. We will see.
The federalist ambitions of the new German government are more likely to cause concern in a number of countries. Including in Poland, whose government has made it clear that it is against an EU superstate. As early as June 2021, I predicted that the EU's federalist ambitions would eventually lead to a break with the Poles. And this coalition agreement only serves to bring this inevitable conflict one step closer.
In addition,
a spokesman for the Hungarian Prime Minister said the German coalition document was "not a European, but a clearly Western European program" that is "extremely far from what we think about the world and societies in central Europe." He added that the
new German government "is clearly aiming for the United States of Europe, but at least it is doing so openly, rather than secretly expanding the powers of the European institutions and limiting the powers of the member states."
This is a really interesting comment because, in general, the EU gets its way when it acts clandestinely. On the other hand, when their integration plans are made public, they are usually rejected.
When the EU last revealed its ambitions for a federal Europe in the form of a European constitution, the idea was resolutely rejected by the French and the Dutch in referendums.
The German coalition document also wants to see steps towards a coherent EU foreign policy. It aims to abolish the principle of unanimity and replace it with qualified majority voting. Which means that the member states no longer have the right to veto foreign policy. This could lead to countries being drawn into foreign engagements that they do not necessarily agree to.
In order to achieve its federalist goals,
the new federal government will give the European Parliament more powers. It wants to do this by allowing Parliament to initiate legislation, which is currently the sole right of the European Commission. This lack of legislative power has led many to dismiss the European Parliament as little more than a "glorified chatterbox".
The federal government's plan to give elected MPs more power may be a step towards more democratic accountability, but it could ultimately prove counterproductive.
The European Parliament is the most federal of all the EU institutions, and it is also by far the most extreme. In fact, the European Commission often slows down some of Parliament's excesses, which is why interinstitutional conflicts are not uncommon. Take, for example, the most recent case in which Parliament is suing the Commission for failing to sanction Poland and Hungary quickly enough after they refused to obey the EU's dictates.
If it were up to MPs, the climate targets would be even more extreme, the EU would already have a standing army, it would interfere in conflicts around the world and full integration would be accelerated. In addition, countries that deviate from the objectives of the project would be subject to even tougher sanctions. No wonder that supra-federalist MEPs like former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt are cheering the new German government to the utmost.
And what about the French? Scholz has already indicated that his first foreign visit as Chancellor will lead to Paris. But I am not convinced that he will find a colleague there who will support his striving for a "European federal state". Surveys show that the French public is becoming more and more skeptical of Brussels, which is why the country's presidential candidates are Eurosceptic. Macron, for example, has vetoed EU enlargement, and even Michel Barnier, the EU's former Brexit negotiator, speaks of a withdrawal of power from Brussels.
I really believe that the federal train has left. These ideas were in vogue in the first decade of the century, but not so much now. To prove that the citizens of Brussels are getting tired of meddling, just look at how Eurosceptic parties have grown across the continent over the past 20 years.
If the federal government keeps its word and aggressively pursues the goal of a super-EU state, there will be massive tensions between the members. In the longer term, this could even lead to some countries withdrawing completely from the Union and going their own way.
(translated with Google)