Airstrip One

A "Ring of Friends" - 13th November 2002, 22.06

It is kind of Romano Prodi to muse on the future borders of the European Union and share with us his thoughts on the prospective relationship with his neighbours. His speech confirms that many of the federalists are aware of the seachange in international relations since September 11th and this has acted as a stimulus to their push for a superstate and downgraded the emphasis given to international governance.

In the last year, the Commission has begun to speak as if it were a state and now envisages influence throughout the East and the North African littoral, captured in his phrase "from Moscow to Morocco". Such a vision places him in the federalist debate but promotes a transnationalist (free access to health care, political and environmental links etc.) view of the EU's future rather than the demand for sovereignty as a modern state and places him in disagreement with the the voluble Giscard D'Estaing. His vision as such is a ludicrous aversion to the huge problems that disfigure this region and pose difficulties for the Club Med who don't wish to be overrun by North Africans.

Those neighbours would be linked to the EU not only by a common economic space but also by political cooperation and technical agreements in areas such as health or the free circulation of people.

Prodi includes charming candidates like Libya and Egypt in this possible grouping and they wouldn't share institutions with the European countries themselves. That saves even these loathsome regimes from the heroin addicts huddling in Europe, who love to share everything from their currency to their food, always at our expense.