Europeans Frustrated by State of Affairs

Ever since George W. Bush took office in 2001 and exponentially so since 9/11 much has been made of the perceived anti-Americanism in Europe. While I'm sure much of it was amplified by the war in Iraq, I believe what underlined said anit-Americanism was plain old envy. People are bitter in Europe...well people are bitter everywhere including America, but I think there's a level of impotence felt by the average European citizen that mutates into invective aimed at a conveinent target, America. Americans do it too. It's very easy for the average American to blame all the woes of our country on Muslims when only a fraction of the total population are murderous extremists. It's very easy to blame all of our unemployment woes on Mexicans rather that understand the complexities of our economy. I remember not too long that Japan was the target of our ire. I remember angry white dudes with bats smashing Japanese cars. It's a part of human nature to want to shift blame for your own problems to a safer target than actually make needed changes.

European-style socialism has made it uncompetitive. More and more countries are quickly scaling the development ladder and more and more will eventually start making their way up the ladder. If you read "The End of Poverty" by Jeffery Sachs, the part of the prescription for success is always the same; liberal economies as opposed to fixed economies. The collective psyche of Europe has definitely suffered due to back to back world wars followed up by 50 years of possible invasion by the Soviets. Fear, victimhood and exhaustion can make liberals of us all and I don't mean that as an insult. Every collective decision that Europe has made has seemingly been done as to prevent the condition for yet another war or to elevate yet another hostile superpower (ie the Soviet Union). Such gun-shyness has stifled that continent both economically and politically as well as psychologically, in my opinion. The following article from the AP seems to allude to the same idea:

What's eating Europe? In theory, these should be the continent's glory days. Already united by a common currency, flag, legislature and more, the European Union's 450 million citizens now are looking at a landmark constitution that many leaders insist will translate to a greater voice in world affairs and the means to achieve even greater prosperity. In practice, there's an overwhelming sense of doubt, disillusionment and just plain disgruntlement - epitomized by polls that show France probably heading toward a rejection of the charter in a weekend referendum.

From Berlin to Brussels, a funk born of frustration with high unemployment, lackluster economies and perceived political paralysis is feeding a nagging feeling that Europe's moment may irretrievably have passed it by.

At the heart of the anxiety is an identity crisis: Many Europeans desperately want to preserve their generous social welfare systems, but realize that doing so puts them in danger of being left behind by the more cutthroat market economies of the United States and, increasingly, China and India.

"We are not equipped to deal with the challenges that are coming up," said Angelo Foriglio, a 27-year-old art student in Rome. "We need to enter into the American and Asian mentality. We have created the European Union and should think as one entity, as a whole, which is what America does."

For now, a bloc that's less a United States of Europe than an uneasy hodgepodge of 25 nations is united more in gloom than anything else.

The malaise is laid bare in widespread confusion and ambivalence over the constitution, which must be ratified by the people or parliaments of all 25 EU countries for it to take effect. Polls suggest the historic charter is likely to face a humiliating defeat Sunday in France - one of the architects of the European project - and another "no" three days later in the Netherlands.

Italy's top financial daily, Il Sole-24 Ore, captured the despondency with a front-page editorial this week bemoaning the end of a "model of society that was believed to last forever."

Even Britain's left-leaning Guardian newspaper published a commentary warning that Europeans must awaken to the realities of the new global era.

"The great challenge for our part of the world is to make the transition from the national and European protectionism of the 20th century to achieve competitiveness in the Asian and American-dominated global economy of the 21st," it said. "No nation will succeed by opting out."

With joblessness running at 12 percent in Germany and 10 percent in France, and the strong euro currency making goods and services expensive both for export and domestic consumption, the EU's top two economic engines are sputtering.
French President Jacques Chirac, waging an all-out campaign to persuade his divided countrymen to ratify the constitution, has promised it will help preserve the European economic model.

He spoke of dire consequences of a no vote to the treaty - planned as the next big step in a 50-year process of European integration.

"It would open a period of divisions, of doubts, of uncertainties," Chirac warned in the address from the presidential Elysee Palace, his last of a tumultuous campaign. "What a responsibility if France, a founder nation of Europe, took the risk of breaking the union of our continent."

Chirac's assurances aside, others suspect that the EU has been drifting toward a more free-market outlook - and that the treaty, with its provisions for streamlining the decision-making process, would continue that trend.

In a gamble to stay in power, embattled Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has called for early elections after alienating many Germans by chipping away at social protections to revive Germany's economy. Germany, the left-leaning Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily said in a withering assessment, is "sinking into a morass of self-doubt."

Chirac is also reaping a whirlwind of recriminations - a new poll showed his popularity ratings have plummeted to 39 percent.

Many in the "no" camp reflect the so-called "French paradox": a desire to be a global economic player, yet still retain a cultural and political identity distinct from the Anglo-Saxon approach rejected in France as domineering.

They may not be able to have it both ways, Foreign Minister Michel Barnier warned this week. "If we don't get this constitution," he said, "this would lead to a European political breakdown."

Anders Hellner, an analyst with the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, offers a bleak assessment. Much of Western Europe, he contends, is too overburdened with entrenched social costs and aging infrastructure to compete with the Asian tiger economies and the cheaper goods and outsourced services they can offer.

"This is a giant problem," he said. "Europe has not yet found replacements for the old industries. Some say that there won't be any car industry at all in Europe in the future. Europe has not yet given enough thought to how we are going to earn our living."

Not all Europeans, of course, are pessimists.

"The United States of Europe is the future," Daniela Oliveira, a 39-year-old Portuguese, said in London. "I think people forget that the EU is still a baby. We need to invest in it and give it time."

But Vaclav Havel, the former president of the Czech Republic, an EU newcomer, believes many Europeans no longer feel they're in control - a sentiment espoused by those who fear the constitution will mute the voices of individual member states.

"Many people still believe that they are not true masters of their destiny," he said.