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GAZETTE
JUNE 1992
25 commissioners? What is going to
happen to the European Parliament?
Is anybody going to be prepared after
the trauma of Maastricht to have
another inter-Governmental conference
in the next year or two to change the
structure to accommodate new
membership? As Jacques Delors has
recently said enlargement is objectively
a force for disintegration not
consolidation. This is not to suggest
that it be resisted but equally it must
be achieved in an orderly way."
Mr. Sutherland continued "where is
Germany, where does its heart lie? As
we have seen, Germany has provided
much of the stability for the
development of the Community. It
has been the fulcrum of so much of
what has happened. In recent times
in 1988 the Community doubled the
structural funds under Chancellor
Kohl's presidency indicating a
generosity of approach to countries,
such as Ireland, that has not always
been appreciated." Mr. Sutherland
said that now with one hundred
billion Ecu per annum being
transferred from West Germany to
East Germany, some who were
engaged in debate about Maastricht
in Germany were saying that
Germany's responsibilities were now
at home. However, he said, he did
not believe for one instant in the
theory that Germany was turning
East. It would not make economic
sense and it would deny the genuine
commitment of Chancellor Kohl and
the German people to an integrated
Europe. Kohl's commitment was to a
united Germany and then a united
Europe. "He has achieved a united
Germany. He must now move on to
a united Europe" said Mr.
Sutherland.
The challenge now was whether we
were going to go into a period when
Europeans would look inward and
become nationalistic rather than
living up to the profound ideal - so
fundamental to what the Community
is about. It was a challenge to us in
Ireland as much as to anybody else.
Mr. Sutherland concluded by saying
that it would be an utter tragedy and
an act of stupidity if Ireland were to
contemplate, even remotely, the
Peter Sutherland SC "Community at a
turning point"
possibility of voting against the
Maastricht TYeaty.
Germany
's
place in the new Europe
In his address to the conference the
Irish Ambassador to Germany, His
Excellency Padraig Murphy, said that
the united Germany was a new factor
in world affairs. It was the third
strongest economy in the world. It
was the largest country and the most
important economic power in the
European Community.
A key concern was what the attitude
of the new Germany would be to the
European Community. "The
Maastricht TYeaty was agreed in the
perspective of German unification"
he said. "There was a coinciding
objective on the part of Germany
and its partners to situate unification
in the framework of increasing
integration of the Community. I have
talked of a 'hangover' after
unification. There is, it must be said,
something of a hangover feeling
noticeable after Maastricht too. The
voices calling for improvement and
denouncing certain aspects of the
agreement at Maastricht are more
noticeable and more insistent than
they have ever been previously on a
comparable occasion.
The calls are for greater powers for
the European Parliament, more
safeguards for the rights of the
Lander, greater German
representation in the European
Parliament, more rights for German
as a language in the Community".
These calls inevitably raised questions
about the German commitment to
the European Community said the
Ambassador. "The commitment to
European integration has been a
central plank in German foreign
policy under all Governments for
decades. In fact, German enthusiasm
for Europe over the past 40 years was
remarkable.
"One is forced to the conclusion that
something has now changed here. It
seems apparent that German
enthusiasm for Europe over decades,
served as an Ersatz, to use a good
German word, for devotion to a
national cause which was taboo after
the experience of 1933 to 1945. It is
striking that, even today, sophisticated
and well educated Germans will tell
you quite honestly that there is no
such thing as German national
feeling. For my part while I know
why they say it, I beg leave to doubt
it. What is true is that for many
decades Germans have not wanted or
felt entitled to acknowledge it. This is
changing and "Euro-fatigue" is one
manifestation of it."
The Ambassador went on to say,
however, that what was not changing
was the continuing commitment of
Chancellor Kohl and others to
European integration. "They are of a
generation which is acutely conscious
of recent history and therefore
intimately aware of the hazards of a
free floating great power at the heart
of the European continent and know
that "German unity and European
unity are two sides of the one coin".
I think the leadership of the other
main party, the SPD also knows
what is at stake. There seems no real
danger for the ratification of
Maastricht therefore and in the
shorter term the German
commitment can be depended on."
Germany's position in the world was
now more weighty than it had been
at any time in the past 45 years, said
Padraig Murphy. "Closer attention to
events and opportunities here will be
well worth the effort. I commend you
for coming here to see for
yourselves."
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