The Gazette 1992

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

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 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." • danger for the ratification of Maastricht therefore and in the shorter term the German

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

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