When I wrote my opinion piece about the last French Presidential elections and expressed reservations about Emanuel Macron's vision for Europe, I was accused, by at least one opinion reader of this newspaper, that I am becoming anti-EU. One needs to remember that Macron faced Marine Le Pen in the second tour of those elections. In truth, Macron got voted into the French Presidency by 75.3 per cent, the lowest percentage since the 1969 election. By no means, does this delegitimize his role as French president, but what Europe witnessed on Thursday, 18thJanuary, was a situation where Macron is now following Marine Le Pen and Viktor Orban with regards to issues of migration in Europe.
The meeting between Theresa May and Emanuel Macron at the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst shows that the French President is not so keen on Europe. This meeting was a big victory for the Brexiters. Those studying international relations cannot fail to note that it was a bilateral meeting between these two countries. Perhaps, one may ask what's wrong with a bilateral agreement? There is nothing wrong. But if one believes in the EU, then one cannot fail to note that the European Union was totally absent in this bilateral meeting. Not only were Brussels' functionaries not part of this meeting but also and more importantly, even the European flag was nowhere to be seen during the Press Conference. Such behaviour from France speaks volumes about the current situation in Europe.
In brief, the French president reached an agreement with the British Prime Minister behind Europe's back. France is now following in the steps of the Eastern European countries and is seeking unilateral agreements that are necessary for its country's future, in particular, where migration is concerned but are not at all healthy for Europe. The irony of it all is that by this agreement, a country, which is no longer going to be part of the EU, will still have power to control territory on EU soil.
All this contradicts what has been stated in the media that the forthcoming Italian elections are going to pose the biggest threat to the European Union. The threat is not Italy, but these unilateral agreements and the Catalan situation. Incidentally, Italy and France were in discussions to reach some form of bilateral agreement with regards to the internal control of their borders. Once again, these discussions were practically taking place behind Brussels' back. In the meantime, Austria put up barricades along the Brenner, that is, the border between Italy and Austria to stop what Austria considers as a possible invasion of migrants from Italy into Austria.
Within this bilateral agreement, Britain agreed to pay France 50 million Euros package to bolster UK borders control in France. In simple words, this money is being paid to France to keep the illegal migrants in Calais. Moreover, British officials would have the right to control the French border at Calais. The French media has rightly called this an extremely intelligent move by Britain. In practice, Britain succeeded to extend its borders up to Calais. Calais is the French town through which migrants pass to reach Britain. Calais has become famous for its shanty town, where migrants sit in waiting for the right opportunity to cross over to Britain. This town has been aptly known as 'The Jungle'.
The French media also stated that 50 million a year is a paltry sum even if, some of the Brexiters may disagree and would state that this is a huge sum for Britain to pay France to secure her own borders. This means that frontier countries, like Italy and Malta, will be facing further pressure in the future to hold the immigrants within their folds. This would mean that border controls are destined to increase and not decrease in Europe. European politicians laughed at the Hungarian Premier Orban but Macron of France is arguing and reasoning like Orban!!!! Like Hungary, France is much more interested in her internal security and in fact, discussions have already begun in earnest in France regarding the need for France to control her borders with Italy and Spain.
At the end of the day, each and every European country is interested in its internal issues. In simple terms, the concept of the Nation State is going to get strengthened in the future. Those who thought that the concept of the Nation State are over are in for a big surprise. France is now leading by example and the French President, who many saw as the saviour of Europe, ended up putting the interest of his country (rightly so) before that of Europe. If one needs proof of this, one has only to analyse how he has been behaving recently towards Germany.
He followed the UK, and went on to obtain a separate deal with China behind Brussels' back. He is trying to take advantage of the situation in Germany, where the government formation is still fluid, to affirm France's dominance in Europe. In fact, on the following day of the Sandhurst meeting, he also met Angela Merkel in Paris. At the moment, Merkel is politically weak because she has not yet succeeded in forming a government.
Yet, those who like me watched this press conference at Sandhurst, could not avoid observing how these two leaders, May and Macron, referred to history and sought to manipulate history to their own personal advantage. Reference was made to what is known in diplomatic history as the entente cordial. This was the first rapprochement between France and Britain in 1904. From the Napoleonic Wars onwards Britain has considered France its major enemy in Europe. The Napoleonic Wars were seen as one big war. In fact, it was known as the Great War. For a number of decades during the nineteenth century, Britain considered France her potential enemy. Our small island came to play a role in this policy. There was even a bishop, Buhagiar, who under British pressure was removed by the Vatican and literally exiled to Latin America in the nineteenth century because the British considered Buhagiar to be pro-French! Therefore, Britain feared that, should there be war with France, this bishop could not guarantee the support of the local population for the British crown! Buhagiar was the protégé of the famous French Cardinal Lavigerie.
Both May and Macron lauded the alliance between France and Britain, which in their own words, led to these countries to fight together for the establishment of the principles of democracy in the First World War. It should be remembered that this war was fought mainly against Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. However, what Macron and May failed to state in their press conference was that on the allies side, there was also Italy and Russia. This is what I consider as politics of deception. Why was Russia not mentioned as one of the countries which fought for democracy during the First World War alongside with Britain and France? The answer emerges from the same press conference. Both Macron and May consider Putin's Russia as Europe's enemy. Both affirmed their will on collaborating militarily to defend Estonia against what Macron and May consider as Russian threat!!!
This should be an eye opener for those in Malta who think that Europe is our salvation. While Malta should remain in the EU, we too need to start putting our interest first and start becoming more diffident of parliamentary delegations that, from time to time visit our country. History teaches us that we moved forward when we started to look after our own affairs. We should also start taking what commissioners, like Pierre Moscovici, had stated, about Malta with a pitch of salt. Moscovici described Malta as a 'fiscal black hole'. Moscovici is French. He was a French minister and supporter of Macron. What is a truly black hole is the current behavior of France in establishing unilateral agreements behind the back of Brussels. But rightly so, Moscovici remained silent about all this!! His foremost loyalty is to his own country rather than to Europe!
Politicians can manipulate history, but doing incorrect historical analysis is the worst thing that could happen to politics. In this whole scenario, the European Union will suffer because as those in Europe who, like me, had high hopes about this union, will start realizing that the European dream is fizzling away.