大象传媒

Sarkozy v Brown

• Robert Peston
• 22 Jun 07, 10:38 AM

In the history of attempted coups at European summits, the by M Sarkozy of the EU鈥檚 commitment to 鈥渦ndistorted competition鈥� from the new draft treaty takes some beating.

So much for Sarkozy 鈥渢he reformer鈥�.

What he has done will split the EU right down the middle.

It鈥檚 also an explicit attack by the French president on Gordon Brown鈥檚 vision for Europe 鈥� which doesn鈥檛 augur for European harmony in the months ahead.

Apart from anything else, the promotion of competition has brought unmitigated benefits to European consumers, in the form of lower prices for all manner of goods and services.

There would probably be no Ryanair or Easyjet, if it weren鈥檛 for EU competition policy.

There would have been less pressure on mobile phone companies to lower their prices for using phones abroad.

And the European Commission鈥檚 periodic forays into duffing up huge companies that exploit their enormous market power 鈥� such as 鈥� would probably not have happened.

The pro-competition philosophy, enshrined in all previous treaties, is an example 鈥� perhaps a rare one 鈥� of the EU being directly in touch with the needs of citizens. So at a time when the EU has something of a credibility problem, it鈥檚 slightly odd to weaken that pro-competition approach.

However for the French government 鈥� and to an extent the German one too 鈥� the triumph of the British liberal-market approach to the stewardship of economies rankles. Many European governments long for the days when they could subsidise business in the putatively strategic interests of their respective economies and not be worried about being prosecuted for distorting competition. And it irks them that most of their biggest companies can no longer be protected from Europe-wide competition.

As for Gordon Brown, what Sarkozy has done attacks the essence of how he thinks Europe should be. He believes that globalisation is the unstoppable economic force of our age 鈥� and he believes that European member states will be unfit to prosper in a globalising world unless their economies become leaner and meaner subject to the discipline of competition.

He will not be able to accept a treaty that excludes the historic competition clause.

But Tony Blair and the UK cannot afford to fight for its reinstatement as a lone voice 鈥� partly because Blair has too much else on his shopping list, and also because it would be devastating for the cohesion of the EU if this were Britain against the rest on an issue of such moment.

Happily, British officials appear to have wound up the Irish to lead the fight back. The Portuguese and Italians are also likely to join the cause.

Perhaps most significantly of all, the European Commission is up in arms about what M Sarkozy has done: its very legitimacy will be in question, if it can no longer fight the good fight for European consumers.

• Permalink
• Comments