DECEMBER 2005

From left to right: Javier Solana, George W. Bush, Jean-Claude Juncker and José Manuel Barroso in February 2005.

As a result of the lessons learned from the events that have shaken Europe over the past two years, the neoconservatives have decided to change their own agenda for this region of the world, which originally involved:

1) Redeploying the US military forces stationed in Europe, moving them to the East and the South to control Central and Eastern Europe, and establishing a “containment belt” around the Russian Federation;

2) Neutralizing any efforts towards an independent European Defense and reinforcing NATO’s leadership;

3) Leaning on the Brussels Commission to attain a merger between the US free trade zone and that of Western Europe. In order to achieve that goal, they counted on a supposed “constitutional” treaty that would establish, in advance, the powers and the political program of the Commission so that the latter would be completely free from any opposing power.

The redeployment of US troops has been taking place without any questioning. The European Union affectively participates – not complaining – in all destabilization operations carried out around Russia; with the pretext of carrying out programs of assistance and economic development, the EU facilitates US interference in the Caucasus; Javier Solana himself was in Ukraine supervising the “Orange” Revolution; and the Commission is financing a destabilization program against Belarus.

The loyal Solana, who has not forgotten that he was the NATO General Secretary before he was appointed General Secretary of the European Union, managed to have the Council of Heads of State and Government adopt a strategic doctrine that copies very faithfully that of President Bush. This is why the EU’s defense is more than ever dependent on NATO. However, although Solana was successful in involving the European Union in Afghanistan and Sudan, he failed in the case of Iraq.
Based on this incomplete result, the neoconservatives concluded that it was possible to manipulate the European Union within the European continent, but its members have so differing interests around the world that they are unable to perform the role the conservatives have given them.

George W. Bush and Javier Solana.

Finally, they have had to take into account the failure of the Constitutional Treaty project, rejected by the French and the Dutch, and also the failure of Angela Merkel, who was expected to include the Germans in the pseudo-liberal globalization. After interpreting these events as an illustration of the fears of expansion of the European Union and the immigration it is causing, or as a depressive crisis in the face of unemployment, equally translated into extremist votes, and even anti-Semitic ones, the neoconservatives understood that they would not be able to impose the Anglo-Saxon socio-economic model on recalcitrant populations through the political way. They have now changed their plans and have decided to look for the support of the world faction of national business owners. José Manuel Barroso, appointed president of the Commission thanks to George W. Bush after he organized the Summit of the Azores prior to the invasion of Iraq, was ordered to put the European Constitution aside and to readjust the mechanism. Thus, last week, Barroso announced the burial of the 70 legislative projects saying they are too complex and annoying for the public opinion. The truth is that the strategy has been changed: it is no longer about ruling under the authority of the Commission, but about dismantling what currently exists and transferring the making of the regulations to a transatlantic Regulation Forum controlled by the top chiefs of the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD).
In accordance with this new trend, the directives of Reach and Bolkenstein, which had been sacrificed so that the Constitution could be approved, have now resurfaced. The first one aims at eliminating regulations for chemical production. The second, obviously more important, aims at eliminating national social legislations so that the European Union may be compatible with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The principle is simple: taking free circulation as a pretext, the business owner has the possibility of choosing which social legislation he will put into practice for his employees and transferring the social headquarters of his companies to the country where the legislation best fits his interests.
In addition, so as to convince the European people of what politicians have not been able to impose on them, the neoconservatives are now turning to Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church. The leaders of the US Episcopal Conference and the Episcopate Commission of the European Union met in Brussels, from September 21st to the 23rd, to express their support of the “New Transatlantic Agenda”. In Washington, the neoconservatives decided to adapt their organizational mechanism to the new strategy. In the American Enterprise Institute, the group in charge of writing the presidential program of George W. Bush, the Project for a New American Century, was discreetly disbanded last week. It was replaced with the American Committee for a Strong Europe. “Strong Europe” actually means a Europe that can do the work that US troops currently do around the world and one that can defeat any anti-globalization efforts ion its own continent.

This Committee, which will try not to interfere too openly with the European Union policy, immediately asked the “friends of America” to do it for them. Thus, Saudi Arabia said “present” and will finance the next electoral campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy in France so that the neoconservatives can get rid of Dominique de Villepin. Similar measures were taken with respect to each and every big state of the European Union.

Thierry Meyssan Journalist and writer, president of the Voltaire Network.