Hangover aftermath in Brussels
(B2 archives) Affected, depressed... European civil servants in Brussels blame the blow after the French 'no' on Sunday. This draft Constitution, many have worked on it. Believed in it. Report in the corridors of the Berlaymont, the headquarters of the Commission in Brussels.
« After all we've done to advance rotten French files... The bitter comment comes from the mouth of one of Jacques Barrot's collaborators, one of the two French commissioners at the European Commission. The 15 EU officials in Brussels were 'stunned' by Sunday's vote. And fear an aftershock of the earthquake: “ If the Netherlands ever imitate them... “A disarray summed up by the Swedish Annika:” We actually feel challenged. The Convention, which led to the draft European Constitution, was intended to be a model of openness, transparency and democracy. This was not felt by the French people. It's a disappointment. Really. What more can we do now? » Pierre, an old hand at the Commission, says he is less surprised: " It had been hanging over us for thirteen years. From Maastricht. But when you are a convinced European - there are many here - you can only be touched. »
Sunday evening, at the Berlaymont, headquarters of the European Commission, the televisions were all blocked on France 2. A tense evening. José-Manuel Barroso, the head of the European executive, had preferred to avoid the few journalists who made the crane foot in front of the main entrance to enter directly, by car, by the expressway leading to the garage. Jacques Barrot, he had chosen the opposite option. On the table in his office, on the 12th floor, a few sandwiches and country sausages awaited his visitors and collaborators. Small buffet until the cold shower at 22 p.m. The turnout impressed. The gap between yes and no, even more. Even those who expected a rejection of the draft Constitution felt the blow. " We have worked so hard over several years with Michel Barnier on this text. And here it is now... says Dorothea, a German.
Some civil servants do not hesitate to question the method, the advisability of organizing a referendum, the 'national considerations' which polluted the debate, the 'false arguments'. And " these French people who are afraid of reforms ". Especially the first of them, " Jacques Chirac, early anti-European ". A deputy crossed in the corridors confides, under the seal of anonymity, that " Europe has become the victim of a few career plans - those of Sarkozy, Fabius, Chirac -, these great statesmen who have such a small vision of Europe”. But, very quickly, these words, a little carried away by emotion, fade away. Two days have passed.
Yesterday in the early morning, around the coffee machines, in the meetings, in the cafeteria, the conversations nevertheless continued. " With such a clear, clear no, we felt frankly depressed, the first hours, admits Elizabeth, a Briton. If the French are not optimistic, do not have confidence in this project, then who can have it? But John, one of his compatriots, an expert in socio-economic forecasting, wants to find reasons to hope: Europe has left the field of debate between specialists. I don't know if this will become the rule. But discussing like that a 'services' directive, the articles of a Constitution, this budding democracy, is really new and positive. »
From now on, we are trying to calculate the consequences of this vote, internally. In particular in the cabinet of Jacques Barrot, the most concerned. Brief conversation captured in front of the elevators: “ Of course, now, when the French come to demand more funding from Europe, they will have some difficulty in having their views prevail, fears Patrick. But it will also make our partners think (Editor's note: the cabinets of the other commissioners, the governments). Negotiations will be somehow facilitated. “With this massive no, there is” a kind of cleat which is put on the will, which is too important for some not to regulate, to favor the liberal tendency adds another adviser.
Jostled, the institution is not totally traumatized. The work continues and it is not an empty word. At Echo, the European Humanitarian Aid Office, a little far from the central headquarters, from the heart of the turmoil, the meetings follow one another as usual: " We have very concrete projects and we cannot afford to stop everything “says Fiona. And then, " you know, there are civil servants who work for ten years on texts, directives, which in the end are not adopted. It's not the end of everything. That's our job, to prepare the ground »
What happens next depends on the policies. But also peoples.
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
Published in Ouest-France, June 2005