Re: MD Dutch referendum on European constitution

From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Jun 02 2005 - 13:34:48 BST

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    Dear Wim,

    Thanks for your comments about the defeat of the EU constitution. From
    today's NY Times the reporter (Richard Bernstein) claims, among other
    things, that the vote was a rejection of free market reforms:

    "The governing parties of the left and the right are saying the same
    things to their people, that painful, free market economic reforms are the
    only path toward rejuvenation, more jobs, better futures. And the people
    who have come to equate the idea of an expanded Europes with a challenge
    to cradle-to-grave social protections, are giving the same answer: We
    don't believe you."

    Another factor in the large No vote was:

    "Europeans are worried, among other things, that the rapid enlargement of
    the European Union, especially the prospect of Turkey's membership, will
    leave them more vulnerable to uncontrolled immigration, especially by
    Muslims. There is a sense, palpable in the Netherlands, that the whole
    European enterprise is controlled by unresponsive, unelected and
    unaccountable bureaucrats in Brussels who have it in their power to rob
    countries of their national identities."

    Now I don't trust the NY Times to get any story right, so I look forward
    to your review of the above and whether or not there is any truth in the
    reporter's views. For example, do the Dutch really fear free markets? And
    from what you said earlier, robbing countries of their "national
    identifies," ie., nationalism, is definitely NOT an issue despite the
    reporter's claim. So if the reporter off base on that, what else did he
    get wrong?

    Best,
    Platt

    P.S. The high quality of democracy and free markets were discussed in
    Lila, but immigration, a social value pattern, wasn't specifically
    addressed. I wonder what the MOQ would say about it?

      

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