The Nation-states and European Construction

Kommentar

The large brightly coloured map which covers three quarters of the second double page in the chapter entitled ‘The Nation-states and European Construction’ [p. 186-187], provides information about the geopolitics of the twelve nation-states of Western Europe which were the key participants in European construction in 1989. This map contains information about the political and administrative systems of each country as well as the number of members of the European Parliament allotted to each country. The authors have used pastel colours and a variety of symbols in order to represent each of the political regimes, and thereby emphasise the wide variety of political cultures characteristic of this ‘Europe of the nations’. Elsewhere, however, this wide variety is presented as an ‘obstacle to the political unification’ of Europe (p. 187) and as a burden to the construction of a ‘political Europe’ (p. 184), even though Europe was becoming increasingly economically stable at that time.

During the 1980s, this variety of political cultures was also a source of dissension within the EEC. A German cartoon from 1985 entitled ‘Europe Broken Down’ [p. 185], which is featured on the right-hand side of the double page at the start of the chapter, illustrates this phenomenon in a funny way, depicting the leaders of member states (including Mitterrand, Kohl and Thatcher) embroiled in a violent dispute – which thus proves that the German cartoonists took the same ironic stance towards the European alliance at that time!

The map also features the institutions of the EEC, represented with small gold letters on a European blue background [p. 184-185]. According to the authors, these institutions are situated at the very ‘centre of Europe’, at the ‘heart of political Europe’, which is marked with a blue circle on the map alongside the Franco-German ‘axis’, which is also marked in blue to evoke a bridge linking Paris to Bonn, the two ‘pillars of Europe’ (p. 187). It is important to note that these representations of the ‘centre of Europe’ and the Franco-German axis are exceptions to the rule, and are not found in other textbooks of the same period. The authors nevertheless lay emphasis on this aspect since the Franco-German axis is represented again, in the form of a burgundy-coloured double arrow, on a map entitled ‘The Europe of Six’ (p. 95); likewise, ‘Franco-German reconciliation’ is represented in a frame illustrating ‘European construction in the context of the Cold War’ (p. 191). The authors repeatedly emphasise the central role of France and Germany within the EEC, which takes on the appearance of a Franco-German Europe, and thereby relegates other member countries to the ‘periphery’, evoking an image which necessitates inquiry into the balance between the different voices within a united Europe.

A further special two-page section devoted to the ‘stability of the Franco-German partnership, the motor of European construction’ (p. 200-201) deals with the durability of the Franco-German friendship and the supporting role of the mutual understanding between successive leaders. This special feature is illustrated with images such as the famous photograph of ‘Mitterrand and Kohl at Verdun in 1984’, an image which is often reproduced in textbooks between 2004 and 2008, and which symbolises the return to peace in Europe, a peace which could not have been forged without Franco-German rapprochement [p. 201].

Finally, a special place on the map is given to France, which is depicted in golden yellow and situated at the (geographical) centre of Western Europe [p. 186-187]. The result is almost a French Europe, corroborated by the textual analysis in the chapter, which systematically depicts the role of France and the French in the ‘European construction’. The left-hand page of the double page at the start of the chapter features a large picture of Jean Monnet at the ‘launch of the CECA’ in 1953 [p. 184]. In order to illustrate the signing of the CECA in 1951 (p. 203), the authors have likewise chosen a photograph featuring the Frenchmen Monnet and Schuman in the foreground, presented as ‘key personalities’ from the early days of European construction (p. 191). The photograph of the European Parliament (which was elected for the first time by universal franchise in 1979) depicting the address by its first president, the Frenchwomen Simone Veil, further reinforces the decisive role played by France in the process of constructing a unified and democratic Europe.

Maguelone Nouvel-Kirschleger


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