Seen by Great Britain
« Especially do not change! »
By Julian Barnes *
In the 1970s, we often presented Great Britain «as the sick man of Europe»:
not competitive on the economic plan, bogged down in social conflicts, little
inclined to accept the realities of the modern world. In the time(period), I
always found it inequitable; I thought that it was an example of triumphalist
propaganda come from Germany and from France. Great Britain of front - Thatcher
was warmer, less greedy, more chaotic in fact but also more welded socially
than her(it) is him(her,it) today; she(it) was also more favorable in Europe.
Today, it is France which we describe (or rather, which(who) often is described
herself(itself)) as the unruly child of Europe. We (I listen there, us, the
numerous British who like and admire France) suffer to see you suffering. You
were always more unstable psychologically than us, but you seem to cross at the
moment one of these phases masochists where you doubt yourselves, even when you
hate yourselves. The doubt leads(drives) you to suppose that the others know
better how to take themselves there. During your last elections, a question
settled(arose): was he(it) finally time(weather) when the French people swallow
their self-esteem and follow the British model?
I hope that the answer is not,
and I do not say it in the name of a vision exceeded by France. The British
model is nothing else than the American model, where the vigour of a nation
confronts only in the alder(ell) of its economic success. The submission in the
rules of the market, and in the United States, buys itself in the full price in
terms of moral health and social cohesion. Tony Blair pulled(entailed) us in
seven wars in seven years (Chirac, in spite of all his defects, avoided you
Iraq); the ditch between the rich and the poor men in Great Britain is at
present so immense as in the victorian time(period). What the British
francophiles admire at the French people, it is that they embody the "
cultural Exception " in capitals: individualists as nation, protectionists
when it is necessary, with enough insurance(assurance) to assert that the rest
of the world is wrong. We thus need that France keeps(guards) its composure,
and we count above.
You ask if you are « still deserving holding
the rudder of the European Union »? This question seems to me a masochist
up to the absurd. Countries do not change so fast as they think of it or are
afraid of him(it); their ascent or their decline is never so fast or radical as
they imagine him(it), at least in peacetime. Obviously we like to laugh some of
the others: one of my friends francophobes said recently about Sarkozy that
this imitation-Thatcher become a grotesque character was crossed(spent) « of
the clone to the clown ». To what a friend francophile answered: «
France will govern Sarko, and not the opposite. » Generally, the
gasoline(essence) of a country survives the behavior of his(her) leaders. These
last years, the European Union so widened that it became more difficult to
manage and to oversee (as always wanted him(it) deceptive Albion); but if I was
Slovenian either Portuguese or Polish, I would prefer that Europe is
confided(entrusted) not to the British but to the French people - for their
intelligence, their diplomatic talents, their sneaky guiles and their
fundamental faith in the European idea. And actually, although I am British, I believe
that it is also what I would prefer myself.
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