Opposing US World Domination Does Not Mean Supporting the EU of the Monopolies

Workers' Daily Internet Edition: Article Index :

Opposing US World Domination Does Not Mean Supporting the EU of the Monopolies

As the rift between the US and EU grows wider, the factions of the ruling class aligned to each of these big powers have become more active and are trying to line the people up behind one or the other of these reactionary forces.

On the international level, the contention between the US and EU is growing daily. Not only are the trade conflicts, like those over steel and GM crops still unresolved, but these have been added to by new conflicts, like those over Iraq and the role of NATO. Despite the recent decision of France and Germany to support the latest US resolution on Iraq in the UN Security Council, observers have noted that both countries have pointedly refused to offer any significant financial or military support to the Anglo-American colonial occupation of that country. An anonymous EU diplomat at the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on 13^th October was quoted as saying, "It's no secret that some member states also think that those who broke Iraq should pay to fix it." This meeting approved 200 million Euros (£141m) in "reconstruction aid" for Iraq from the EU budget. However, no EU member states, except Britain, pledged any further funds from their national budgets, despite a determined effort by Jack Straw to get the EU to make a significant financial contribution to the Anglo-American occupation. The EU contribution of £141m needs to be seen in the light of the World Bank estimates that some £33 billion is needed to reconstruct Iraq. The EU has also made it clear that with regards to the Madrid Conference on Reconstruction in Iraq, which is due to take place on October 23^rd and 24^th, "its participation in the reconstruction process beyond the conference" would be dependent on "an improvement in the security situation, a clear commitment by the parties concerned to create the conditions for the establishment of a sovereign Iraqi government and the setting up of a transparent multilateral framework to channel support from the international community for reconstruction."

This deepening rift is also reflected in relations over NATO. It is reported that the US has summoned an emergency meeting of this organisation for Monday 20^th October to deal with the EU plans to establish a defence force capable of planning and conducting operations "without recourse to NATO capabilities." In this regard, US government officials have already made it clear that "For the US, the issue of NATO's primacy in Europe is of real importance to us." Nicholas Burns, US ambassador to NATO, declared that the EU's drive for military independence is "the most significant threat to NATO's future."

This growing contradiction is a result of the clash between the US drive for a unipolar world under its domination as the world's only superpower and the determination of the EU to emerge as an imperialist superpower in its own right and take its place in a multipolar world of contending imperialist superpowers. It is an inter-imperialist contradiction.

This contradiction is also ripping apart the British bourgeoisie's policy of being a "bridge between the EU and the USA". The ruling circles are polarising into pro-US and pro-EU camps. The pro-US camp are carrying out broad chauvinist propaganda against the EU, denouncing it as a "threat to Britain's sovereignty", while they themselves, in pursuit of their imperialist interests, have turned the country into the "poodle of US imperialism" and in open defiance of the sovereign will of the people plunged the country into the criminal aggression against Iraq. The pro-EU forces, for their part, have become increasingly outspoken in their criticisms of the US drive for world domination, while presenting the EU's push for imperialist superpower status as a further development in "Europe’s social democratic traditions". In this vein, they present the EU as a force which will guarantee employment rights to the workers and there is much talk about a "social Europe" and even a "people's Europe". This is a dangerous illusion which seeks to hide the fact that the EU's drive to emerge as an imperialist superpower is just as reactionary as the US drive for unipolar world domination. Both serve the interests of the financial oligarchs and harm the interests of the world's people.

The working class and people need to be particularly vigilant as these developments unfold. They must not allow themselves to be turned into a reserve for either of these reactionary groups of finance capitalists. Instead, they must take a stand in their own favour and in favour of the world's people. They must come forward with their own independent programme for Britain in which sovereignty is vested in the people, the country is withdrawn from all imperialist blocs such as NATO and the EU, a clean break is made with its imperialist tradition, British troops are withdrawn from all foreign countries and foreign troops withdrawn from Britain and it conducts its foreign policy on the basis of respect for the sovereignty of other states and respect for international law.