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PARTISAN REVIEW
"government" of the European Union would also lack a political base
for excluding a political party from ruling in one of its member coun–
tries.
Furthermore, since the action had no legal basis, procedural rules for
the decision were lacking as well. Therefore, and due
to
haste, some
rather universal procedural principles were ignored: the accused-in
this case Austria-was not given the chance
to
present its case. The
heads of government arrived at their "judgment" in a nontransparent
and secret manner. And there is no right to appeal. There is no prece–
dent that might allow either Austria or any of its fourteen EU partners
to extricate itself from the situation. Who, for instance, is to monitor the
actual behavior of Austria? Who is to judge whether and by what crite–
ria its new coalition government does or does not conform
to
European
standards in its actual politics?
Finally, there is the question of relative power and might. Who would
lead the challenge against France if a coalition with a dangerous right–
wing party came into power in France? Would the reaction of the other
EU countries have been the same? One must wonder whether, even in
the highly structured context of European integration, might does not
make for right. Size matters. All members are not equal. That is at least
the conclusion citizens of smaller EU members like Denmark or Ireland
seem to have drawn. This conclusion will weigh as a heavy burden on
future attempts to "deepen" European unification . Smaller countries
might be tempted to deny support to such ventures.
The action of the fourteen was probably rash. Very likely, they went
"a bridge too far." Nonetheless, the motives that prompted them to act
as they did were not irrational. Haider's success in Austria is a direct
challenge
to
everything the European Union stands for. Thus the EU
was well advised not
to
ignore this challenge. But it still remains
to
be
seen whether the fourteen were wise
to
act as they acted, or whether
their action was counterproductive.
March 2, 2000
