Slowing Down the Europe Train

Miami Herald, June 3, 2005

EUROPEANS
Losing faith in the EU
BY FRIDA GHITIS

AMSTERDAM -- Europeans had not quite come out of the weekend shock they received from France when the Dutch hopped on their bicycles and pedaled over their picturesque canal bridges to their voting places.

Wednesday was the Netherlands' turn to vote on a proposed new constitution for the European Union. And, like French voters, the Dutch sent a sharp jolt through the establishment. The Dutch refused to accept this new Basic Law for the slowly morphing entity known as Europe.

Like France, the Netherlands is one of the six original founders of the European project. The country has always supported the ideal of a unified Europe. That's why its refusal to approve the absurdly complicated -- almost 500-page -- document, comes as a second shock in three days to an establishment that can hardly believe its Utopian train came off the rails somewhere short of Nirvana.

Global competition

The message from France and the Netherlands may sound alike, but the Dutch have very different concerns from those of their neighbors to the south.

Voters in both countries offered dozens of reasons for voting against the draft constitution. In France, however, it seems that the predominant fear came down to economics. The mythical ''Polish plumber'' came to symbolize the danger of low-wage workers threatening the delightful French life of well-paid 35-hour workweeks and leisurely six-week vacations in Provence. The French, with their message of ''Stop the world; we want to get off,'' mistakenly think that they can resist global competition.

In Holland, the fears look quite different. Over recent years, the Dutch have awakened to discover that their country is not the idyllic land they believed. A series of politically inspired high-profile murders shook the nation to its core. The assassination of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh by Muslim extremists filled the Dutch with confusion and anger.

A way of life

Near the top of their concerns is what to do with a wave of immigration from Muslim countries. Like many here, Lynne De Jong, a 63-year-old Amsterdam therapist, opposes the draft constitution not because of what it says, but because this government has endorsed it. The politicians told the people, she says, ''Let them (the immigrants) come in, and we'll all get along. We'll tolerate them, and they'll become like us.'' Many here believe that the political elites were wrong about this and now have no idea what to do about it. The country is suffering a profound sense of uncertainty. It no longer knows what it is or where it's going.

Jorgen, 38, said that he would vote against the constitution. When I asked him what he thought was wrong with it, he answered candidly: ''I have no idea. I don't know.'' Then he explained his vote. ``I don't trust the government.''

But the Dutch have lost trust in more than the government. They, like others in Europe, feel they are losing control of their way of life. Some say they fear the European Union will bully the Netherlands to change its liberal laws. They fear a threat to social values that calmly make room for gay marriage, legalized prostitution and legal euthanasia. The Dutch want to reclaim the country they recognized until a few years ago.

Team U.S./Europe

Unlike the French, the Dutch don't seem obsessed with turning Europe into a power center rivaling the United States, and some resent Paris' anti-Washington stance. One man told me he wants Europe and the United States to be on the same side. But he would like Europe to have more influence over what Team U.S./Europe would do in the world.

There is a common thread running through the many and confusing arguments offered by opponents of the Basic Law in the Netherlands, France and the rest of Europe. There is a sense that the world is changing, perhaps too fast and in the wrong direction. Europeans want to slow the EU train.

In reality, however, it may be the entire movement of history changing their world. Voting No in the referendum is not just a way of saying the constitution is wrong. It's a way of saying, ``Slow this train, I want to get back on my old bicycle.''