The struggle for the mastery of Europe

From the White House Writers Group:

Fighting on Two Fronts. Last Thursday, February 20th, the Wall Street Journal Europe editorial page carried an article by WHWG friend and associate, Rupert Darwell. In it, Mr. Darwell lays out with greater clarity and insight than we have seen elsewhere France's motivations for resisting the U.S.'s efforts to disarm Iraq and the political forces buffetting Tony Blair as he stands up to them. He writes:

"Mr. Blair rejects the old rules of the European game, which say that Europe must be led by the Franco-German duumvirate. The letter written by the eight European leaders published here last month is a direct challenge to French authority. If the views of the signatories of that letter were to prevail, it would mean the end of France's hegemonic role in Europe. It is a battle President Chirac has to win. And his main obstacle is Tony Blair....

"Thus the U.N. Security Council has become a theater onto which has been projected, to borrow the title of a celebrated history book, the struggle for the mastery of Europe. The longer this goes on, the more it weakens Tony Blair and other leaders such as Jose Maria Aznar and Silvio Berlusconi."

We believe that this article deserves an American as well as European readership. To read a version of the article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal Europe, please click here.

Rupert Darwall was a special adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Major Government. His pamphlet, "Paralysis or Power?" was published by the Centre for Policy Studies, a London-based think tank started by Lady Thatcher, and he is affiliated to Reform, which campaigns for market solutions to government failure in Britain.

The White House Writers Group is a high-stakes corporate communications and public policy strategy firm based in Washington, DC.