By combining a French Christian name with a German surname, Jean-Claude Juncker carries the very essence of the EU within him.
A Europe dominated by Germany, with France bringing up the rear and all other countries doing as they’re told, is the ideal towards which the EU strives.
The ideal was achieved in 1940-1941, but it wasn’t sustained long enough to turn a toehold into a firm purchase. Therefore it had to come back in a different incarnation bearing a less aggressive name. The European Union sounds so much more benign than the Third, or for that matter Fourth, Reich, wouldn’t you say?
One has to acknowledge ruefully that this ideal, attractive though it doubtless is to some, goes against the grain of both Britain’s political tradition and the intuitive knowledge of her people. But then the EU wasn’t created for our benefit – its purpose from the very beginning was to convert Germany’s national socialism into the international variant.
Not only every Commission president, from Hallstein to Barroso via Delors and Prodi, but every EU functionary and indeed enthusiast is aware of its nature and supports it wholeheartedly.
The differences among them are slight and strictly personal, mainly springing from the branch of Marxism they used to espouse but pretend not to any longer, or else from the specific tactics they favour.
Just as one assumes that any lifeguard can swim, so can one be certain that any candidate for Commission presidency, or any other post in the EU bureaucracy, is committed to the cause of a single European state dominated by you know whom.
This makes Dave’s last stand against the forces of federalist evil, as personified by Juncker, either stupid or cynical or, more likely, both. Yes, Dave, the muscular lifeguard at our municipal pool knows how to swim, and, yes, Juncker or any other candidate for the position is a federalist. What else is new?
Any British statesman, evidently an extinct breed, would work tirelessly towards taking Britain out of this foul abomination. Not being a statesman, and being British in the technical sense only, Dave intends to do nothing of the sort.
In what passes for his heart he’s as committed to the cause of European federalism as is Barroso, Rumpy-Pumpy or, for that matter, Juncker. Unlike them, however, he has to be clever about it if he doesn’t want most of the Tory party to vote Ukip in the next election.
Such a shift would hurt the cause that Dave holds even dearer than European federalism: himself, Dave. Hence he has to pretend he’s fighting the EU tooth and nail, trying to wrench a better deal for Britain out of it.
Like all modern politicians, Dave counts on the public being ignorant, which in this case means not realising that no better deal exists, nor can exist.
Britain’s destroying her constitution is a treasonous act for which there can be no redemption – a pre-gnawed bone tossed our way from the EU table isn’t going to feed those hungry for restoring the country’s ancient sovereignty.
Dave either doesn’t understand this or pretends not to. Hence, rather than declaring that he and his party will call an immediate In/Out referendum and campaign for the Out vote, he froths at the mouth and rolls on the floor trying to block Juncker’s candidature.
In the process he comes up with all kinds of specious arguments, such as that Juncker is a federalist. And who isn’t, this side of Nigel Farage?
Now he has come up with a real clincher: Juncker is a sot; he drinks cognac for breakfast. Yes, Dave, but in spite of that he’s still a nonentity, and a pernicious one at that. Now name a EU functionary who isn’t a federalist and win a valuable prize.
Dave’s campaign against Juncker is like Patton’s phantom army 70 years ago, pretending to be ready to invade Pas-de-Calais, while the real invasion force was sailing for Normandy.
Dave’s principal objective is to keep Britain in the EU, and himself and his cronies in cushy jobs when they become unelectable in their own country. Everything else is a smokescreen.