January 10, 2007
Daul’s generation game
Joseph Daul is an unlikely revolutionary. The Strasbourg farmer who was elected narrowly on Tuesday night as the head of the centre-right European People’s party looks like a throwback to the early founders of Europe among past holders of the post.
Judging from the rogues gallery on the EPP’s website the last innovation by its leadership was Egon Klepsch’s radical decision in 1977 to dispense with the obligatory pocket handkerchief.
Yet Daul, 59, called himself one of the ‘68 generation and his measured response to the yawning split revealed by the election suggests he could chart a delicate path forward.
Daul won 134-115 on the fourth round of balloting of the 277-strong group of MEPS against Gunnar Hokmark, a Swede. French and German members generally backed Daul, from France’s ruling UMP. The liberal wing of Scandinavians, British Conservatives and members from ex-communist states mostly backed Hokmark.
Daul, admitting he had had a “difficult day”, said the fissure in the group mirrored that in the EU. “There is an issue we have to face up to. We need to work together, old and new member states to extend our co-operation and establish policies together better.
“That gap exists in many countries and parties. I am from the ’68 generation. It is not the same as the 2006 generation."
Of the ex-communist countries, he said: “They have been waiting 40 years. Now they want to see something different. They want to move faster than the old member states.” He said France had to realise there were 26 other EU members and listen to the voices of change.
Daul even said he was willing to negotiate with the British Conservatives, who have said they want to leave the federalist group in 2009.
But EPP liberals hope they can be persuaded to stay as the argument moved in their direction. Alex Stubb, a rising young MEP from Finland, said it would be a “travesty” if the Tories left. “There is a good feeling in the group. Daul could be a bridge builder,” he said.
Daul’s most surprising revelation was about the future of the parliament’s costly monthly commute to Strasbourg, a few kilometres from the his family beef farm at Pfettisheim. Some 1m people have signed a petition to have a single seat, through Strasbourg’s place is guaranteed by a intergovernmental treaty.
"If you look at the treaties, you’ll see Strasbourg has the right to house a European institution. If it’s not parliament, than something else should go there, the European Court of Justice, for example," said Daul, referring to an institution now based in Luxembourg. "If I were the next president of France I would open the treaties and start these discussions," Daul said. If only.
