Tribal woes on path to future

By CATHERINE FIELD Herald correspondent

PARIS - Western Europe has started to sketch a path for its future amid signs of a revival of the Franco-German relationship, the traditional motor of change since the end of the Second World War, and anxiety in Britain that it will once more be left in the dust.

The mood points to a possibly acrimonious period for the European Union (EU), already mired in indecision about how to admit poorer countries.

President Jacques Chirac of France, whose country assumes the rotating six-month presidency of the EU today, lit the fuse this week in the first state visit to Germany by a French head of state for 13 years.

In a speech to the Bundestag in Berlin, he revived plans for a so-called two-speed Europe. Countries which want closer European integration could form a "pioneer group" with France and Germany that would push ahead without the threat of a veto by other members.

He also called for a "European Constitution" that would spell out the aims and ideals of the EU and clearly define the roles of its institutions, whose activities are a mystery to most Europeans In a first step, Chirac said, the "pioneer group" would enhance coordination of economic policies, strengthen defence and security policies and strive for "greater effectiveness in the fight against crime."

His speech followed even more ambitious proposals, put forward in May by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, for a federal EU, with a centralised government accountable to a strong parliament.

Even though the two ideas do not dovetail, the political tone is clear: the Franco-German locomotive, which has been in the sidings since former chancellor Helmut Kohl fell from power in 1998, is back on the main line and slowly building up steam.

The response in Britain, which under Tony Blair has been trying assiduously to chip away at the alliance and build up a special relationship with Germany, has been panicky.

London has fought and lost many times against Franco-German plans for closer European cooperation, most recently and most disastrously with its campaign to thwart the single European currency. Britain remains outside the euro and has postponed any decision about whether to join it until after the next general elections, due to take place in 2002 at the latest.

Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, in a pointed rebuke, said that the 13 countries queueing to join the EU did not want to join as members of a caste system.

"It is important that we have a Europe of equal member states, in which all states have the same rights and all states participate fully in the projects of the EU."