Le 29-03-2019 par A. Noble -    
 

The chaotic events unfolding across the EU are a result of the reality that neither the Brussels dictators nor their loyalists know where they are going. They bully and threaten their opponents and force them to change any democratically expressed opinions by rerunning referenda until the desired answer is given. Despite the recognition that their cherished European project is floundering, they obstinately cling to it, taking their mutineering crew members hostage as if to drag the whole project down in a seeming death wish.
The symbolism of their new agreement, called the Treaty of Aachen, could not be more significant: Aachen, called in French Aix-la-Chapelle, is a border city historically famous as the seat of power of Charlemagne, the ninth-century founder and ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, on whose idea the unity of Europe was based and which the EU project has been trying to revive.
It declares the intention of France and Germany (only) to cooperate in various areas, including foreign policy, the economy, transport and humanitarian issues, and – most questionably – the creation of a joint European army, which Merkel said would not be a counterpart to NATO but would complement it. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, France also pledges in the treaty to assist Germany attaining the same status. Therefore it will be difficult to reconcile the enthusiasm of France during the last decade to use force against foreign nations – including joining in NATO's destruction of Libya in 2011 and sending troops to Mali – with Germany's reluctance for historical reasons to engage in such global adventurism, apart, of course, from its significant military involvement in NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. Germany did not join in the illegal American missile strikes on Syria, did not send troops to Libya in 2011, and banned arms sales to Saudi Arabia after murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
It is symbolical that the signing of the Aachen Treaty was accompanied by the strains of the European, German and French national anthems to the exclusion of all others. Anger against the treaty has been expressed across the whole EU, but even within France and Germany themselves. The President of France's National Rally Party, Marine Le Pen, warned: “By signing this pact on the quiet Emmanuel Macron is committing treason.”3 Germany's Alternative für Deutschland Party declared that it erodes German sovereignty.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has deplored the fact that Europe has become accustomed to being ruled by France and Germany. He is seeking a new balance and calling for a radical change, announcing: “Poland and Italy will be the protagonists of this new European Spring.”5 His latest salvo in his ongoing feud with Paris was fired in Facebook, namely his hope that the French people would use the opportunity of the 26 May 2019 European Parliament elections to “rid themselves” of the “terrible” leadership of Macron and “take back control of [their] future, destiny, and pride”.6
Salvini has called on fellow nationalists to take part in a “renaissance of European values” to bring an end to the “German-French axis” in the EU. Denouncing Macron as “a laboratory-invented product to stand in the way of any change” and “a President who is against his people”, he turned to the issue of immigration and described him as a coloniser: “People are leaving Africa partly because some European countries led by France have never stopped being colonisers.” He recalled that Italy too had colonies, but that France had never let go of its own: “There are dozens of African countries in which France prints its own currency, the Franc of the Colonies, and with that currency French public debt is financed.”
Salvini's coalition partner Luigi Di Maio of the Five-Star Movement has accused the Brussels politicians of having become “deaf to the needs of citizens who have been kept out of the most important decisions affecting the people”.7

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