>It's not mysterious or dark at all, it's right out in the
>open: multinational capitalism has arrived in Europe,
Really? I see a multi-national market, but the integration of state and economy militates against the disappearance of nation-states. It is pointed that for all the m&a activity in Europe over the last ten years, most large firms are identifiably of one or other country. Companies buy up rivals in other countries, but there are precious few examples of harmonious cross-national cooperation - a fact underscored for us here by the closure of Anglo-Dutch steel giant Corus' Welsh plant. The willingness of national governments to subsidise their airlines for reasons of national pride (albeit under the cover of special costs arising from Sept 11) shows the persistence of Non-tariff barriers.
>But the EU is now asserting the primacy of
>politics over economics,
Well, I agree with that much: European integration is as Romano Prodi rightly says a political rather than an economic policy. But that is its weakness. Elites that are unwilling to seek a mandate from their own populaces seek to legitimise their rule through the European Union. The EU increases in importance in inverse proportion to the popular mandate in the respective European countries. Its authority is a negative expression of the collapse of national polities not a positive expression of a European popular will, which simply does not exist.
> social democracy over markets, and labor-time
>over exchange-value; only multinational governments can counter
>multinational markets.
I'm sorry but I just don't see these struggles. The consolidation of Europe is more narrowly pro-capitalist. The principle pressure on governments prior to the launch of the Euro from the EU has been to limit welfare spending.
-- James Heartfield Sustaining Architecture in the Anti-Machine Age is available at GBP19.99, plus GBP3.26 p&p from Publications, audacity.org, 8 College Close, Hackney, London, E9 6ER. Make cheques payable to 'Audacity Ltd'. www.audacity.org