Yes, yes, Chirac and Schroeder did badly in the EU elections, delightfully so. I’m shedding no tears, but there are hints of some wishful thinking out there in the VRWC, firstly on the implications for Chirac and Schroeder’s stance on Iraq (and elsewhere), and secondly, for what the results could mean for economic reform in Germany. Let’s look at some examples:

Here’s William Safire, channeling, well, you know who:

“RN…You saw the results of the European Parliament elections? Schröder is finished. Chirac has had it. Next year they’ll be begging Bush for support.”

Alas, no. ‘RN’ may be right that Chirac and Schroeder are toast, but the last thing these wicked weasels will do is turn to George W. Bush for help. In both France and Germany keeping out of Iraq is very popular and keeping in with George W. Bush is very unpopular. That hasn’t changed.

Meanwhile writing over at TCS, Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute concludes an interesting piece on Germany with this:

“For the United States, the latest election is tremendous news. A chastened Schroeder will have to be a more reasonable political ally. And the pressure for the EU to adopt centralized German socialism rather than free market principles is now significantly lower than it once was. This will be a strong boon for the European economy, and will be an even bigger plus for Germany if the voter revolt begins a dramatic overhaul of its economic policies.”

I wish Hassett were right. In fact, the German elections were a vote against the very modest economic reforms Schroeder has been pushing. That’s not a lesson that will be lost on Chirac (his poor results can at least partly be attributed to the unpopularity of his reform program) or other folk who pull many of the strings in Brussels. Don’t be misled by the fact that the center-right did so well in Germany. With a few (possibly important) exceptions, they don’t offer voters much of an alternative to the current German economic model. Remember that it was the center-right (Helmut Kohl only ceased to be chancellor in 1998) who took the decision to impose the high tax/high cost/high regulation model on ex-East Germany with such destructive results.

As always, pessimism is called for.