An Awful Familiarity

THE last building blocks of the European Union are being set in place, and a weird unfathomable process it is too. A dozen of the 25 countries involved are to hold referendums to ratify the continent-wide constitution already approved by their leaders; the others are ramming the issue through by executive or legislative means. The majority of European governments, in other words, including the all-important German government, have found some way of avoiding the test of public opinion in order to consummate the federal empire now in full view. Public opinion nevertheless compelled President Jacques Chirac to concede a referendum to be held on May 29. Polls show that rejection by the French of the constitution is possible, maybe probable, precipitating who knows what kind of a crisis.

What’s up? Why so much furtiveness? The most convincing answer comes in The Great Deception, a recent magisterial history of the EU, by Christopher Booker and Richard North. They show how decade after decade a small self-selected clique of politicians has worked single-mindedly to create a supranational Europe. In their own eyes, these politicians are visionaries, but they have always known that they could never carry voters with them, and therefore they had to conceal their goal: Deception was implicit, even structural to the project, according to Booker and North. The intention was to confront people with a fait accompli about which they could do nothing-and that is what today’s constitution is designed to finalize irrevocably.

About the Author

David Pryce-Jones

David Pryce-Jones (1936–2025) was a British author and commentator and served as a senior editor of National Review.

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THE last building blocks of the European Union are being set in place, and a weird unfathomable process it is too. A dozen of the 25 countries involved are to hold referendums to ratify the continent-wide constitution already approved by their leaders; the others are ramming the issue through by executive or legislative means. The majority of European governments, in other words, including the all-important German government, have found some way of avoiding the test of public opinion in order to consummate the federal empire now in full view. Public opinion nevertheless compelled President Jacques Chirac to concede a referendum to be held on May 29. Polls show that rejection by the French of the constitution is possible, maybe probable, precipitating who knows what kind of a crisis.

What’s up? Why so much furtiveness? The most convincing answer comes in The Great Deception, a recent magisterial history of the EU, by Christopher Booker and Richard North. They show how decade after decade a small self-selected clique of politicians has worked single-mindedly to create a supranational Europe. In their own eyes, these politicians are visionaries, but they have always known that they could never carry voters with them, and therefore they had to conceal their goal: Deception was implicit, even structural to the project, according to Booker and North. The intention was to confront people with a fait accompli about which they could do nothing-and that is what today’s constitution is designed to finalize irrevocably.