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'Europe Is Not a Country'

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'Europe Is Not a Country' ‘Europe is not a country’ A frame and discourse analysis of the Dutch political and public debate on the European Union and European integration (1997-2011) Lodewijk Rijksbaron (11015969) Supervisor: Dhr. Dr. Floris Vermeulen Second reader: Dhr. Dr. Martijn Dekker June 2020 Conflict Resolution and Governance University of Amsterdam 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 List of abbreviations ........................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Political parties ............................................................................................................ 4 2 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 5 3 Epistemology .................................................................................................................... 11 3.1 Social constructionism .............................................................................................. 11 3.2 Positionality ............................................................................................................... 14 4 Existing discourses on the European Union and European integration ............................ 15 4.1 Euroenthusiast, Eurosceptic, Europragmatists and Eurorejcets ................................ 15 4.2 The Dutch discourses on the EU and European integration: an overview ................ 16 5 Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 20 5.1 Method ...................................................................................................................... 20 5.2 Framing the EU and European integration ................................................................ 22 5.3 Data collection and analysis ...................................................................................... 24 6 Parliamentary debates ....................................................................................................... 28 6.1 Quantitative analysis ................................................................................................. 28 6.2 Qualitative analysis ................................................................................................... 31 6.2.1 Treaty of Amsterdam ......................................................................................... 32 6.2.2 European Constitution ....................................................................................... 36 6.2.3 Eurozone crisis ................................................................................................... 40 6.2.4 In conclusion ...................................................................................................... 45 7 De Groene and Elsevier: a debate ..................................................................................... 47 7.1 Elseviers Weekblad – a supporter of the European projects ..................................... 48 7.2 De Groene Amsterdammer: ‘no’ to a capitalist Europe ............................................ 49 7.3 Quantitative analysis ................................................................................................. 50 7.4 Qualitative analysis ................................................................................................... 54 7.4.1 Treaty of Amsterdam ......................................................................................... 54 7.4.2 European Constitution ....................................................................................... 57 7.4.3 Eurozone crisis ................................................................................................... 60 7.4.4 In conclusion ...................................................................................................... 63 8 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 65 9 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 67 9.1 Primary sources ......................................................................................................... 67 9.1.1 Parliamentary debates and the law on the referendum ...................................... 67 2 9.1.2 Elsevier .............................................................................................................. 68 9.1.3 De Groene .......................................................................................................... 69 9.1.4 Websites ............................................................................................................. 70 9.2 Secondary sources ..................................................................................................... 70 3 1 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 1.1 POLITICAL PARTIES VVD - People's Party for Freedom and Democracy PvdA - Worker's Party/Labor Party D66 - Democrats '66 CDA - Christian Democratic Party PVV - Party for the Freedom LPF - Pim Fortuyn List GroenLinks - Green Left SP - Socialist Party RPF - Reformational Political Federation GPV - Reformed Political Alliance ChristenUnie - Christen Union (a merge of RPF and GPV) SGP - Reformed Political Party CD - Center Democrats 4 2 INTRODUCTION During the press conference of 13th March 2020, considering the worsening of the spread of the coronavirus in the Netherlands, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte was asked why there was not more coordination on a European Union (EU) level to tackle the pandemic. This seemed like a better and more effective option since the virus would not stick to physical borders (which are almost obsolete in a European Union context). The answer Rutte gave presented itself, albeit in very dire circumstances, as a suitable introduction to this thesis. The quote is directly translated from the original Dutch transcript of the press conference on 13 March 2020. ‘Interviewer: Would it not be much more effective to coordinate the fight against this pandemic on a European level? Mark Rutte: No. To start with. Europe is not a country and, if you ask me, I would like to keep it that way. The fact that Europe is not a country, but a cooperation of different countries, means that in some area’s governance is done on a national level […]. So, there are always national differences in a European Union, which is not one country […]. There is coordination and cooperation, but it is inevitable that in a Europe of sovereign member states differences exist.’ (Rijksoverheid, 13 March 2020).1 Europe, or the EU, is not a country but an institution made up of sovereign nation states. The prime minister, in this short transcript, defined the relationship between a member state, in this case the Netherlands, and the European Union. The definition of this relationship, between the EU and the Netherlands is, has always been subject to change in the member states, likewise in the Netherlands. Not so long ago, the Netherlands was seen as the ‘the best performing kid in class’ and a proponent of further European integration. After the economic crisis of 2008 this changed, the Netherlands wanted to get power back from Europe, explaining Rutte’s comment of ‘Europe is not a country, and I would like to keep it that way’ (Segers, 2014). Mathieu Segers (2014) states that while Europe (meaning the European Union) is more important than ever, the interest from the European people for the EU is shrinking. There is a so-called ‘democratic deficit’ when it comes to the European Union. According to Segers (2014), the Dutch population has the feeling that parts of the story about the Netherlands and 1 See link in bibliography for the Dutch text. 5 European integration have been kept from them. How the story of the Netherlands, the EU and European integration is constructed and framed will be the principal aim of this thesis. The current debate about Europe revolves around the question whether you are in favor or against Europe, a question that does not lend itself well to a complex organization like the EU or to the question of how the Netherlands should position itself vis-à-vis Europe. The Netherlands is a founding father of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), a predecessor to the European Union and the so-called first step to European integration. The European integration project was mainly seen as a project to reconcile the animosity between Germany and France, who had been on opposite sides of the two disastrous world wars that dominated the first half of the 20th century, by merging important pillars of their economy, that of steel and coal, under the authority of one entity (Van Meurs et al., 2013). The Netherlands, together with other Western European countries, were invited to join the project. The Dutch government was, in the first instances, skeptical when it came to join an integration project that would not include the United Kingdom, feared a French dominated, political entity (Harmsen, 2008). Moreover, they were hesitant when it came to a community that was supranational instead of intergovernmental, like the just established UN, NATO and OEEC, and was seen as radical. A majority of the Dutch parliament was in favor of international cooperation but without an authoritative entity telling them what to do (Segers, 2013). This supranationalism was, however, the most important element of the plan that was drafted by Jean Monnet, a French top official. Only with supranational
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