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MR BLAIR DELAYS
most everyone is striving for a solu- tion, yet Ulster is still in crisis. Mr Blair would like to find a compromise which allowed an Orange march down the Gar- vaghy Road, though in a truncated form; so would Mr Clinton, so would the Dublin government, so would most constitutional politicians in Ulster. The world's hopes are focused on Ulster, willing a compromise, yet the world's hopes are as nothing in the narrow ground of Drumcree churchyard. British mainland interest in Ulster is fick- le. Everyone can chuckle over the misdeeds of a mountebank spin doctor's apprentice, but Ulster is a harder study. Confronted by implacability, the mainland finds it so tempting — and so easy — to retreat into shoulder-shrugging incomprehension, and to conclude that Ulster is a terra incognita of backwardness and bigotry. That attitude is not only superficial and self-indulgent, it is, literally, homicidal. A few weeks ago, a peace agreement was crafted in Ulster, with the greatest difficul- ty, at the final hour. The people of Ulster had already paid for that agreement in suf- fering and blood, in the hardships, sacri- fices and miseries inflicted upon them by a generation of terrorism.
But the agreement would not have been possible without leadership by a man of courage and vision: David Trimble. Many aspects of that agreement were repugnant to most Unionists, including Mr Trimble himself. Yet Mr Trimble had the courage to lead his Unionist followers beyond the confines of their tribal reservation into a new political geography of compromise and concession. Without Mr Trimble, there Would have been no agreement. Without his continued presence, the political under- pinnings of the agreement will collapse. Tony Blair knows this, Dublin knows it, Bill Clinton knows it — yet Mr Blair, who has the Primary responsibility, has until now _u_eh.aved like a mere spectator, while Mr 1 'liable's position crumbled hour by hour. _At the end of last week, it seemed as if Mr Street Blafr was poised to intervene. Downing telephone officials flew to the Province, and the telephone wires hummed. But nothing hap- rued until Tuesday night, when he finally Weed to travel to Ulster. Why the delay? he worried that he might fail when confronted, once again, with Ulster's intractabilities? The English World Cup team excepted, Mr Blair steers away from association with failure. That may explain his inaction over the weekend, as crucial hours and days were lost and the situation rapidly deteriorated.
This weekend, on 12 July, Orangemen celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne. This symbolic date in the Ulster calendar could be the signal for renewed trouble, for many Orange marchers may well decide to converge on Drumcree. That could cause an explosion of violence, unless the PM acts. Mr Blair, having allowed him- self the self-indulgence of delay, must now make haste to do his duty. As we go to press, France is bracing itself for a shattering blow to its national pride. This is not a reference to the progress of its national football team in the Coupe du Monde; strange as it may seem, it is far more serious than that. The Eiffel Tower, that symbol of French national pride, that priapic representation of the Gallic ego, could fall under the control of a foreign power, the United States of Ameri- ca. The company that administers the struc- ture is mostly owned by the loss-making Credit Foncier, a bank. Under a proposed rescue plan, the financial services arm of General Motors would take over Credit Foncier, and also the Tower.
It is tempting to sympathise with the French. They do tend to be oversensitive about the encroachment of Anglo-Saxon values on their cultural heritage, but even Tony Blair's pro-privatisation government would be unlikely to hand over control of the Tower of London to Toshiba. Nor would we expect the citizens of New York, however committed to the virtues of private enterprise, to wax lyrical about a plan by Russian venture capitalists to buy the Stat- ue of Liberty. On this occasion, some will argue, we should demonstrate our new- found positive approach to Europe by help- ing our EU partners to fight off this inva- sion from the New World.
As so often in Europe, however, it is not that easy. Credit Foncier is almost wholly owned by the French state. It has got into trouble, like so many other French compa- nies, because it was badly run. The govern- ment in Paris should be relieved that over- seas firms are prepared to bail it out of another financial mess. Nor should there be any surprise that an American company is involved. The Anglo-Saxon economic model is a roaring success, the European approach a comprehensive failure. Burden- some regulation, high taxes and public own- ership of companies does not work. In 1886, a vibrant French Republic gave the Statue of Liberty to its young American protégé. If that pupil returns to take con- trol of the symbol of today's Republic, it will be a fair judgment on the failure of France's rulers to respond to the economic challenge posed by its transatlantic com- petitor and spiritual offspring.
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