euro|topics - Claude Monnier

22/11/2008

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Monnier, Claude

3 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.

Tribune de Genève - Switzerland | 13/05/2008

A friendship in danger

Claude Monnier describes Franco-German relations past and present: "After World War II, the hatred born between France and Germany during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71, and which grew with the conflicts of 1914-18 and 1939-45, was the biggest problem facing our Old Continent. ... This is why many were surprised when Germany and France adopted Jean Monnet's proposal to found the European Coal and Steel Community at the beginning of the 1950s. ... One would have thought the polar opposites France and Germany would override one another in such a Union. Instead - and this is the wonderful thing - it turned out to be incredibly dynamic, spurring Europe on to new heights. ... Unfortunately, today this wondrous union is threatened by its very success, by routine and boredom. ... The French president ... is forsaking the privileged relations that France and Germany have cultivated up to now. And if the Franco-German duo breaks up, Europe threatens to become once more the continent where conflicts are more the rule than the exception."

24 heures - Switzerland | 04/09/2007

Claude Monnier analyses the political tremor

"Nicolas Sarkozy is a nice guy: he is offering us a golden opportunity to reflect upon a most mysterious phenomenon: the political tremor. ... One cannot deny that he is a mover and shaker stealing the limelight,", notes the columnist Claude Monnier, before continuing with the American example. "When such a pacific shake-up is felt, the political contents of the tremor (concrete measures either taken or envisaged) are of less importance, in a way, than the tremor itself. Look at the American case: after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, George W. Bush, a bit despite himself, shook America right down to its marrow. His concrete policies - notably the war in Iraq - were sinister. Nonetheless, the tremor these sinister policies have imposed on America may help put America back on its feet. ... George W. Bush's successor, if talented and a visionary, will preside over the destiny of an America far more ready to renegotiate its social pact than it has been since the New Deal."

24 heures - Switzerland | 19/12/2006

Claude Monnier reminds us of the rules of the democratic game

"Democracy is the best of political systems, on condition, however, that each of its participants plays, in a clean and thorough manner, the part that they have been allocated", considers the Swiss chronicler Claude Monnier, who analyses the way US administration decided to invade Iraq in 2003. "The government should inform itself, reflect, anticipate and above all make decisions in an honest, upright manner, in the general interest of the country. The people, that is to say you and I, should inform itself, ask questions, question the answers if they appear insufficiently backed-up and finally form an independent and well-constructed opinion, not an emotional reaction therefore, and defend it with courage. That makes quite a few conditions. But it should be understood that if these conditions are not fulfilled, democracy mechanically leads to the authoritarianism or dictatorship for which it would like to be an antidote."

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