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For the French, the political argu–
ments behind EMS superseded the
economic ones. "For President Gis–
card," reported the
London Times,
"it is a matter of prestige that France
should keep abreast of Germany in
the leadership of Europe, and this ap–
parently justifies an economic gam–
ble at least as great for France as it
would be for Br itain."
And what particular political urge
is impelling Herr Schmidt?
Der
Spiegel
analyzed the Chancellor's
apparent motiva tion: "Schmid t · is
striving for higher things than ex–
change rates. [He] wants to advance
to a European statesman; he is look–
ing for a new run toward European
unity. For him
it
has to do with poli–
tical leadership over the old Conti–
nent, if not over the Western hemi–
sphere. H is analysis of the situation
is this: Europeans must take up t he
room that the North Americans have
vacated."
Der Spiegel
then explained the
unique relationship between Schmid t
and Giscard. Lingering resentments
in Europe against dominant German
figures force Schmidt to be very cau–
tious. For this reason, reported
Spi'!–
ge/,
Schmidt dcliberately occupies a
public position a half step behind
Giscard. "Schmidt is thinking and
directing, Giscard is representing
and presidi ng." A Bonn minister
adds: "Giscard is to march in front;
Schmidt lets him have the leadership
quite intentionally."
" lnspl red "
by
Charlemagne
Never in the history of post-war Eu–
rope, not even in the heady days of
French-German cooperation epito–
mized by Charl es de Gaulle and
Konrad Adenauer, have the interests
of the Continent's " Big Two" con–
verged so well.
During theirday,deGaulleand Ad–
enauer launched the trad ition of a n–
nual head-of-government consulta–
tions to deal with French-German re–
lations. In mid-September 1978 their
successors, Giscard a nd Schmidt, con–
tinued the tradition. This time, howev–
er , the agenda was the EMSand Euro–
pean matters, not just relations be–
tween the two nations.
After Schmid t called for the EMS
plan at Bremen last summer, it fell
10
on sorne hard times. Proposals and
counterproposals flew back and
forth. Compromises were floated.
Schmidt and Giscard finally took all
the di lfering ideas in hand in Sep–
tember, went off by themselves at
their own minisummit, ironed every–
thing out, and produced the EMS
structure as it now stands.
Where they conferred in their ex–
clusive minisummit is as significant
as the results they achieved. T he two
leaders met in Aachen, the German
city near the Be lgian a nd Dutch
border. The French prefer to call it
Aix-la-Chappelle. Reports
Mac–
lean's,
the Ca nadian newsweekly:
"T he choice of the ancient . .. border
~~
The founders of
the new Europe have
asserted al/ along
that economic integration
was not an end
in itse/f but rather
a means to a política/
end, the goal
being a United States
ofEurope.
' '
town as the site for a summit tete-a–
tete between France's President Yal–
ery G iscard d'Estaing and German
Chancellor Helmut Schmidt did not
go unnoticed.
" There, on the spot where Charle–
magne once presided over his united
European empire, the two close
friends and former finance ministers
hammered out the technical frame–
work for a new European Commun i–
ty currency system.... "
T he West German daily
Hanno–
versche Allgemeine
on September 18
added : " Helmut Schmidt deliberate–
ly chose Aachen as the venue: Aach–
en, the city of Charlcmagne, an em–
peror whom both Germans and
French claim as their own. l t was the
first Franco-German summi t con–
cerned almost entirely with a Euro-
pean project, the European Moneta–
ry System, which is the brainchild
of Giscard and Schmidt and an out–
stand ing political achievement."
At Aachen, according to the Ger–
man-language newsweekly
Der Re–
port,
"The descent of the dollar and
the luckless politics of [President]
Carter ... may have caused Schmidt
and Giscard to invoke the spirit of
Karl der Grosse [Charles the Great,
or Charlemagne] to lead 'East and
West Franks' at least in currency
politics together."
At one of the Aachen meetings,
Maclean's
reported, Giscard actually
made such an invocation, referring to
"the spirit of Charlemagne which has
·blown through this summit."
" Unlty Concert "
Also during this critical summit which
set Europe on its present course, a very
unusual event took place. On T hurs–
day evening, September 14, the two
most powerful
democratic
leaders of
Eu rope today paid homage, as it were,
to the Cont inent's autocra tic (and the–
ocratic) past.
On this particular night, Schmidt
and Giscard, accompanied by their
officia l pa rties, attended a concert in
the ancient (dating from A.D. 796)
Cathedral of Aachen.
T he scene was almost straight out
of medieval times. They were seated
in front of the golden bust of Charle–
magne, the Frankish king who united
in one superstate practically all the ·
Christian lands of Western Europe,
t he British lsles being the major ex–
ception. ( In the year 800, in Rome,
Pope Leo Il crowned Charlemagne
and bestowed on him the Roman title
of Emperor.)
Above the two contemporary fig–
ures hung the magnificent bronze
chandelier presented by the later
Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick 1
( Ba rbarossa), in 1168. T he music for
the occasion, selected by the bishop
of Aachen, was most appropriate.
The cathedral choir presented an
evening of medieval polyphonic com–
positions.
A reporter for the West German
newspaper
Frankfurter Allgemeine
recorded the Havor of this unique
event: "T he perfect a rchitecture, the
stone witnesses of European history
The
PLAIN TRUTH February 1979