“Shame! Shame! Shame on you!” yelled the crowd, waving their placards and shaking their dreadlocks as we walked past.
What had we done? We had organized a conference on how conservatives (the clue is in the name) make good conservationists. We had invited a number of experts to talk about how ecological problems were often better tackled by markets than by regulation. And among those experts – this was what really riled them – was the man who had headed Donald Trump’s environmental transition team.
It’s hard to think of anything more provocative in Brussels these days. It is bad enough to be an American: The EU has always had a certain sneering resentment of what the French call the “hyper-puissance.” It is worse to be a Trump supporter: Donald Tusk, who heads the European Council, has just written to the 28 national leaders listing the United States as a threat to the EU alongside China and the Islamic State – which, when you think of the two world wars and the Cold War, strikes me as pretty ungrateful.
But the truly unforgivable thing – the sin against the Holy Ghost – is to be a Trump official who doesn’t believe in man-made global warming, who wants to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on decarbonization, and who has just recommended that the EPA lose two thirds of its bureaucrats.
In truth, Myron Ebell, the man in question, is about as far removed from the European caricature of a Trump supporter as you can be. He is charming, soft-spoken, meticulous with facts and a model of courtesy toward opponents. Oddly enough, this wound the protesters up even more. They had secretly wanted a loud, brick-colored ignoramus in a Stetson hat and cowboy boots.
Well, OK, they got the boots, a reminder of Myron’s roots on an Oregon ranch. But in every other way, Myron disappointed their expectations. He spoke, from boyhood experience, of how private land was ecologically better managed than state-owned land. He described the way in which the environmental movement had been colonized by “urban imperialists.” He spoke of the costs that these imperialists imposed on “the folks who make things, grow things and dig things up.” He set out, in short, a form of environmentalism that was in the interest of citizens, not lobbyists.
And as he spoke, something became clear. The real opposition to Myron’s agenda was not coming from the young agitators outside; it was coming from the tie-wearing corporatists in the audience.
In the EU, a parasite class has grown up around Brussels regulations, especially in the field of alternative energy. Every Eurocrat sustains the jobs of half a dozen consultants and contractors and lobbyists. Many of these people had come to listen, and you could see some of them flinching with horror as the implications sank in.
In one sense, the United States truly is now a threat to the EU. Not because it is hostile, but because EU citizens might be attracted by its example. Eurocrats have always relied on American support: Several of the EU’s founders were, indeed, on the CIA payroll. As well as backing the process of European integration politically and diplomatically, successive administrations imitated it, shifting powers from the 50 states to Washington and from elected representatives to federal officials and judges. That process accelerated under Barack Obama, who adopted European policies on healthcare, education, foreign affairs and, not least energy. Now, that gradual convergence has been thrown sharply into reverse.
What if America succeeds? What if radical deregulation and cheaper energy prove so popular that Europeans start demanding something similar? What if, without the support of Britain and the United States, the whole project of integrating Europe politically loses its sense of inevitability? No wonder Myron’s audience was so tetchy.
Supporters of the EU like to portray themselves – indeed, genuinely think of themselves – as defenders of a more decent and civilized way of life than that found in the United States. But it is becoming increasingly clear that they are losing the support of their compatriots. And so they engage in what psychologists call displacement. It’s not really the clever and sweet-natured Myron Ebell that they’re scared of; it’s not even Donald Trump; it’s their own voters.
Dan Hannan is a British Conservative MEP.
