What began as a relatively small
economic union of nation states known as the European
Economic Community (EEC) has become the burgeoning
European Union (EU), with 15 nation states and more
additions expected soon. Former Italian prime minister
Romano Prodi currently serves as president of the
European Commission until January 23, 2005. He has
great visions to make the EU a superstate through a
common set of laws, economy and currency, and most
recently, through the furnishing of its own military.
Many Christians believe that the EU
is the ten-horned beast of the Books of Daniel and
Revelation. However, right now, the EU has 15 members
and is likely to grow, not shrink. So is the EU the
Beast or is it benign?
The EU has been negotiating reforms
which will allow the admission of the Czech Republic,
Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia in a bloc as soon as
they are prepared, probably sometime during 2004-2005.
With this expansion, the growing Union will add
another 60 million people as well as another $300
billion to its annual budget. On May 16, French
President Jacques Chirac stated, "We should do
everything possible so that Poland...joins us [the EU]
as quickly as possible." Expansion is popular
among existing EU nation-states because it has the
potential to undergird the struggling Eurodollar.
The
EU is seeking not only to become bigger, but also to
establish its own military force to take more
responsibility for its own security. The 15-nation
Union met in December of last year and decided to
develop an independent military force within three
years. Known as the European Security Defense
Initiative (ESDI), this plan could endanger Europe’s
American defense guarantees in NATO. One of the
primary concerns is that security interests of non-EU
states such as Turkey, Norway, and Iceland would be
jeopardized. Furthermore, these nations are
legitimately concerned that they, by virtue of
geographic positioning may wind up being drawn into
conflicts through a decision-making process that
excludes them. The obvious result of this would be
greater vulnerability and exposure to threats both
from within and without, in which the U.S. would have
no say, but might be called upon to intervene.
Nonetheless, at the Helsinki summit, EU leaders
pledged to foster the ability to deploy up to 60,000
troops within 60 days and sustain that force for up to
a year. Because of rotational requirements, sustaining
a force of this size will require a total army of
200,000 soldiers.
The EU’s ascension to global
power is not without pitfalls, however. Raising a
European army may be more of a wish than reality.
Europe could barely muster 40,000 for the peacekeeping
effort in the Balkans. In another case, the attack on
Austria’s Freedom Party leader, Joerg Haider also
exposed a glaring weaknesses in the EU. Haider’s
remarks appeared to support Nazi war crimes, and
received an immediate and global backlash. Sanctions
were imposed which led to Haider’s resignation as
leader of the far-right party.
A closer analysis of Haider’s
comments, however, showed he was not really supporting
Hitler’s atrocities as Prodi and the EU leadership
want the world to believe. On February 4 the Wall
Street Journal published a scathing analysis,
"Mr. Haider is a modernized right-winger who
champions free-market economics, high-tech industry,
and a crackdown on crime as well as hostility to a
single European currency and further immigration. Much
of his program has been lifted from the Heritage
Foundation and Cato Institute and sounds extremist
only in Europe, where the term free market remains a
boo phrase among elites."
While the events in Austria have
held the media spotlight, Austria is clearly not the
only nation that has anti-EU factions. In both Austria
and Switzerland one-quarter of the vote in recent
elections went to right-wing nationalist and economic
parties. Other Union nations are facing problems with
similar sentiments in their own far-right-wing groups.
France, Germany and Belgium all face political
opposition to their inclusion in the EU. Right wing
resistance also exists in states that are yet to join.
Strong nationalistic sentiment promises to be a thorn
in the side of the Union for the foreseeable future.
Why?
On February 10 Stratfor
Intelligence reported "Pre-World War II
fascism had its roots in economies shattered by World
War I.... Blocher’s and Haider’s movements differ
in origin and intent.... To a great extent this is a
reaction against those who have directly benefited
from the transfer of power from the nation to Brussels
and to other multi-national organizations. In its
purest form, it is a revolt against the multi-national
financial institutions, from the International
Monetary Fund to Citigroup, that benefit greatly from
a world without borders, and whose success undermines
national government." In other words, Haider
was being demonized for his anti-one world position,
something the EU and one-worlders cannot tolerate.
Europe no longer fits the
description of the beast of Daniel and Revelation. But
that does not mean it does not have Biblical
significance. Speculations abound about how the number
of commissioners or the board of the Euro will be ten.
Perhaps, but Revelation 17:12 says they will be ten
nations.
What is highly significant,
however, is the understanding, as detailed in the
September and December issues of Discerning the
Times Digest, that the United Nations and the
international community is determined to divide the
world up into economic and military regions.
While the exact number has yet to be determined, the
Club of Rome defined ten in 1973. And they are being
patterned after the EU! So, while the EU is not likely
to be the beast of the Bible, it is looking more and
more as if it is will play a major role in creating
the beast. V ks
