In 1993, with the assistance of Fernand Keuleneer, a Brussels lawyer, we began to look for funds to establish our own institute. The Flemish publishing company Roularta and the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer, which has a philosophy of supporting young people with new initiatives through the good care of Catherine Windels (the godmother of all think tanks), generously provided the first donations. Lord Harris of the Institute of Economic Affairs, Lord Rees-Mogg, Digby Anderson of the Social Affairs Unit, and Wilfried Prewo of the Hannover Chamber of Commerce gave invaluable advice. At the 1994 general meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society in Cannes I was able to present the new think tank. Our first premises were in the Roularta Media Center in Zellik, along the Brussels ring road. Paul Fabra (a Frenchman of Catalan origin) was CNE’s first director. Later Hardy Bouillon (a German, despite his name), Tim Evans (a Brit) and Mattias Bengtsson (a Swede) succeeded him.
Though occasionally I still attend CNE activities, I am no longer formally involved. In a sense the CNE experiment failed. It never became a Heritage Foundation with the seamless combination of both libertarianism and conservatism which is so typical for America and so uncommon for Europe. Like Americans, I believe very strongly that the free market – and freedom tout court – cannot survive without cultural values rooted in what Americans call “social conservatism” and what Europeans would call “moral conservatism.” In Europe it is possible, though difficult, to find funding for the defence of liberal economic policies, but not if one combines these with moral conservatism. Sponsors willing to support the promotion of free market principles are deterred by an organisation that actively promotes social conservatism as well. This is the reason why the Social Affairs Unit, and Civitas, though both had their roots in the Institute of Economic Affairs eventually separated.
That is the major difference between CNE and the American examples – Heritage and the American Enterprise Institute – it was modelled on. While American conservative think tanks walk on two legs, CNE – and the numerous offspring in think tanks throughout Europe (allied in the Stockholm Network, an initiative that also sprouted from CNE) walks on only one. CNE deals with healthcare issues, competition, environmental problems, intellectual property, taxation – all very interesting and worthwhile – but issues which I personally feel are at least equally important, such as education (e.g. the homeschooling movements), the preservation of culture and national identity, the strengthening of families, are outside the CNE’s scope. The reason is very prosaic: there is no money to be found in Europe to address these problems. Worse still, the issues are very divisive among economic liberals in Europe, because they are to a large extent taboo in our secular society.
Five years ago CNE organised its first Capitalist Ball. The 2003 ball was organised in the Beurs, the building of the Brussels stock market, by Rich Miniter (then a Brussels based American). The following three balls would have been impossible without the organizing talent of Cécile Philippe (from France). In 2006 the venue of the ball moved from the Beurs to the salons of the Concert Noble, which was an improvement. The Beurs building was cold, and for some strange reason, the ball always seems to take place on the coldest day of the year in Brussels. Because, until five years ago, Brussels lacked a classy society event for a multinational European public, the CB was an immediate success.
The Economist's Charlemagne column wrote last year:
One of the more bizarre events on the Brussels calendar is the annual capitalist ball, staged by the Centre for the New Europe, a free-market think-tank with an appropriately Rumsfeld-like title.The event has grown every year. A free dinner precedes a fine ball. Think tank people, scholars, civil servants from the European Commission, journalists, politicians, diplomats and businessmen fly in from all over Europe (and the US) to attend. They do it not just for fun, but because it is a unique networking opportunity. International gatherings, seminars and conferences are now being organised in the days before and the weekend after the CB. Because of the CB’s huge success, many people who would like to attend have to be turned down.
One thing, however, strikes me – and it is again a typically European thing. Last October I attended National Review’s 50th anniversary gala in Washington DC. This was a huge event. Like the CB it was sponsored by major companies. Unlike the CB a list of the sponsors is circulated. Companies do not have to hide the fact that they support the event for fear of negative publicity. In Europe private company donations are regarded as something almost immoral. This applies to both the fact of donating and that of receiving. Europe lives on subsidies, but handing out subsidies is regarded as permissible only if it is done by the state. In Europe the state is god, and hence saying that one believes in another god is a taboo. The state is the sole financial provider, and acknowledging that others have provided for you is a taboo. Companies who are willing to provide for others, especially if the latter are critical of the state, prefer to do this in secret. The state would hold it against them and the companies want to avoid making the state into an enemy. For the state, unlike the true God, is an unforgiving god.
Deze tekst van Paul Beliën verscheen in The Brussels Journal.
Meer teksten van hem op www.hudson-institute.org.
3 Reacties:
- At 13:41 Anoniem said...
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Een quote van PVDA-kiwi-eter Dirk Van Duppen op zijn blog over het Kapitalistenbal en het CNE dat ik u toch zeker niet wil onthouden:
"Jaarlijks houdt CNE haar fameuze Capitalist Ball in het hartje van Brussel. Een treffen waar het kruim van het door het VB in officiële publicaties zo verfoeide Europese establishment samentroept. Een treffen waar het kruim van het door het VB in officiële publicaties zo verfoeide Europese establishment samentroept." - At 15:07 Anoniem said...
- Deze reactie is verwijderd door een blogbeheerder.
- At 15:09 Anoniem said...
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Och ja, laat die communisten maar doen. Dat zijn we van hen wel gewend. Ik was dit jaar op het Capitalist Ball in de Concert Noble en heb daar toch geen enkel lid van het "Europees establishment" gezien hoor. Buiten één MEP en één Brits parlementslid waren er geen politici ofzo aanwezig, enkel maar journalisten, denktank-werkers, activisten e.a. Maar het is een bekend fout beeld dat Van Duppen cultiveert. Dit jaar waren er zelfs communistische betogers voor de Concert Noble die de boel wilden verstoren omdat er volgens hen enkel maar "grootkapitalisten" aanwezig waren op het bal.
De Amerikaanse libertariër Tom Palmer reageerde (terecht) als volgt op zijn blog:
"The Capitalist Ball (sponsored by the Centre for the New Europe) was fun and a good chance to see old friends (some I hadn’t seen in 10 years) from Sweden, Belgium, France, Germany, and other countries. (...) The Capitalist Ball last night was picketed by a group of wacky communists who announced that the ball contained “Europe’s richest people.” The claim was bizarre, as the room was full of advocates of free market capitalism, but as far as I could tell, no or almost no “capitalists” at all. Everyone I met was a think tank staffer, member of a liberal youth or student group, member of parliament, staff member for a member of parliament, a professor, or a journalist. I doubt that many people in the room were “poor” (it did cost fifty euros to attend, after all), but I also didn’t meet any “rich” people, either (except in the sense that everyone in an advanced market economy is rich in comparison to people in non-market economies)."