Somebody remembers what the Fourth of July is about (updated)

This is embarassing. The European Parliament seems to be thinking more along the lines of the original Fourth of July/Independence Day than our own Congress.

The US Congress has been obsessing over flag idolatry. The European Congress has been thinking about democracy: El Parlamento Europeo condena el golpe de Estado de Franco y su dictadura El Mundo 04.07.06 (The European Parliament condems the coup d'etat of Franco and his dictatorship). Francisco Franco Bahamonde was the fascist dictator who ruled Spain from the conclusion of the Civil War (1939) to his death in 1975. Franco's coup took place on July 18, 1936.

Josep Borrell, the President of the Euoropean Parliament, said in his speech introducing the measure that it was a shame that the US hadn't seen fit in the post-Second World War era to do more to cooperate with the European democracies in trying to bring Spain out of the isolation Franco's regime imposed on the Spanish people. But he also criticized the Europeans for not doing enough in that regard, as well. Francoism was a miserable mixture of reactionary capitalism, military autocrats and rightwing Catholics, the latter represented especially by Opus Dei.

The European Parliament doesn't seem to be especially worried about the desecration of the EU flag. Go figure.

Additional articles on the Euopean Parliament's action: Polish MEP praising General Franco sparks parliament clash by Lucia Kubosova EU Observer 07/04/06; Europa condena el franquismo y reconoce que dejó solos a los españoles: Condena histórica en el Parlamento Europeo de Griselda Pastor Cadena SER 07/04/06.

(This post has been updated to clarify the comment about the position of US and Europe toward the Franco regime.)

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