Politics & Power Quote by Jean-Pierre Raffarin

“Build a space that matters” sounds lofty, but Raffarin’s phrasing is doing the quiet work of European power politics: enlarging the EU’s moral self-image while smoothing over the bruises of real asymmetry. “Space” is the key evasive word. It’s not quite a nation, not quite an empire, not quite a market. It’s an arena where sovereignty is pooled just enough to feel progressive, yet remains vague enough to keep everyone inside the tent.

The insistence on “democratic rules” is both a promise and a prophylactic. In the early 2000s, with EU expansion on the table and the Iraq War splitting European governments, “democracy” functioned as a legitimacy shield against two anxieties: that integration is an elite project, and that larger states (France, Germany) will inevitably steer the ship. Raffarin is preemptively answering the charge that “space” means domination by bureaucracy or by big capitals.

Then comes the real tell: “small and large countries enjoy a good relationship.” That’s diplomatic understatement for a structural problem. The EU is built on managed imbalance: weighted voting, budget fights, agricultural policy, security dependencies. By framing it as a “relationship,” Raffarin personalizes what is essentially a constitutional design question. It’s a soothing register meant for smaller states wary of being absorbed and for French voters suspicious of diluted influence.

The quote’s intent is coalition maintenance. Its subtext is a bargain: accept a stronger, more consequential Europe, and trust that the rules - and the rhetoric - will keep the big players from acting like big players.