| Author (Person) | Bet-El, Ilana |
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| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.12, No.24, 22.6.06 |
| Publication Date | 22/06/2006 |
| Content Type | News |
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Date: 22/06/06 he summit conclusions of last week held but three rather bland paragraphs on external relations, with defence issues folded into them, titled Improving the efficiency, coherence and visibility of the Union's external policy. But behind the blandness lay a battle that continues the eternal vying for power between the Council and the Commission yet also holds promising seeds of new co-operation - and for good reason. The battle was simple, but predictable: before the summit both the Council and the Commission produced papers on improving the EU's external policy instruments. The Commission paper was snappily titled Europe in the World: some practical proposals for greater coherence, effectiveness and visibility. Since the Austrians merely adapted the title for the conclusions, it is fair to say that round went to the Commission. However, it seems the original text also only referred to the Commission text and ignored the Council's, which had no title since it was in the form of a letter and annexe from Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, to the Austrian presidency. In response to the omission, Council emissaries were apparently sent to meet representatives of various member states and demand an inclusion in the conclusions; this eventually led to the letter being mentioned and Solana being thanked for all his work. Big egos were as ever at work here, but there was also substance. The Commission paper focused on three main areas - better strategic planning, improved co-operation between Commission and Council and relations with member states. The Council paper focused on the necessary restructuring of the Council in order to meet the basic requirements of both civilian and military crisis management and operations. The paper also underlined the need to co-operate better with the Commission and to this end laid down a number of practical steps. Leaving it out of the conclusions would have effectively suggested such work was irrelevant and possibly subject to approval and changes only at some point in the future - when the work should already have been implemented. It is good to see both institutions finally acknowledging publicly the need to co-operate at some level for the greater good of the Union. It is even better to note they are doing so at a time when the EU is meant to be in a depressive slumber over the failed constitution, with the official mourning - or reflection - period extended into a second year. Such movement, regardless of content, inspires a slight hope that the institutions may finally have remembered their historic role: to present the member states with progressive alternatives of action and thought; to assist them in implementing the agreed outcome, and; to cajole them back from narrow nationalistic positions when these become detrimental to the overall good of the Union and its citizens. Let there be no doubt: messrs Barroso and Solana clearly have every intention of going onto the world stage as often as they can - and each would undoubtedly prefer that the other did not. But equally, as their papers reflect, they have every intention of making the EU a far more able body, largely within the existing parameters of the EU structure. Not a word in either paper called for extra power for the institutions; rather, both offer a lucid look at the institutions and the Union as they are today - and at the ever-increasing demands put upon them by the member states. From disaster relief to military operations; from the co-ordination of civil and military instruments to deployment into areas in need around the world - these have all been initiated by the member states, not grand schemes merely dreamt up by Eurocrats with delusions of grandeur. These papers effectively suggest that the member states start putting their money, and authority, where their mouths are.
Author takes a look at the discussions on the EU's external policy at the European Council on 15-16 June 2006. Both the Council of the EU and the European Commission had produced papers on improving the EU's external policy instruments. |
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| Source Link | http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Subject Categories | Politics and International Relations |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
