01_EU_overview

In economic, trade and monetary terms, the European Union has become a major world power. However, some have described the EU as an economic giant but a political dwarf. This is an exaggeration. It has considerable influence within international organisations such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the specialised bodies of the United Nations (UN), and at world summits on the environment and development.

Nevertheless, it is true that the EU and its members have a long way to go, in diplomatic and political terms, before they can speak with one voice on major world issues like peace and stability, relations with the United States, terrorism, the Middle East and the role of the UN Security Council. What is more, the cornerstone of national sovereignty, namely military defence systems, remain in the hands of national governments, whose ties are those forged within alliances such as NATO.

I. An embryonic common defence policy

The common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and the European security and defence policy (ESDP), introduced by the Treaties of Maastricht (1992), Amsterdam (1997) and Nice (2001), define the EU’s main tasks in the area of defence. To carry out these tasks, the EU has developed its “second pillar”, the policy domain in which action is decided by intergovernmental agreement and in which the Commission

and the Parliament play only a minor role. Decisions in this domain are taken by consensus, although individual states are allowed to abstain.

a. The political and strategic landscape in 2006

More than half a century of Cold War has ended – Russia has a new orientation and the former communist countries has joined NATO and the EU almost simultaneously. The continent of Europe is coming together peacefully, and European countries are working together to fight international crime, people trafficking, illegal immigration and money laundering.

The enlarged EU has established a partnership structure with its neighbours, some of whom have medium-term prospects of joining the European Union.

The United States has accepted that, for military action in which the Americans are not involved, Europe can use some of NATO’s logistical capacity such as its intelligence, communications, command facilities and transport capabilities.

The terrorist violence that has scarred the world since the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York and Washington and the bombings in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005 has profoundly altered the strategic landscape. European countries have to work more closely together to uncover information that will help prevent terrorists and their backers from carrying out attacks. Cooperation with the United States and all

countries that support democracy and human rights now goes beyond the framework of traditional defensive alliances.

b. Tangible achievements for security and defence

Under the Amsterdam Treaty, Javier Solana was appointed the EU’s first High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) in 1999.

EU member states have set a specific goal as part of the task of establishing a European security and defence policy. This is to be able to deploy a rapid reaction force with naval and air support and sustain it for one year. This rapid reaction force will not yet be a real European army. Instead it will be made up of contingents from the existing national armed forces.

Council and located in Brussels, the Union already has a political and military tool for carrying out the missions that it has set for itself: humanitarian missions outside Europe, peacekeeping operations and other crisis-management tasks.

As military technology becomes ever more sophisticated and expensive, EU governments are finding it increasingly necessary to work together on arms manufacture. Moreover, if their armed forces are to carry out joint missions, their systems must be interoperable and their equipment sufficiently standardised. The European Council in Thessaloniki decided, in 2003, to establish a European Defence Agency.

Since 2003, the EU has undertaken a series of peacekeeping and crisis management missions. The most important of these has been in Bosnia and Herzegovina where a European Union military force (EUFOR) of 7 000 troops replaced NATO peacekeeping forces in December 2004.

II. A trade policy

that is open to the world

The European Union supports the rulesbased system of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which provides a degree of legal certainty and transparency in the conduct of international trade. The WTO sets conditions under which its members can defend themselves against unfair practices like dumping (selling below cost) through which exporters compete against their rivals. It also provides a procedure for settling disputes that arise between two or more trading partners.

The EU’s trade policy is closely linked to its development policy. Under its general system of preferences (GSP), the EU has granted duty-free or cut-rate preferential access to its market for most of the imports from developing countries and economies in transition. It goes even further for the world’s 49 poorest countries. All of their exports,

with the sole exception of arms, enjoy dutyfree entry to the EU market under a programme launched in 2001.

The EU does not, however, have specific trade agreements with its major trading partners among the developed countries like the United States and Japan. Here, trade relations are handled through the WTO mechanisms. The United States and the European Union are seeking to develop relations founded on equality and partnership. However, EU countries are not always in agreement on the type of diplomatic, political and military ties to establish with the United States.

The European Union is increasing its trade with the emerging powers in other parts of the world, from China and India to Central and South America. Trade agreements with these countries also involve technical and cultural cooperation.

Europe in 12 lessons

III. Relations between the EU and the Mediterranean countries

Given their geographical proximity, historical and cultural ties, and current and future migration flows, the countries on the southern shores of the Mediterranean are partners of prime importance. This is why the EU has traditionally chosen to pursue a policy of regional integration.

In November 1995, the EU laid the foundations for a new Euro-Mediterranean partnership at the Barcelona Conference, which was attended by all the EU member states and the Mediteranean countries (except for Albania, Libya and the countries of former Yugoslavia). This conference made it possible to trace the outline of a new partnership involving:

•political dialogue between the participating countries and a security partnership based, in particular, on mechanisms for arms control and the peaceful resolution of conflicts;

•stepping up economic and trading relations between the two regions: the key to this is the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean free trade area by 2010;

•partnership in social and cultural fields.

The EU granted financial assistance to the tune of €5.3 billion to the Mediterranean countries in 2000–06. In the budget period 2007–13, a European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) follows on from and merges into one the previously separate support programme for the Mediterranean countries and its other neighbours among the successor states of the former Soviet Union.

IV. Africa

Relations between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa go back a long way. Under the Treaty of Rome in 1957, the then colonies and overseas territories of member states became associates of the Community. Decolonisation, which began in the early 1960s, turned this link into a different kind of association, one between sovereign countries.

The Cotonou Agreement, signed in 2000 in Cotonou, the capital of Benin, marked a new stage in the EU’s development policy. This agreement between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries is the most ambitious and far-reaching trade and aid agreement ever concluded between developed and developing countries. It followed on from the Lomé Convention, which was signed in 1975 in Lomé, the capital of Togo, and subsequently updated at regular intervals.

The basic aim of this wide-ranging trade and aid agreement remains the same as that of the Lomé Convention: ‘to promote and expedite the economic, cultural and social development of the ACP states and to consolidate and diversify their relations [with the European Union and its member states] in a spirit of solidarity and mutual interest’.

The new agreement goes significantly further than earlier agreements, since it has moved from trade relations based on market access to trade relations in a wider sense. It also introduces new procedures for dealing with human rights abuses.

The European Union has granted special trading concessions to the least developed countries, 39 of which are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement. Since 2005, they have been able to export practically any type of product to the EU, duty free. The European Development Fund finances the ACP support programmes, paying out between two and three billion euro a year.

Europe in 12 lessons

‘A day will come when all the nations of this continent, without losing their distinct qualities or their glorious individuality, will fuse together in a higher unity and form the European brotherhood. A day will come when the only battlefield will be the marketplace for competing ideas. A day will come when bullets and bombs will be replaced by votes.’

Victor Hugo spoke those prophetic words in 1849, but it took more than a century for his utopian predictions to start coming true. During that time, two world wars and countless other conflicts on European soil caused millions of deaths and there were times when all hope seemed lost. Today, the first decade of the 21st century offers brighter prospects, but it also brings Europe new difficulties and challenges.

A major enlargement of the Union has gone ahead. As a politician from a new member state put it, ‘Europe has finally managed to reconcile its history with its geography’. In future, the European Union will continue to welcome new members. In the meantime, its leaders, listening carefully to public opinion, will have to decide where to draw the Union’s geographical, political and cultural boundaries.

The European Union is a pact between sovereign nations which have resolved to share a common destiny and to pool an increasing share of their sovereignty. It touches on things that Europeans care most deeply

about: peace, economic and physical wellbeing, security, participatory democracy, justice and solidarity. This pact is being strengthened and confirmed all across Europe: half a billion people have chosen to live under the rule of law and in accordance with age-old values centred on humanity and human dignity.

The current technological revolution is radically transforming life in the industrialised world, including Europe. It is vital to understand that this creates new challenges that transcend traditional frontiers. Sustainable development, population trends, economic dynamism, social solidarity and an ethical response to progress in the life sciences are issues that can no longer be effectively dealt with at national level. We must also show consideration to future generations.

The process of European integration now affects the whole continent, which, in turn, is part of a rapidly and radically changing world that needs to find new stability. Europe is affected by events on other continents, whether it be relations with the Islamic world, disease and famine in Africa, unilateralist tendencies in the United States, the dynamic economic growth in Asia or the global relocation of industries and jobs. Europe must not only concentrate on its own development but also embrace globalisation. The European Union still has a long way to go before it can claim to be speaking with one voice or to be a credible player in global politics and diplomacy.

The EU institutions have proved their worth, but they must be adapted to cope with the enlargement of the Union and the increasing number of tasks for which it is responsible. The bigger the number of members, the greater the centrifugal forces that threaten to tear it apart. Short-term interests can all too easily derail long-term priorities. That is why everyone involved in this unprecedented adventure must shoulder their responsibilities to make sure the EU’s institutional system can continue to work effectively. Any definitive change in the present system must ensure plurality and respect the differences that are the most precious assets of Europe’s nations. Reforms must also concentrate on the decision-making process. Insisting on unanimous agreement in all cases would simply lead to paralysis. The only kind of system that will work is a political and legal system based on majority voting, with checks and balances built in.

The Constitution, which was adopted, subject to ratification, by the 25 Heads of State or Government in Rome in October 2004, tried to answer the need for simplification of the existing Treaties and greater transparency in the EU’s decision-making system.

Ordinary people need to know ‘who does what in Europe’. Only then will they feel that it is relevant to their daily lives, vote in European elections and support the idea of European integration. The Constitution clarifies the powers and responsibilities of the EU, its member states and regional authorities. It makes it clear that European integration is based on dual legitimacy: the directly expressed will of the people and the legitimacy of the nation states, which are still the framework within which European societies operate.

Whatever constitutional system the EU countries finally choose on the basis of fresh discussions, it will have to be ratified by each of them either by parliamentary vote or national referendum. To facilitate the debate, the European Commission has launched a drive to reach out to its citizens through Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate.

The European Constitution

Background

In December 2001, to meet the many challenges that enlargement to the countries of central and eastern Europe would create for the European Union, the European Council established a Convention to prepare a draft Constitutional Treaty.

This Convention, which carried out its work in 2002 and 2003 under the presidency of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, had 105 members, including representatives of the member governments and candidate countries, national parliamentarians, MEPs and members of the European Commission.

The Convention adopted its draft treaty by consensus in June 2003.

The Treaty was formally signed in Rome on 29 October 2004, and sent to member states for ratification.

Although the majority of member states have ratified the treaty, it was rejected in May and June 2005 by voters in France and the Netherlands. Following these ‘no’ votes, the European Council meeting later in June announced a period of reflection on the future of the Constitutional Treaty.

Main provisions of the Constitution

•Election of a President of the European Council by qualified majority for a term of two and a half years, renewable once.

•Election of the President of the Commission by a simple majority of MEPs following a proposal from the European Council, and ‘taking into account the European parliamentary elections’.

•Creation of the post of EU Foreign Minister.

•Incorporating the Charter of Fundamental Rights into the EU Treaty.

•Increasing the number of fields covered by qualified majority voting in the Council.

•Giving the European Parliament greater legislative and budgetary powers.

•A clearer presentation of the breakdown of powers and responsibilities between the Union and its member countries.

•Giving national parliaments a role in ensuring that the EU complies with

the principle of subsidiarity.

Europe in 12 lessons