Completing Europe
J. Ignacio Torreblanca
September 23, 2009
Conservative blue in origin, ecological green with time, lefty red when it suits the occasion and, above all, astute and chameleon-like, José Manuel Durão Barroso has just won another term as president of the European Commission, with a clear majority. The phrase “my party is Europe” sums up the catch-all philosophy that has carried him to victory. But is this to be a great step for Barroso, and only a rather small step for Europe?
The next five years may be remembered as the last chance Europe had to be relevant in the world. When we look at the European Union we now have, we see cracks, tears, plans left hanging in the air; risks but also opportunities.
There are tasks, such as facing up to China and Russia, and being a genuine global force, which are beyond our present capacity, but there are certain challenges we can handle. If the European Union cannot even take charge in Europe, where its political and economic capacities are more than sufficient for decisive leadership, with what credentials is it going to claim a global role?
Now, 20 years after the Berlin Wall came down, we know that the 21st century will be multipolar; what we don’t know is whether there will be a European pole. As this week’s G20 meeting in Pittsburgh shows, there are lots of Europeans in global institutions, but very little Europe. For how long?
“Completing Europe” does not mean further treaties, nor advancing toward a federal union. It means taking seriously our own principles and commitments (including the enlargement), finding a way to end our internal divisions and restore our leadership, at least in the European sphere.
In the EU there are still first- and second-class members, a dichotomy which generates internal divisions and external weakness. We need a strategy to ensure stability and prosperity for new members, and to achieve real convergence between new and old. This would include cutting back the remaining transition periods for new members, extending to them the monetary union and its benefits, and using the next EU budget revision to maximize the impact of structural policies.
The unfinished Europe is also apparent in the Western Balkans, where the EU, though committed to membership for these countries, keeps putting off the issue. This is producing a vicious circle that is hard to break: the absence of a credible European prospect causes these countries to falter in their reforms, thus rendering the EU ever less inclined to admit them. The original plan, of admitting Croatia, trusting that Turkey would throw in the towel, and then opening the drawbridge, may turn against the EU, especially if Iceland gets in ahead of the others. It is not so much a matter of accelerating the memberships, since many countries are not prepared to join, as of desisting from the secret desire for everything to go as slowly as possible, and energetically supporting the process of reform in these countries.
Lastly, the European neighborhood, which extends from Belarus to the Caucasus (I deliberately omit the Mediterranean) presents countless problems. The model represented by the EU is very attractive, though many people there doubt that our standards of well-being, liberty and security are really within their reach. The aim would be not to bring these people to Europe, but to bring Europe to them and satisfy their aspirations. But this truly strategic view, that investment in these places is an investment in our own security and prosperity (and also in the reaffirmation of our democratic values) is very far from being widespread in the European Union, nor does it permeate to any extent our policies with regard to the Eastern European region. President Barroso, if your party is Europe, you would do well to complete it! jitorreblanca@ecfr.eu
This article was published in El País English Edition on 22 September 2009.
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