2007-United Europe News Stories 018

United Europe News Stories

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Germans lead charge for a more united Europe
Stephen Loosley

THE first 50 years of the European Union have seen the body evolve into an organisation that successfully manages power on the continent.

But the great challenge for the second half-century of the EU's existence is for Europe to project power on a regional and global basis.

The Treaty of Rome, which is seen as the foundation stone of the modern EU, celebrated its 50th anniversary in March. As distinguished French policymaker Jean Monnet understood, European politics in the aftermath of World War II could not be allowed to regress into the intense and deadly rivalry that had characterised the past. As a matter of fact, it is fair to argue that Europe had fought a civil war between 1791 and 1945. It was this climate of constant conflict that caused a perceptive Thomas Jefferson to despair that Europe was eternally at war.

So the EU evolved to integrate ambitions and balance rivals, especially the French and Germans. It has worked.

Now, the three main elements constituting the political challenges that confront the EU in 2007 may be distilled as being the future of the European prospect itself, consequent on the Treaty of Maastricht, signed in 1992, that led to the modern union; the relationship with the US; and the dilemmas inherent in dealing with Russia, politically and economically.

The Germans are by far the most interesting players. Chancellor Angela Merkel has surprised most of her critics and more than a few of her supporters. Germany has taken seriously the dual responsibility of the Chancellor chairing the Group of Eight and occupying the presidency of the EU. Renewed German economic growth has underpinned a greater diplomatic confidence in Berlin.

First, Merkel made it clear at the EU summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Samara in May that Europe cannot be divided by Russian endeavours to split the EU by isolating Poland or using Russian energy supplies as a strategic lever.

Indeed, on energy, an Australian business mission from the European Australian Business Council was told early last month in Berlin by senior German policymakers that energy policy was a double-edged sword, with Russia being a monopoly supplier but Europe having the advantage of being a monopoly customer.

Second, at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm in June, Merkel brought US President George W. Bush into the European framework on climate change. Moreover, negotiating a European power-sharing treaty to supplement Maastricht was an objective of German diplomacy that has just been achieved in Brussels, albeit at a summit marked with acrimony.

France is renewed as a purposeful global player with the election of President Nicolas Sarkozy. Sarkozy understands the disconnect between the imperatives of Brussels and the sentiments of the broad electorate, which caused the 2005 defeats in France and The Netherlands of an earlier proposal for an ambitious European constitution.

Sarkozy argued, in some detail, in an interview with The National Interest Online earlier this year, before being elected president, that Europe needs to clarify its identity, especially in geographical terms. He favours the development of "privileged partnerships" with Turkey and countries of the Mediterranean basin through the Barcelona Process, leading to the potential establishment of a Mediterranean Union that would work closely with the EU.

Sarkozy understands also the need for the closest possible working relationship with Germany to drive the EU, as illustrated by his trip to Berlin on the evening of his investiture as President to dine with Merkel.

On the Americans, Sarkozy sees no conflict between the realities of the Atlantic alliance and the concept of a common European defence policy. As with his German colleagues, the new French President is uneasy about Russia, being critical of its performance on human rights and edgy about its recent assertiveness.

In Britain, Europe is overwhelmingly an issue of sovereignty. The Conservative Opposition is hopelessly divided on further British integration with European institutions, despite the vision of Harold Macmillan more than 30 years ago; the British media ranges from cautious scepticism to feral hostility over the EU and the Labour Government treads warily.

Gordon Brown is more of an Atlanticist than his predecessor and on Europe Brown has been far more cautious than Tony Blair, prepared to distance himself from Brussels in acknowledgment of British opinion. It is this latter element in Brown's perspective, that caused Sarkozy, in the Financial Times, to call on the incoming British Prime Minister to leave behind his outmoded views on the EU. To date, Prime Minister Brown has spent a good deal of time defining his vision for Britain, rather than for Europe. However, as chancellor of the exchequer, in 2005, Brown published a pamphlet calling on the EU to be more alert to growing competition from China and India and less reliant on protection.

Brown argued that Europe must be more flexible in its labour market, skills and innovation. But there is cause for optimism. As a seasoned British policymaker told The International Herald Tribune recently, Brown inherits a far better set of European leaders than did Blair.

Europe already makes its presence felt in a serious diplomatic way in areas such as the Middle East, including Iranian nuclear negotiations. It is generous with foreign aid and active in peacekeeping. But if Europe is to be a more effective global player in projecting power, then it needs greater commonality in perspective and purpose and to match objectives with diplomacy and strategy.

The test is already apparent in a European need to construct better relations with the US post-Bush and Russia post-Putin. This challenge is in the hands of a new generation of European leaders in Berlin, Paris and London, charged with writing a robust sequel to Monnet's vision.

Stephen Loosley is a former senator and national president of the ALP.

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