EU seeks vision for next 50 years

"Politicians in Europe are looking for the winning formula. They want to know how to talk to the people about a new vision," argues Heinrich Kreft, senior foreign policy adviser to the Christian Democratic party in Berlin. "People first have to know what Europe is.... The idea has been lost ... It sounds too abstract. It was easier and more successful to build against the Soviet bloc, than to define it positively."

While the EU's precursor was focused on economics, it also introduced a new concept of identity. "We unite people, not just states," argued one founder, Jean Monnet of France.

But today, Europeans show deep ambivalence about such unity. In FT/Harris polls this week in the five largest European states, some 44 percent said their country had not improved since joining the EU. But only 22 percent felt life would be better if their country left the EU.

US diplomats noted ruefully this week that US relations had largely been ignored in European debates leading to the Berlin Declaration. They say Washington is eager to join with Europe as a "central partner" in a "shared vision of values" to resolve many of the conflicts challenging the stability of the world.

We were "disappointed" that "not a very big part of the debate"over Europe's future touched on America's role and "transatlantic relations," said Kurt Volker, principal deputy assistant secretary for Europe at the State Department, in comments to the Monitor. But he also said the US could have done a better job in engaging Europe after 9/11. Americans had steadily supported Europe in its birthing in the 1950s, including the Marshall Plan, whose 60th anniversary is this year, he noted. Moreover, for decades prior to Sept. 11, Europe had been central to all US foreign-policy questions. But after the 2001 attacks and the "strategic challenges" they raised, "Europe was seen as not central," he said, to the US challenge of "rogue states, problem states, and terrorism ... which seemed to exist in a separate sphere from Europe."

"But we've gone through an intellectual evolution ... and it is significant," Mr. Volker added. "Now, the principal pillars of the democratic community in the world are Europe and the US."

Much of the initiative to offer a reinvigorating "declaration" is due to tireless efforts by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, diplomats say. This week, Ms. Merkel avoided a small crisis in the 50th anniversary celebration by gaining Poland's agreement not to oppose the statement.

Most political observers agree that Europe can't approach the question of a new constitution until after the French elections in May. The German presidency of the EU ends June 30 – giving Berlin only a brief window to hammer out a new road map with the incoming government in Paris.

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