Europe springs ahead

It's an exciting time in the EU. But challenges remain that leave little time for outside engagement.

from the April 19, 2007 edition

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Political tension

France is currently gearing up for the first round of its exciting presidential election April 22. The Socialists have a capable and engaging woman candidate, Ségolène Royal. The ruling Gaullists are running a smart candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy. The right-wing, anti-immigrant leader Jean-Marie Le Pen is once again running a strong campaign. (Significantly, all 12 candidates have come out firmly against the US presence in Iraq.)

Britain, too, is preparing for an election, and this one could be more significant than most outsiders realize. This is the May 3 election for the third semi-independent Scottish Parliament to sit since this body was created back in 1999. It now appears that the incoming Scottish Parliament might soon demand Scotland's complete secession from the union it has maintained with England for the past 300 years. Many English people, in response, are becoming unprecedentedly anti-Scottish. Some commentators are even talking of a possible "Velvet Divorce" between Scotland and England– similar to what Czechs and Slovaks underwent in 1993.

At the continental level, political integration has been held back in recent years by two major wedges: foreign policy and the EU Constitution.

In the absence of a unified EU foreign policy, individual countries have continued to chart their own course. That's caused considerable European tension over the best policies to pursue toward Iraq and Afghanistan. The failure to ratify the Constitution, meanwhile, stems as much from arguments over specific matters of law as it does from doubts about the value of the European project as a whole.

The good life – on a smaller scale

Today's Europe is an exciting, engaging place to be. Most European economies are humming. The publics here are dealing with challenging issues of governance, including how to build a multicultural community that works for all its citizens. But there isn't much appetite or energy for running the wider world as well.

As Washington deals with the challenges that lie ahead in Iraq and elsewhere around the globe, it won't find a strong, unified Europe standing at its side. Perhaps the best help European countries can provide is to reassure Americans that life can still be good even after a retrenchment from global empire.

• Helena Cobban is a Friend in Washington for the Friends Committee on National Legislation. The views expressed here are her own.

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