Forging a deeper European unity?
EU leaders meet in Brussels amid battles over a bid to create a European government with a permanent president and its own diplomatic corps.
from the June 22, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
"Reaching agreement [in Brussels] is a 50-50 proposition," says Bernhard Kampmann, spokesman for the Germany Embassy in Paris. "There is a real possibility that this might not work. Without an agreement on Friday or Saturday, it will be difficult to make the 2009 elections."
Blair proposals could derail effort
For Mr. Blair, the Brussels summit is his last major agenda item before he steps down as prime minister on June 27. It is also a strenuous juggling act, since Blair, who is a prime candidate for the EU presidency, has also been raising some of the most serious derailing counterproposals.
Reuters reported Wednesday that Britain did not want a "foreign minister" title for the EU. The point is not small. British Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett said the top EU foreign official should not speak for the body at the UN without Security Council permission, and that a proposed EU diplomatic service should be reduced in scope.
Under the treaty, a "foreign minister" would head external relations for the European Commission, which deals with trade and commercial activity, and the European Council, which deals with military and security questions. Currently, foreign relations are divided between the often competing bodies.
One issue that lurks beneath the surface like an iceberg in a shipping lane are popular referendums. A recent Financial Times-Harris poll points out that "strong majorities" in Britain, France, Poland, and the Netherlands wish to vote on the ambitious German-led treaty. A "no" vote in any of the states could scupper the plan, or create a two-tiered Europe, experts say.
"It won't be the end of the world if the plan fails in Brussels," says Henning Reicke of the Berlin-based German Council on Foreign Relations. "But what we hope for at least is a mandate to keep working."
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