Hänsch: ‘EU foreign policy needs one voice’

Date: 11/07/02

By Martin Banks

DUPLICATION between the European Commission and Council of Ministers must be eliminated if the EU is to build a coherent and effective foreign policy, a leading German MEP has warned.

Klaus Hänsch, a deputy chairman of the Group of European Socialists (PES) and member of the European Convention praesidium, says the issue must be urgently tackled if the Union is to speak with one voice on the international stage.

In a paper to be presented to the Convention at its two-day plenary starting today

(11 July), the German Socialist also hints that a standing Euro Army could be an option if conflict prevention is to be given the attention it deserves.

Existing plans for an EU force, assembled as and when the situation demands in the same way that NATO contingents are formed, may not be enough, he suggests. The creation of a force 'that is operational and which can be rapidly mobilised' may be required, although this would have to be subject to a strengthening of the European Parliament's powers of scrutiny, he adds.

Hänsch's paper recognises that the EU is facing increasing global responsibilities, including the fight against terrorism, boosting environmental protection, sustaining economic progress and combating poverty.

'To be able to achieve these targets the EU must improve its structures and instruments to build a coherent and effective foreign policy,' he argues.

Hänsch adds: 'Europe has to speak with one voice on the international stage and the existing duplication between the European Commission and Council of Ministers should be eliminated.'

The former journalist also calls for democratic 'legitimacy' to be strengthened by allowing the European Parliament to ratify all major EU international agreements.

His central argument, that the existing institutional set-up is hindering EU foreign policy, echoes concerns voiced by former Commission President Jacques Delors and Carl Bildt, the former prime minister of Sweden.

Speaking earlier this month at the EU Institute of Security Studies conference in Paris, Bildt said the EU's conduct of the Common Foreign and Security Policy was being hampered by its 'inward-looking' institutions.

Delors referred to a 'discreet battle' between the Commission and Javier Solana, secretary-general of the Council of Ministers.

Duplication between the European Commission and Council of Ministers must be eliminated if the EU is to build a coherent and effective foreign policy, MEP Klaus Hänsch has warned.