Barnier: common diplomacy way to generate unity in EU

Date: 20/03/03

By Dana Spinant

EUROPE'S disunity is not fatal: severe crises such as the present one over Iraq can be prevented when the EU has a "common diplomatic culture and a common geopolitical analysis of the world", according to Michel Barnier.

The institutional reform commissioner, also a member of the Convention on the future of the EU praesidium, argues that the Union must draw lessons from its divisions over Iraq - in the same way as it had to face up to its impotence over the Balkans wars of the 1990s.

"The present crisis must be put in a historical perspective," Barnier told European Voice. "It is clear that if we desist because of this crisis, we will be left in a huddle, desperate for Europe's unity, having thrown in the sponge.

"But I am not here to take a picture, even though it's plain that the present picture is a sober one. We are working towards a constitution designed to last for 20, 30 or 40 years. We must not forget this crisis, but draw lessons from it and overcome it," he added.

The French commissioner points out that the EU had learned from its dark experiences of the past.

"We have already had crises, impotence and disunity within the EU laid at our door. Remember the Balkans [wars]. We have drawn lessons: the creation of the post of Javier Solana, the high representative for foreign affairs, the Maastricht Treaty [on European Union] and the Amsterdam Treaty.

"I think this severe crisis, the most serious in the Union's history and in that of the UN too, will lead us to learn even stronger lessons."

However, Barnier warns that "the political unity cannot be decreed".

"We need tools and time to create a European reflex," he said.

The first such tool needed to "make the parallels meet" is a common diplomatic culture. "An external department, with a foreign secretary at its head, would be a place in which this common diplomatic culture could be built.

"We have had competing or parallel diplomacy for two centuries. I am convinced that with a foreign affairs department in which diplomats from the Council [of Ministers], the Commission and national capitals would work together under the authority of a single person, we would see a common diplomatic culture emerging.

"We would then have a common geopolitical analysis, including on sensitive subjects such as the Middle East and the transatlantic link."

For Barnier, what is at stake is nothing less than "a new organisation of the world".

The crucial question Europe must answer for itself, and for the rest of the international community, is "whether it wants to be capable of contributing to a new equilibrium in the world".

"In the interest of the US, a country which I respect and admire - which is the leading world power at the moment - and in the interests of the peace of the world, there must be several powers which respect and talk to each other.

"Some of them would be allies - for instance, Europe must remain an ally of the US - but the alliance should be based on mutual trust and loyalty, and must not be interpreted as allegiance.

"The world's peace and stability requires that there must be several powers, to introduce more balance in the system this is what is at stake. Does the EU want to contribute to this new equilibrium? I hope so."

However, the commissioner admits that a political union may not be easy to build with 15 countries to consider, let alone 25 or 28 after enlargement.

"On some subjects, we will not be able to advance at 25. We have not created Schengen [border control-free area] all together; we have not introduced the euro all together either."

However, Barnier foresees an EU with "a common perspective", allowing an "opt-in" for those who want to advance faster towards deeper integration.

The Union could create, step-by-step, a common defence policy, he suggested.

While all member states should subscribe to a solidarity clause providing for mutual assistance in the event of a terrorist attack on the EU's territory, countries willing to go further could commit to defend each other against aggression by third countries (a task currently assumed by NATO) or pool their military procurement together through an armaments agency.

France and Germany could be the core of a group of countries ready to engage in such closer cooperation, he argued.

Barnier insists that, although the moment is not appropriate for drawing optimistic conclusions, Europe's future should be seen in perspective.

"I am not here to make a picture of the moment, but to move the lines, together with the others and advance the political project of Europe," he added.

Europe's disunity is not fatal: severe crises such as the present one over Iraq can be prevented when the EU has a 'common diplomatic culture and a common geopolitical analysis of the world', according to institutional reform commissioner Michel Barnier.