Charting the EU’s course through turbulent waters

Date: 14/12/1995

By Rory Watson

EVERY so often a European summit sets out a new course for the Union.

The most memorable in recent years undoubtedly took place in 1991 in Maastricht, when the European Community was transformed into the European Union. Now, just four years on, this weekend's Madrid meeting may prove almost as significant as it charts a somewhat different route.

Economic and monetary union is still one destination that is being signposted and, if anything, even more clearly than before. But the two-day meeting opening tomorrow (15 December) will strike a very different tone from the triumphalism of Maastricht.

In one sense, it will publicly acknowledge that just two years into its life, much of the treaty needs to be rewritten to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances, and give the green light for the review negotiations to start - probably in Turin in late March.

But it will also paint a wider vision for the Union, one which extends further into the Mediterranean and into large parts of what used to be the former Soviet empire. That dimension was noticeably absent four years ago. Now it looms over almost everything the Union does, forcing its members to prepare its institutions, policies and electorates for the scale of the changes ahead.

In a symbolic gesture which will also increase familiarity between existing and potential members, leaders from Malta, Cyprus, the Baltic States and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe will be present in the wings and join EU leaders for lunch on the second day of the summit.

These outward-looking diplomatic contacts - also designed to confirm that the Union is not entering an introverted phase as it concentrates on an internal review of its institutional structure - will not be the only ones facing the EU leaders. Summiteers will take time out to sign a new economic and trade agreement with the Mercosur members: Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

On a different level, far removed from more distant blueprints of a new-style Union with an enhanced membership, Madrid will endorse the growing trend towards addressing concrete issues of direct importance to individuals. These range from practical EU measures to tackle the drugs problem to maintaining momentum in the drive to cut bureaucracy and reduce unnecessary national and EU legislation.

The trend reflects European Commission President Jacques Santer's motto of “doing less, better”, and sets out to rebut images of a Brussels machine issuing diktats to all corners of the Union.

It also acknowledges that the days when EU leaders could agree a particular route for the Union and expect the electorate to follow unquestioningly are now over. With vague concepts like European citizenship cutting little ice with the public, the emphasis is now being placed on demonstrating how the EU can face up to practical day-to-day realities.

The official agenda is one of the longest to be placed before EU leaders, even without taking account of the personal hobby-horses which some may wish to raise either over lunch and dinner, or in those formal sessions when heads of government - only occasionally accompanied by their foreign ministers - are closeted together and separated from their senior civil servants.

Most of the 17 reports which will confront the summiteers will merit almost no discussion. Those on the fight against drugs and fraud or judicial cooperation will be duly noted and feature in the conclusions. But the official summit seal of approval will raise their political importance and set out clear guidelines for future policy.

Whether for domestic consumption or to give an even greater political push to particular issues, EU leaders may insist on briefly referring to specific items in their discussions.

German Chancellor Helmut Kohl is understood to be keen that he and his colleagues devote some of their time to reviewing their experience of the subsidiarity principle and to examining the reduction of legislative and administrative burdens on business and industry.

In his travels round national capitals, Spanish premier and summit host Felipe Gonzalez has been trying to trim the agenda to focus on four central issues.

The two which will dominate the EU leaders' time and both formal sessions tomorrow (15 December) will be a wide-ranging debate on employment initiatives and the route to the third stage of economic and monetary union.

With the Saturday morning session traditionally reserved for agreement on the final details of the summit communiqué and part of the first session devoted to talks with European Parliament President Klaus Hänsch, the twin economic subjects will take up the bulk of the eight and a quarter hours of formal meetings planned over the two days.

In the limited time remaining, the participants will focus their attention on enlargement and next year's Intergovernmental Conference (IGC).

On both, the summit will fire the starting gun for the lengthy procedures involved, rather than become embroiled in the same degree of detail and decision-making required for the two economic items.

The enlargement debate will be stimulated by three European Commission reports: one on the impact of enlargement on the Common Agricultural Policy, a second dubbed in EU jargon the ASAP (as soon as possible) report on other policy areas and a third on the pre-accession strategy.

“There may be some general discussion on a starting date for negotiations. There is a growing view that the accession talks with Cyprus and Malta, which will start within six months of the end of the IGC, will not be with just those two countries. But who else will be involved is something to be decided between now and the end of the IGC,” explains one senior Brussels diplomat.

Similarly, discussion of next year's IGC will focus more on procedural arrangements rather than opening up the Pandora's Box of issues with which Spanish European Affairs Minister Carlos Westendorp's Reflection Group has struggled for the past six months.

After their Baden-Baden meeting last week, Kohl and French President Jacques Chirac are almost certain to accompany the green light for the IGC with an insistence that more than minimalist tinkering is required if the Union is to emerge stronger from the self-analysis.

The Madrid summit may well be one of the peaks of the Union's year, as the hothouse atmosphere ensures high-profile attention on the EU's activities during a concentrated 36 hours. But as the leaders return home and turn their thoughts to domestic issues after setting out a forward-looking agenda for the Union, they might well ponder Westendorp's words last week as he completed his pre-IGC report.

“It should be possible for the Reflection Group and all those involved to continue explaining the reforms and challenges ahead. It is important to explain things in advance. If we do it retrospectively, we could find ourselves facing scepticism among our citizens,” he warned.