EU leaders seek allies to boost their global clout

Date: 20/03/1997

PRESENT and likely future members of the EU will next week begin the search for ways to speak with a more coherent voice in the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation and other international institutions.

Foreign ministers from the EU and countries applying for Union membership will discuss how best to present a common face at a special meeting in Brussels.

Diplomats see the move as highly symbolic at a time when the Union is seeking a greater and more independent role on the international stage.

The hope is that, in future, European diplomats will be able to speak with the authority of 25 nations - rather than 15 - giving them a stronger hand in disputes over policy with the US or Asia.

The move is also important given the Union's internal debate over the future of its common foreign and security policy (CFSP), and its aim of admitting the countries of central and eastern Europe (CEECs) early in the next millennium.

Any enhanced ties now could serve as useful practice for a larger Union, amidst fears that cooperation will become increasingly difficult as more countries join.

But a Dutch official stressed that ministers were not looking to enlarge the CFSP before the applicant countries join the internal market. They will not set up any formal decision-making fora or mechanisms for drafting joint declarations.

But they will seek to build on the recent trend for applicant countries to associate themselves with Union positions on events of regional and global importance, setting up closer contacts between foreign ministries and encouraging greater consultation at official level in New York and Geneva.

CEEC diplomats have expressed their support for closer ties. “I think it is very important for us to cooperate and establish joint positions within these fora,” said one Hungarian official.

The debate comes at a time when European foreign policy is once again under international scrutiny. Events in Albania, and Turkish disquiet at an apparent turning of European backs earlier this month, have tested to the limit the Union's ability to speak with one voice.

Last weekend's informal meeting of foreign ministers in Apeldoorn highlighted the problems faced by the Union when attempting to react quickly as a 15-nation bloc.

Given that the EU is likely to almost double in size within ten to 20 years, critics feel there is a real danger that decision-making could grind to a standstill under current arrangements.