Barroso tries to define European added value

By Simon Taylor

Date: 27/04/06

European commissioners will hold a brainstorming seminar this week to find ways to restore public confidence in the EU and get out of the current impasse over the EU constitution.

In papers sent to commissioners to help them prepare for the seminar, the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso asks his colleagues to "define a positive European agenda".

"We have to win back the confidence of citizens by demonstrating European added value," Barroso writes. Admitting that there is a "disparity" between actions at European level and "citizens' perception of the role of Europe", the president wants his team to propose ways to show the "potential and concrete added value" of the Union, to find new "motors of integration" and to create conditions for "resolving - at some point - the question of the constitution".

But as Barroso has stressed in numerous speeches, the priority for his Commission is not a new debate about institutional reform but a focus on policies and initiatives.

This is illustrated by the three issues the president has asked his team to discuss. These are: how to remobilise the EU and develop a positive agenda; how to make the Union a real world player; and what can be said at this stage about institutional questions.

On the first point, Barroso says that despite his Commission's focus on growth and employment and the need to address the challenges of globalisation, public opinion is "marked by reticence toward change and reform". This reaction, he says, is due to national situations and "fears and doubts" brought on by "persistent economic moroseness" over recent years and a negative perception of the impact of globalisation.

He also raises the challenge for the Union in respecting its commitments on enlargement while at the same time dealing with citizens' concerns. "The need to inject into the public debate objective and concrete elements on the advantages of the last enlargement is evident but remains difficult to put into practice," he writes. "How do we deal with the issue of absorption capacity without sending a negative message to candidate countries?" he asks, referring to the term for whether the EU can cope with the financial burden of taking in new members and its effect on the EU's decision-making processes.

The two-day seminar (27-28 April) in Lanaken on the Dutch-Belgian border will help the Commission draw up its contribution to the future of Europe debate. The Commission will present a formal paper on 10 May. EU foreign ministers will hold an informal meeting in Klosterneuburg in Austria on 27-28 May for a similar brainstorming exercise in the run-up to the EU leaders' summit in June. At the summit EU leaders are expected to agree a preliminary report on the results of the 'pause for reflection' agreed by EU leaders following the rejection of the constitution last year by Dutch and French voters.

Article anticipates a two-day brainstorming seminar held by the European Commission on 27-28 April in Lanaken on the Dutch-Belgian border. The event was intended as a preparation for the Commission's contribution to the future of Europe debate, which was to be presented in a formal paper on 10 May 2006. At the June 2006 European Council EU leaders were expected to agree a preliminary report on the results of the 'pause for reflection' agreed by EU leaders following the rejection of the constitution in 2005 by Dutch and French voters.

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