Playing a new tune for Europe

Date: 22/12/05

The task that the Austrian government has inherited for its six-month presidency of the EU has been eased by the 15-16 December summit which reached agreement on the EU's 2007-13 budget.

The Austrian government will still have to complete the adoption of the financial perspectives by negotiating the agreement reached by EU government leaders with the European Parliament and the Commission. Parliament is threatening that tough negotiations lie ahead, since the deal made by the EU government leaders is still some distance away from the budget that MEPs had endorsed.

But Austria will have to face up to a very delicate and difficult challenge, which was largely shunned by the UK presidency, that of leading a debate on the future of the EU following the rejection of the European constitution by French and Dutch citizens.

On this subject Austria will inherit little from its predecessor at the EU's helm: the UK's only official contribution to the collective reflection on the future of the EU was the Hampton Court summit in October. EU leaders met for a brainstorming session on tackling globalisation and on identifying areas where member states could work better together. In addition, the UK co-sponsored a debate on subsidiarity and sharing power in the EU, organised in The Hague on 17 November.

The Austrian government will present a report on the future of Europe for the June EU summit. Foreign Affairs Minister Ursula Plassnik said Austria would encourage debates about what kind of Europe citizens want. But she tried to play down expectations, warning against "inflated expectations and...trying to get things done too quickly".

"We can only deal with it if we open wide European eyes. We have to do that together. It is about finding ourselves in Europe."

Plassnik said it was not clear at this stage what the presidency would come up with in June, whether it would suggest that an expert group explore what was possible without the EU constitution, under the existing treaties, or whether it would come up with a plan to encourage further debate on the EU's priorities, relations between member states or reconnecting the EU with citizens.

The Austrian presidency has lined up three particular opportunities for discussing the future of Europe during its presidency. At the end of January it will organise a conference 'The Sound of Europe' which will address "questions about identity, diversity and the way peoples see themselves in Europe", Plassnik said.

In addition, the Austrian parliament is planning to organise a conference on the future of Europe on 18 April, in Sankt Pölten, the capital of the region of Lower Austria. It is intended as a follow-up to that 17 November conference on subsidiarity. The Austrian-led debates on the constitution will culminate with the June summit, which will mainly focus on the future of Europe. The call from Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt for a special and exclusive summit of the leaders of the 12 eurozone countries to discuss the future of Europe is unlikely to receive a positive response. The Austrian Chancellor, Wolfgang Schüssel, has given no answer as yet.

Article is part of a European Voice Special Report previewing the Austrian Presidency of the European Union, January - June 2006. Following agreement over the EU's budget at the European Council in Brussels, 15-16 December 2005, Austria's six-month EU Presidency will be free to focus on the difficult task of leading a debate on the future of Europe.