TIMOTHY HERITAGE
EU has far to go to boost its political power

2009/11/05

The Czech president ratified the Lisbon Treaty on Tuesday, giving the European Unionbloc more clout. However, political analysts say internal divisions and a ‘small country complex’ must be overcome if it is to match the rise of emerging powers

The Czech president signed the EU's Lisbon Treaty on Tuesday, completing ratification of a document creating a long-term president, enhancing the power of its foreign policy chief and making EU decision-making smoother.

"This is very good news for the European Union," said Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, Poland's European affairs minister.

"This means we can now go on at full speed with the Lisbon Treaty's implementation -- in foreign policy first of all."

But political analysts say internal divisions and a "small country complex" must be overcome if the bloc, which represents 27 countries and 495 million people, is to match the rise of emerging powers, such as China, after the global economic crisis.

"If we can get our own act together, the rest of the world will take notice because we are a pretty big boy," said Daniel Gros, director of the Centre for European Policy Studies think tank in Brussels.

But, he added: "There is a lack of unity and a small country complex where leaders still think in national rather than global terms and are not willing to abdicate their responsibilities to an EU body which would not have these problems."

A further obstacle is the bloc's failure to speak with one voice in global bodies such as the International Monetary Fund, the Group of Eight industrialised countries and the Group of 20 developed and emerging economies.

Individual EU member states are reluctant to give up their seats in these prestigious groups to make way for a single EU representative, meaning the EU often appears disunited.

Even though the treaty will now come into force in weeks, the EU has much to do to stop itself being further marginalised in the new world order following the global economic downturn.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said last week the treaty offered the EU a chance to strengthen its global role -- but that it must renew its foreign policy.

"I genuinely believe that unless Europe does so, we will find ... that a G2 informally, if not formally, emerges as the key decision making axis in the world -- the US and China," he told reporters at an EU meeting in Luxembourg.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said Europe could become irrelevant if Europeans do not work together to fight the challenges posed by the financial crisis.

Barroso, the head of the EU's executive, sees the Lisbon Treaty as a big step in the right direction. But the difficulty securing Czech support for the charter has also underlined the union's problems in presenting a united front to the world.

The EU leaders have also been struggling to agree on who should fill the new post of president of the Council of EU leaders, and the job description is vague. Much will depend on what kind of leader is appointed -- a heavyweight statesman or a less established figure who leads by consensus.

A high-profile candidate with global name recognition looks unlikely to get the job after former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's star faded. This prompted his successor, Gordon Brown, to warn Blair's opponents: "Get real."

The EU has united as a trading power, is a powerful anti-trust watchdog and is an influential force in efforts to tackle the effects of global warming. But the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank, said in a report issued on Monday that the EU had to overcome its internal divisions if it was to have any influence even on the United States, its closest ally on the world stage.

"If they are to count for something in Washington's world view, EU member states need, above all, to speak and act together, thus bringing their collective weight to bear," the report said.

"The Lisbon Treaty should certainly help, by providing the better-empowered leadership and the institutional tools to help Europeans agree joint positions and then represent them effectively. But tools are no help without the will to use them."

Economic forecasts released by the European Commission on Tuesday showed the worst of the economic downturn was over in Europe and growth would now accelerate. But the Brussels-based Bruegel think tank said in a recent report that failure to take the right steps now would mean the economic crisis could go down as the occasion when Europe irretrievably lost ground economically and politically.

"Economically, there is a risk that by compounding lingering demographic and economic problems, the crisis will result in a spiral of near-stagnation, rising public debt and declining innovation performance," it said.

Gros underlined how far the EU had to go to increase its global influence. Asked if ratification of the Lisbon Treaty was a step in that direction, he said: "Not a step, just an inch." -- Reuters