Regeringsleiders zetten EU terug op de kaart (en)

EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - EU leaders returned to their respective capitals on Sunday relieved, for the most part, at having finally struck a deal on a new EU "reform treaty." With marathon negotiations concluding as late as 4:30am Saturday, the deal was a victory, of sorts, for Angela Merkel, with a decisive assist from newly-elected French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

The German Chancellor, who as President of the EU led the June 21-22 Summit, had made as her priority after all, agreement on a new draft constitution - two years after the original Constitutional Treaty was rejected by French and Dutch voters. To be sure, hers was no easy task but in the end, the pieces were in place for a deal to be struck.

Now, with an agreed upon "reform treaty," Europe can press ahead with matters that, well, really matter - not only to the EU itself of course, but to its member states individually, and even to the world at-large.

So what matters? For the EU itself, there is the matter of forming consensus and a common policy on issues such as energy security, climate change, and a coherent foreign policy in its dealings with an ever assertive Russia, not to mention the Union's expansion to it south eastern borders, most notably that of Turkey and her 75 million citizens.

For the Member States, there are such issues as cooperation on law enforcement and counter-terrorism, immigration, and completion of an internal market. For the world at-large, a single European voice, echoed by its chief economic partner in the United States, is a driver in completing a deal on DOHA and an engine in setting the agenda for the global economy.

So while Europe never really left, the new political lineup in Western Europe, combined with momentum on the new treaty, will make doing business with Europe that much easier, and has already gone some way in repairing the fractured Trans-Atlantic political relationship (in Germany especially and France eventually).

Franco-German engine revival

In that vein, last weekend's Summit was also notable in its revival of the Franco-German engine that not so long ago drove European integration but had since stalled in light of French rejection of the original Constitutional Treaty in 2005 and Germany's own mired economy, not to mention President Chirac's verbal intransigence towards his smaller Eastern neighbors.

In the end, a deal on a stripped-down EU treaty was always in the cards: Chancellor Merkel's deft negotiating skills and determined resolve, newcomer Nicolas Sarkozy eagerness to demonstrate his "man of action" status and a last hurrah of sorts for Tony Blair, desperate to leave some sort of footprint within continental Europe, meant the pieces were in place.

In the end, the key to the deal was not Poland, which could not afford isolation - no more, that is, than during the UK presidency when she was "bought" with a 100 million euros concession from Germany. Rather, the obstacle was and will remain the UK, where concessions granted by Chancellor Merkel raised the ire of Belgium and other and where Blair's imminent departure asks all sorts of questions as British policy towards the EU.

Constitutional hang-ups

The next grand issue is Turkey, to be sure, but, farther ahead, another budget debate that will be launched during the French presidency in 2008, including the potential of continued acrimony over French and British interpretation of "free and undistorted" competition.

Those future issues aside, a European Union relieved of its constitutional hang-ups will now be free to enjoy solving other, more pressing problems: completing an internal financial market, bringing peace to the Middle East, interdicting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, dismantling terrorist networks within its borders, preventing the spread of AIDS in Africa, agreeing on a new global trade order, and loosening a rigid labor market in the face of an ageing population, to name just a few.

One thing is clear though: a true Union of European member states, working ever closer with its already closest political and economic partner, the United States, will be that much more effective in helping the world solve many of the aforementioned problems. Europe, we may dare say, is back.

The writer is Director of Policy for the European-American Business Council in Washington, DC