(Initially published in http://www.romania-report.ro/ - Jun 20, 2005)
Senior EU politicians and officials will meet President Bush in Washington for a US-EU summit, days after their acrimonious meeting in Brussels. Following several years of overoptimistic enlargement process, EU "bigs" stumbled because of financial reform disputes. US and UK expected to further support the Union's enlargement.
Last week EU summit showed how deep the cleavage between British pragmatism and French "Social Europe" really is. That is, there is a profound disagreement on whether the EU should focus on becoming a broad and inclusive free-trade zone, which Britain champions, or a narrower and politically more cohesive quasi-federation, as France would prefer.
Now, EU leaders will visit Washington and, together with President Bush, they eventually should look for a common vision on the fate of the "Western world". US President George W Bush will meet top officials of a deeply-troubled European Union on Monday, as his administration underscores its desire to boost trans-Atlantic cooperation on international affairs.
The summit comes two days before an international conference on Iraq in Brussels, jointly sponsored by the United States and the European Union in an effort to show that the deep rifts caused by the invasion of Iraq are behind them. It comes on the heels of last week's acrimonious EU summit, which broke down amid budget squabbles, leaving a sense that the 25-member bloc is in crisis.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who holds the EU presidency, EU commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and other top EU officials were to convene at the White House early on Monday local time, for meetings followed by a press conference.
President Bush wants Europe to continue the process of enlargement.
Overall, EU and US relations have improved dramatically since their row over Iraq. But there is now the uncertainty of Europe's future direction – a BBC report reads today.
BLAIR STANDS FIRM IN DEMAND FOR EU FINANCE OVERHAUL
An unrepentant Tony Blair will tell the European Parliament this week that he remains committed to a "fundamental reassessment" of Europe's finances despite the fury he has provoked among the leaders of "Old Europe".
TONY Blair will turn up the heat on Jacques Chirac this week after his unprecedented clash with the French president over the EU budget. The defiant British PM makes his second visit to Brussels in a week to repeat he is ready to deal on Britain’s £3billion rebate — but ONLY if there is wholesale reform of finances.
Mr Blair will tell the European Parliament that any deal on our rebate must be linked to French farmers losing some of their handsome subsidies. Mr Blair will make a Commons statement on the issue today before flying to the Belgian capital on Thursday. He fought off an attempt by Mr Chirac to make Britain give up the rebate without concessions at last week’s bitter EU summit. Mr Blair is expected to give MEPs a character reading on Thursday in the wake of the summit collapse. He plans to say: “It is time to show that Europe is capable of change and is willing to listen to what the people have been saying. We must reconnect the EU leadership with the people.”
Mr Blair plans to emphasise that means spending on beating crime and illegal immigration, plus boosting skills.
CLOSER TIES WITH US AND UK - ROMANIA'S RIGHT CHOICE
When Romanian President Traian Basescu took office, in January this year, he clearly stated he will give priority to closer ties with US and UK – ties he expected to boost Romania's EU bid also.
In the beginning, Basescu's vision seemed bizarre to many local analysts, but until now it proved to be the right choice as US has great expectations from "New Europe states" and, following last week EU crisis, PM Blair renewed his support for Romania.
Thus, during a press conference following Brussels EU Summit 18 June 2005, British PM Blair was asked if he is going to support the accession of Romania and Bulgaria if they are doing their work for 1 January 2007? PM Blair answered: "Yes, we fully support Romania and Bulgaria coming into the European Union, and we actually think the advent of the accession countries has been very healthy for Europe. We defend enlargement, we defend it strongly."
On another hand, some authorised voices in the "Old Europe" expressed serious concerns on further EU enlargement process. European Commission vice-president Günter Verheugen said the EU should exercise restraint in admitting new states, and yet the accession treaties of Bulgaria and Romania must be observed.
The EU official, a former enlargement commissioner, strongly advocated for the two aspirant countries saying, as quoted by DPA, that the safeguard clauses would be enforced only if either applicant is unprepared for EU entry on 1 January 2007. He said that it is irrelevant to make new promises for enlargement beyond those already agreed.
Instead, Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel said fears over enlargement contributed to the rejection of the constitution in France and the Netherlands. "There are other options apart from full membership of the European Union for achieving political and economic stability throughout Europe," Mr. Verheugen told Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
He said the accession of Bulgaria and Romania, which are due to join the EU in 2007, could be postponed if they were not ready. Mr. Schüssel told Der Standard newspaper that the EU should be more imaginative in its relationships with neighbouring countries. "At the moment the only instrument we have is membership. Otherwise a country stays outside the door. That is inadequate."
Some EU leaders have accused Britain of seeking to abandon the process of political integration in Europe, and of attempting to reduce the EU to a free-trade zone. Mr. Schüssel said: "The British want a different Europe. They want more a market-oriented Europe, a large market, but no deeper union. Anyone who wants such a model leaves behind the European social and economic model which has served us well, which the citizens want and which has made us strong," he said.
Therefore, there is a profound disagreement on whether the EU should focus on becoming a broad and inclusive free-trade zone, which Britain champions, or a narrower and politically more cohesive quasi-federation, as France would prefer. There is a strong and growing resistance to any more members, as stated by the bright and aggressive Nicolas Sarkozy – likely to become next French President in 2007.
THE EURO-ATLANTIC "EMPIRE" – THE PARADIGM THAT NEEDS A CLOSER LOOK...
As the "Old Europe" leaders in place (i.e. Chirac and Schröder) are likely to be soon replaced (maybe along with their outdated "EU Federation" vision), there should be seriously taken into account the alternative of building the "New Empire" of the Euro-Atlantic region. As carefully nurtured in the last years, the "New Empire" idea is able to bring about enough interesting suggestions to the post-modern world in the West.
Mihai D. Popescu -- Romania Report
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