Your Say

November 2004
The EU and the US
First Magazine

It was Europe's supreme 'democracy' moment. A cerebral conservative Roman Catholic struggled to define the boundaries between personal faith and civic office giving Europe's newly elected parliamentarians the chance to demonstrate their own devotion to equal opportunities and non-discrimination, by rejecting his candidacy as a European Commissioner.

At last the European Parliament had become a subject of discussion in our local pubs, but the reaction from our constituents to the public castigation of Rocco Burriglione surprised many of his critics casting the Italian theologian more in the role of martyr than sinner.

And the very MEPs who had earlier celebrated the European Parliament's 'coming of age', were back on their knees days later, privately agreeing amongst themselves that it would be unhelpful to allow Commissioners like Laszlo Kovacs, the former communist Hungarian foreign minister, and Jaques Barrot, the convicted but absolved former French labour minister to face the same treatment the parliamentarians had happily meted out to Mr Burriglione.

So the new Commission eventually took office, freeing Romano Prodi to devote more time to Italian national politics. Prodi will not be missed. Although all rightly pay tribute to the Commission's success in delivering the enlargement of the EU from 15 to 25 nations, the former Commission President was long on rhetoric and short on delivery in too many areas.

Prodi was also well known for a series of major 'gaffes'. not least among these may come to be regarded his views about possible Ukrainian membership of the EU – a prospect he claimed was more distant than New Zealand's accession to the Union!

As the story of the Ukrainian Presidential election unfolded, these were remarks which Prodi must have come to regret, especially as almost all other international observers, and most fo those participating in the election seemed to regard the contest as being entirely about defining the boundaries of Europe.

The European Council and Parliament had this same issue in clear focus in December in deciding to set a date for opening negotiations on Turkey's eventual membership of the EU. There remains much to discuss. Agendas are being drawn up highlighting topics such as human rights, religious freedom and free movement of workers. But the reality is that the negotiations are likely to bring about changes on both sides. Turkey will have to change, but Europe will undoubtedly have to change as well. The model of an integrated centralised Europe is diminishing with every new EU accession.

Perhaps this is why President Chirac remains so inherently hostile to Turkish membership, insisting that the final say should be with the French people in a referendum. In the European Parliament, opposition to Turkey was strongest among German and French MEPs, but was overcome bu a two to one margin by strong support from Spain, Italy and the UK, coupled with the new EU countries.

This it seems is the new EU dynamic. In spite of endless efforts by President Chirac to re-establish it , the Franco-German axis is no longer the sole determinant of EU decision-making. And this reality will be crucial in rebuilding relationships with the USA following the re-election of President Bush in November. The Commission President Mr Barroso is an Atlanticist, along with the vast majority of EU nations and all are united in looking to an improved atmosphere in transatlantic relations.

The European Council has taken a positive and improtant step in appointing former Irish Taioseach John Bruton as Europe's ambassador the USA. He has a key task in raising the profile and understanding of Europe in the USA. Outgoing US Secretary of State Colin Powell has already signalled the US administration's wish to be seen to move forward in transatlantic relations by visiting Europe in December spelling out his aim of 'mending breeches' and working with Europe on issues like the Middle East peace process and nuclear proliferation in Iran. Head of Homeland Security Tom Ridge and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist followed this up with visits in January. The President himself is scheduled to visit European Capitals shortly.

Mutual self interest is also at stake here. Together the EU and NAFTA account for about 60% of the world's economic output and the transatlantic economy is responsible for over 14 million jobs in the USA and Europe.

It is therefore of great concern that at a time when we should be working to improve transatlantic relations, a series of trade disputes have erupted which have the potential to derail this process. In October the US Government unilaterally withdrew from the 12 year old agreement on the financing of large civil aircraft, and launched a major WTO dispute over Airbus. The Commission has launched a parallel action against Boeing. The major concern of the global business community prompted both sides to draw breath recently drawing back from the abyss of a potential transatlantic trade war and reopening the route of further negotiation.

On top of all this, the European Courts have recently upheld the Commission's direction that Microsoft design and create an alternative version of its Windows operating system stripped of its embedded media player. A few short years ago, this EU decision would have been viewed as a major attack on US interests. but the significantly improved dialogue between regulators in the US and Europe has changed such mindsets.

What we need is much better transatlantic dialogue and cooperation across the board.

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