Europe's absurd foreign policy
No one said it was going to be easy, but forging Europe's common foreign policy is really proving to be one hell of job, with much muttering in the corridors about confusion, duplication and sheer bloody-minded national interest. It was great news that Javier Solana, the High Representative of the Council of Ministers, was able to play his modest role at the Sharm al-Sheikh summit, trying in vain to stop the middle east sliding into war. But what a shame that the genial Spaniard was only there because Jacques Chirac's pro-Arab grandstanding made the French president unacceptable to the Israelis and Americans. Policy wonks have long warned about the potential for tension between the EU presidency and the haut repr?sentatif, especially when a big player is in the rotating hot seat. But hang on! What actually was the point of our own Robin Cook shuttling across the region at the same time as Solana? Or of France voting to condemn Israel in the UN Security Council while Britain, Germany and Italy abstained. Part of the answer, of course, is that national egos and interests still loom far larger than the esprit communautaire. Further gloomy evidence of this can be seen in the increasingly sharp Anglo-French exchanges over Iraq and the scramble by Germany and Britain to recognise North Korea before the EU-Asia summit, catching both the French and the poor old commission on the hop. Even in the Balkans, where things are finally going better, and Europe has a voice-mainly thanks to Chris Patten-the British and French seek small ways to gain the upper hand in a sort of post-modern great game. It doesn't inspire confidence in the commitment to having just one number to call when a future Henry Kissinger-or Condoleeza Rice-phones to ask what Europe thinks about some gathering crisis.
A pizza the action
It looks like an Italian could well be chosen to head the EU's permanent military committee, though much wheeling and dealing is likely before and perhaps even after the Nice summit. Disappointment in British quarters that General Rupert Smith, Nato's cerebral deputy supreme allied commander Europe, is not going for the top job. But at least this makes the balance of national flags in the new European defence structure easier to maintain. Spain has Solana, France his crusty deputy, Pierre de Boissieu, Britain the francophone Graham Messervy-Whiting in charge of the council military staff, while a German runs policy planning. So it looks like a shoo-in for a top Italian. But all this will take some working out. And it is quite separate from the old-new Brussels problem of how member states should actually vote on how to wield their military might. A witty Dutchman suggested that population density, rather than actual numbers, should be the key to voting strength.
Gravy fountain
Bravo to Nicole Fontaine, ever regal president of the European parliament, for her timely proposal that MEPs' salaries be raised-and subject to special low tax rates-thus short-circuiting long-standing attempts to take the gravy out of the parliament's train. Never mind the charge that she bowed to pressure from anti-reform MEPs, led by the well-paid Germans. But what about the disappearance of the sensible idea that expenses should no longer be based on the current much-abused flat rate system and should be accounted for? Parliament has perked up no end since its role in bringing down the Santer commission last year, and right-minded Europhiles should encourage it to carry on with confidence-but MEPs should record their expenses like the rest of us.
Short rein
And well done those mandarins from the department for international development for keeping Clare Short on a tight rein when she attended a recent EU development council. Ministers were gathered to work out how to improve the EU's abysmally poor record on aid delivery with NGOs complaining bitterly of a "culture of timidity'' born of last year's scandals in the commission. Apparently the financing of projects is now so slow that many groups prefer simply not to deal with it. So it was a shame that the gaffe-prone/plain-speaking secretary of state was not able to enlighten the media as to whether she still thinks that the EU is "the worst aid agency in the world.''
Rats from Prodi's boat
Romano Prodi's performance ratings remain abysmally low. And they will not be helped by the latest defection from the commission's gloomy press service. Peter Guilford, a smart and under-promoted British fonctionnaire, is leaving to set up a PR company, promising not to reveal any of the commission's dark secrets of spin when he waltzes out of the revolving door of the Breydel building. And signs that Michel Barnier, the French commissioner for institutional reform, will not get his way at the Nice summit-as member states go for the usual minimum-follow the departure of his spokesman, Laurence Auer. He is off to the Quai d'Orsay to help plot the latest twist in the ruthless pursuit of French national interest against les rosbifs and everyone else. n
