By Robert Marquand, Staff writer of The Christian Science MonitorFri Mar 23, 4:00 AM ET
As leaders of the 27 European Union members gather in Berlin thisSunday for the 50th anniversary of the EU, much of the effort behind ahighly anticipated "Berlin Declaration" is to make the postwarorganization pertinent to ordinary Europeans – a record number of whomare skeptical of the Union, even while enjoying its benefits.
Five decades ago this Sunday, a new Europe formally emerged with thesigning of the Treaties of Rome. It was a brave and visionary effort totranscend national boundaries and illiberal ideologies. With Americanhelp, Europe shaped a common market and sphere of values against thebackdrop of Soviet communism, two cataclysmic wars, and Auschwitz.
Now, as the EU pauses to consider its foundational ideals, it‘sstriving to make them relevant. Climate change has emerged as a keyrallying point. In addition, the US seems to be placing renewedemphasis on the transatlantic relationship. In Washington, top USdiplomats told the Monitor that a stronger working relationship withEurope is needed in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Kosovo, amongothers, and admitted that Europe had been wrongly ignored in the"strategic complications" after 9/11.
The EU‘s success in shaping peace, prosperity, and notions ofinternational justice and human rights are today so taken for grantedthat it practically requires a half-century anniversary to mention it,experts say. After the cold war, most states wanted to join what isseen as a haven of wealth and security.
Yet the EU has struggled, often vainly, to capture the popularimagination of ordinary Europeans, who often think of Brussels as amassive bureaucracy run by distant elites interested only in measuringbananas and regulating figs. The need to make the EU seem "relevant" onthe street is seen as crucial to its future success and development,argued World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy in the FinancialTimes (FT) this week. "Europe today lacks the necessary politicalenergy," he wrote. "Public opinion is skeptical, political elites arefatigued."
The Berlin Declaration, hashed out for months, will build on theEU‘s decision this spring to take the global lead in battling climatechange, and it will provide a "road map," as a foreign ministry sourcein Berlin put it, for reinvigorating the idea of Europe. The issue is asensitive one. In a 2005 referendum, French and Dutch voters said "No"to the idea of a common European constitution.
Though the Berlin Declaration will not mention the concept of aconstitution, the idea of a road map is clearly seen as a way to movetoward the kinds of common security and foreign policies, more-equitable and clear decisionmaking in a group now bursting with 27members, and other elements found in constitutions.
The 50th anniversary of what was then a six-nation union called theEuropean Economic Community is seen by many diplomats as a chance topause and revisit the original concepts of the EU. In the past months,the Berlin Declaration itself has been a document in search of a morerelevant message. The initial idea was to emphasize something calledthe Lisbon Declaration that spelled out state responsibility in the EU– though France and Holland were missing from the pack. Then theemphasis shifted to energy and security, following the threat ofRussian gas cutoffs in early January. Finally, after the bold move inParis by EU states to battle climate change, the EU found its commontouch issue.
"Politicians in Europe are looking for the winning formula. Theywant to know how to talk to the people about a new vision," arguesHeinrich Kreft, senior foreign policy adviser to the ChristianDemocratic party in Berlin. "People first have to know what Europeis.... The idea has been lost ... It sounds too abstract. It was easierand more successful to build against the Soviet bloc, than to define itpositively."
While the EU‘s precursor was focused on economics, it alsointroduced a new concept of identity. "We unite people, not juststates," argued one founder, Jean Monnet of France.
But today, Europeans show deep ambivalence about such unity. InFT/Harris polls this week in the five largest European states, some 44percent said their country had not improved since joining the EU. Butonly 22 percent felt life would be better if their country left the EU.
US diplomats noted ruefully this week that US relations had largelybeen ignored in European debates leading to the Berlin Declaration.They say Washington is eager to join with Europe as a "central partner"in a "shared vision of values" to resolve many of the conflictschallenging the stability of the world.
We were "disappointed" that "not a very big part of the debate"overEurope‘s future touched on America‘s role and "transatlanticrelations," said Kurt Volker, principal deputy assistant secretary forEurope at the State Department, in comments to the Monitor. But he alsosaid the US could have done a better job in engaging Europe after 9/11.Americans had steadily supported Europe in its birthing in the 1950s,including the Marshall Plan, whose 60th anniversary is this year, henoted. Moreover, for decades prior to Sept. 11, Europe had been centralto all US foreign-policy questions. But after the 2001 attacks and the"strategic challenges" they raised, "Europe was seen as not central,"he said, to the US challenge of "rogue states, problem states, andterrorism ... which seemed to exist in a separate sphere from Europe."
"But we‘ve gone through an intellectual evolution ... and it issignificant," Mr. Volker added. "Now, the principal pillars of thedemocratic community in the world are Europe and the US."
Much of the initiative to offer a reinvigorating "declaration" isdue to tireless efforts by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, diplomatssay. This week, Ms. Merkel avoided a small crisis in the 50thanniversary celebration by gaining Poland‘s agreement not to oppose thestatement.
Most political observers agree that Europe can‘t approach thequestion of a new constitution until after the French elections in May.The German presidency of the EU ends June 30 – giving Berlin only abrief window to hammer out a new road map with the incoming governmentin Paris.
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