Very soon, when the EU has its foreign minister etc in place, it will present itself as an alternative to the USA in world affairs. The world will gasp at Europe's wealth, splendour and peaceful outlook (well, at least initially). 'Peace, peace' or 'peace and safety' they will cry, for the German-led EU will dominate the world's trading system etc and bring stability to the world. Perhaps the United Nations may even move to the EU - Austria has been touted.
In due course, it will turn angrily on the Anglo-Saxon powers as it unveils its fascist intent ...
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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Drafting a Global Player
By MARK LEONARD
October 17, 2007
Unless something goes badly wrong, European Union leaders will agree a new treaty at this week's summit in Lisbon. Unlike the doomed Constitution of 2005, which aimed to supersede all earlier agreements with a grandiose state-building exercise, this will be just another amending treaty shorn of the trappings of statehood.
...
The most compelling reason for supporting the reform treaty is the fact that it could help the EU become a more effective power in the world. The EU has the resources to be a real global player: It is the largest single market in the world, it is involved in over half of the world's trade, and it has over 50,000 peacekeepers deployed from Bosnia to Beirut and an even larger army of diplomats and aid workers. But despite all of this latent power, the EU punches way below its weight. When its member states disagree, as over Iraq, the EU cannot hope to be credible. But even when the governments do agree to pursue a common foreign policy, the EU's fragmented institutional machinery often prevents it from delivering in an effective and timely manner. The big problem is that EU institutions and member states often fail to coordinate their various policies and instruments -- including trade, aid, defense, policing and diplomacy -- in the pursuit of common objectives.
For the rest of the article click here.
In due course, it will turn angrily on the Anglo-Saxon powers as it unveils its fascist intent ...
---------------------------
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Drafting a Global Player
By MARK LEONARD
October 17, 2007
Unless something goes badly wrong, European Union leaders will agree a new treaty at this week's summit in Lisbon. Unlike the doomed Constitution of 2005, which aimed to supersede all earlier agreements with a grandiose state-building exercise, this will be just another amending treaty shorn of the trappings of statehood.
...
The most compelling reason for supporting the reform treaty is the fact that it could help the EU become a more effective power in the world. The EU has the resources to be a real global player: It is the largest single market in the world, it is involved in over half of the world's trade, and it has over 50,000 peacekeepers deployed from Bosnia to Beirut and an even larger army of diplomats and aid workers. But despite all of this latent power, the EU punches way below its weight. When its member states disagree, as over Iraq, the EU cannot hope to be credible. But even when the governments do agree to pursue a common foreign policy, the EU's fragmented institutional machinery often prevents it from delivering in an effective and timely manner. The big problem is that EU institutions and member states often fail to coordinate their various policies and instruments -- including trade, aid, defense, policing and diplomacy -- in the pursuit of common objectives.
For the rest of the article click here.
