A new chapter” “

Politics returns centre stage of the European Union, with a plenary session of the European Parliament full of events and debates on the future of the 25-member EU. The Assembly, meeting in Strasbourg from 20 to 22 July, elected Josep Borrell, Spanish Socialist, as president of the EP; it then chose the 14 vice-presidents, set up its own parliamentary commissions, welcomed Dutch premier Jan Peter Balkenende, current President of the European Council, who outlined the programme for the next six months, and lastly voted the Portuguese José Manuel Durao Barroso as the future President of the Commission. PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE UNION. JOSEP BORRELL. He will continue to occupy the desk of President of the EP for the next thirty months, i.e. for the first half of the legislature. In the second half, the presidency will pass to an exponent of the People’s Party, probably the current group leader, the German HANS-GERT POETTERING. Borrell did not give any programmatic address outlining his intentions, preferring instead at first to “listen to his fellow MEPs” and reserving this task for the September session. A reflection on the recent successes of the Union (enlargement, Constitution, designation of the successor of Romano Prodi as head of the Commission) had been introduced on Tuesday 20 July by a welcome intervention by Irish premier BERTIE AHERN. During the session, the various outstanding questions on the future of the “common home” were reviewed in the chamber: the completion of enlargement, also by ensuring the effectiveness of Community policies in the ten new member countries; the financial prospects of the EU for the period 2007-2013; the sector of security, justice and internal affairs; and foreign policy, on which everyone – from the Germans to the French, from the Poles to the British, from the Cypriots to the Estonians – agrees on the need to find a common point of view to interpret the complex questions of international politics. THE PORTUGUESE BARROSO WINS THE BACKING OF MEPS. Another protagonist of this session of the EP in Strasbourg was JOSÉ MANUEL DURAO BARROSO. The President designate of the Commission, who will assume office on 1st November, obtained the endorsement of the Assembly in Strasbourg on Thursday 22 July. Now he will have a three-month interlude in which to agree on his own team with the 25 member countries of the EU, so as present himself anew for the vote of final approval in the parliamentary session in late October. Barroso obtained 413 votes in favour, 251 votes against, and 44 abstentions. The future head of the Executive in Brussels made a wide-ranging speech to the EP, in which he reaffirmed the values on which the Union is based (liberty, respect for human rights, rule of law, equal opportunities, social justice) and the major deadlines that await the EU: Barroso summed these up in what he called the need to “build a partnership for Europe that would guarantee prosperity, solidarity and security in the continent”. The former Portuguese premier – alternating the use of three languages, Portuguese, English and French – also touched on the international role of the EU, which must – he said – aspire to the promotion of peace and development throughout the world, also by “supporting the role of the international institutions”. Among the priorities of his Commission Barroso listed: employment; the definition of adequate financial resources for Community policies; the provision of “systems of healthcare and social security geared to an ageing population”; and the “guarantee of a better quality of life by offering incentives for cleaner energy and transport systems”. “EU, COMMUNITY OF VALUES BASED ON LAW”. JAN PETER BALKENENDE, at the helm of the EU during the current Dutch presidency of the European Council, also underlined the main issues of Community construction in the Union’s internal policy. Presenting the programme of work of the Dutch semester up to December 2004 in a speech to the EP on Wednesday 21 July, Balkenende spoke of the EU budget, enlargement, the process of ratification of the Constitution, the issues of justice and security, and the “Lisbon strategy” to increase the economic competitiveness of the Twenty-Five by focusing on research, training, technology, environmental respect and quality of work. But the Dutch government also underlined among the main priorities of its Presidency its intention to place “the emphasis on the foundations of European integration, of which the community of values and the community of law are the essential elements”. According to Balkenende, none of these points can be taken for granted, especially in this phase of “running-in” of the enlarged EU: “It is up to governments and citizens to collaborate to this end”, also by improving communication between institutions and peoples. The processes for the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty, the negotiations for the membership of Romania and Bulgaria, and the process for the preparation of Turkey and Croatia for possible EU accession, should – he said – be undertaken in the same spirit. As for foreign policy, the President of the Council specified in his programme an “integral approach” to the problems of the Middle East. THE CONSTITUTION DEFENDS SOCIAL EUROPE. An appeal for the needs of “social Europe” was also made in the chamber of the European Parliament by the current President of the Commission ROMANO PRODI (in office till 31 October). In his speech he summed up the achievements of the Irish Presidency over the last six months, and at the same time indicated the agenda of the forthcoming commitments of the Twenty-Five. The main priority remains that of ratification of the Constitution, of which “our Union, now larger and more composite, has a need”. Prodi praised the way “the Irish Presidency had chaired the intergovernmental Conference by respecting the position of everyone” and by convincing them “that it [the Constitution] is at once an ambitious text and a realistic compromise”. The text “contains our values and provides a legal basis for our policies”. Moreover, it is not – as various sources had alleged in recent weeks – a “retrograde step for social Europe”. “Full employment and social progress become objectives of the EU; “parity between the sexes and the rights of minorities are recognized as common values”; the Union is pledged to promote “economic, social and territorial cohesion and solidarity between the member states”; and the EU, on the basis of the provisions of the Constitution, recognizes and promotes the role of the social partners. According to Prodi, therefore, “the level of attention to social Europe is ever higher and a more political Union will serve to consolidate it”. There remains, however, the challenge of ratification at the level of the 25 countries: if some national referendum were to give the thumbs down to the Constitutional Treaty, “it would be an enormous step backwards for the process of European integration”.